Rebuilding? Nonsense. 49ers appear ready to compete.
49ers may not need years for their rebuilding project — they appear ready to compete now
When Kyle Shanahan agreed to become the head coach of the 49ers ahead of the 2017 season, he fully understood the enormity of the task ahead of him. In order for him to take on the job of rebuilding the mismanaged 49ers from something close to scratch, Shanahan made a demand: while the standard headcoaching contract in the NFL is five years, Shanahan, a firsttime head coach, needed a sixyear deal.
Year One was meant to be a demolition job — gutting every corner of the building and creating a clean slate so he could start to build, in earnest, in 2018.
Shanahan did what he set out to do in 2017, but as far as the NFL world is concerned, the 49ers’ rebuild is over.
San Francisco might not be Super Bowl contenders this season (though you can get them at 30-to-1 in Las Vegas) but they’re a team expected to be in the hunt for a playoff spot and perhaps an NFC West Division title.
It all happened so fast. Blame the quarterback. By acquiring Jimmy Garoppolo in a heist of a trade before Week 9 and winning their final five games of the 2017 regular season with the handsome,
talented, and, as of February, highly compensated (and still undefeated) quarterback under center, the 49ers accelerated their clock. Only 18 months and 16 games into Shanahan’s tenure, the 49ers are a team perceived to be one step beyond mere ascendance.
It doesn’t matter if the Niners are true contenders or not. One thing is certain as the 2018 thanks to Garoppolo, they are progressing ahead of schedule.
“We feel a lot better than this time last year — there’s no doubt about it,” GM John Lynch said last week. “I think we’re a much more talented team, I think we’re a deeper team.”
But is this team good enough to keep up the pace the end of the 2017 season unwittingly set?
The 49ers don’t play ignorant when it comes to the external expectations. Just the same, they aren’t keen to own them either.
“I believe we’re a better team, but that’s just from experience and on paper,” Shanahan said. “We finished last year strong, but this has nothing to do with last year.”
“I am aware that people have talked highly about us, and that’s what comes with the
territory when you win your last five games… We all know that doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t.”
“I can sit in here and talk about all [those] expectations with our players, but all I’m doing is addressing what people are talking about outside of here… I am very aware of what is outside and I know if we start off with a couple of losses it will be ‘oh, they thought they had arrived.”
“We don’t think that at all. We were 6-10 last year,” Shanahan continued. “This can go a lot of ways… By no means are we coming in [thinking] this is just going to happen.”
That said, there are reasons to believe that they will happen. Those possibly outsized expectations might find a basis.
The good news at the core of all of this hoopla is that the 49ers have their quarterback, and the end of the 2017 season gave strong indications that he could be one of the league’s best.
We’ve seen elite quarterbacks lift all-around mediocre teams to great heights before, so while that distinction hasn’t
been placed on the 2018 Niners yet, it’s certainly not a bad thing to have a quarterback who could well be transcendent. Garoppolo did what he did at the end of last season while learning Shanahan’s offense on the fly. You have to think nine months of study would only make him better.
You have to think, too, that Jerick McKinnon will improve the team’s run game, that the offensive line improved with the addition of center Weston Richburg, that the receiving corps, which returns Pierre Garcon, will be better, and that the defense, with a “100 percent” Richard Sherman in the fold could make a jump.
Add in the fact that the NFC West that has become markedly weaker with the negative changes in Seattle and Arizona and the fact that Jared Goff is still the quarterback of the Rams (his truth lies somewhere in the middle of his terrible rookie and stellar sophomore season). This team’s path to a division title — the team’s proclaimed first and foremost goal — is visible.
At the same time, there are reasons to believe that the hype will look painfully unjustified.
First, success is hardly linear, but since Garoppolo took the reins, the Niners’
arrow has been pointing straight up — that will not remain the case in 2018, and we’re yet to see how they’ll respond to such ebbs and flows.
The team’s lack of a premier pass rusher could prove problematic, too. At this point, no one is expecting Arik Armstead to develop into that guy.
Questionable depth is a problem as well. Yes, the Niners are markedly deeper than they were last year, but frankly, that’s not saying much — last year’s roster was as deep as an E! reality TV show.
That’s not even to mention the man at the center of the hype — Garoppolo. While he was stellar in five starts last season, he did have a sky-high 5.6 interceptable pass rate. Extrapolate that over the course of a full season and he well could have led the league in interceptions thrown. Yes, the questionable talent around him — particularly on the line — and an unfamiliarity with the offense could have brought on the poor throws, but it’s an area that will have to markedly improve in 2018.
Perhaps the 49ers can carry over the magic from the end of 2017 to 2018. Perhaps the expectations of playoff contention this season are completely out of place.