SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 2021 WIN PREDICTION

BY ADAM GREENE

Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong last season as the San Francisco 49ers began their NFC Title defens. Pretty much every starting player from their Super Bowl squad spent some, if not most, of the year on injured reserve and it had nothing at all to do with the deadly global pandemic that caused the rest of the league so much trouble.

Nope, for the 49ers, it was all just normal, horrid luck.

With a team that would contend, at worst, for a Wild Card spot if they can avoid the injury gremlins again, general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan decided to swing for the fences, trading up in the draft for North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance as the eventual (or not so eventual) successor to current starter Jimmy Garoppolo.

San Fran currently has four quarterbacks on the roster and seems in no hurry to deal Garoppolo just yet. A slow start and, say the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks running away with the division early, might change that. The problem for the 49ers is, of course, they’re just too good everywhere else, even after losing star defensive coordinator Robert Saleh to the New York Jets.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

Last season: 6-10, 4^th place, NFC West

2021 odds: over 10 wins -145, under 10 wins +115

2021 NFL Draft: Trey Lance, QB, North Dakota State – Round 1, Aaron Banks, OG, Notre Dame – Round 2, Trey Sermon, RB, Ohio State – Round 3, Ambry Thomas, CB, Michigan – Round 3, Jaylon Moore, OG, Western Michigan – Round 5, Talanoa Huganga, Safety, USC – Round 5, Elijah Mitchell, RB, Louisiana – Round 6

UDFAs: Elijah Sullivan, LB – Kansas State, Austin Watkins, WR – UAB, Justin Hilliard, LB – Ohio State, Josh Pederson, TE – Louisiana-Monroe

Acquisitions: Alex Mack, C – Free Agent, MyCole Puitt, TE – Free Agent, Senio Kelemete, RG – Free Agent, Nate Sudfeld, QB – Free Agent, Zach Kerr, DL – Free Agent, Tavon Wilson, Safety – Free Agent, Mohamed Sanu, WR – Free Agent, Bennie Fowler, WR – Free Agent, Arden Key, DL – Free Agent, James Burgess, LB – Free Agent, Samson Ebukam, Edge – Free Agent, Wayne Gallman, RB – Free Agent, Mark Fields, CB – Free Agent, Maurice Hurst, DL – Free Agent, Trent Sherfield, WR – Free Agent

Key Losses: Richard Sherman – CB, Solomon Thomas – DL, Tevin Coleman – RB, Kendrick Bourne – WR, Ronald Blair – Edge, Ben Garland – C, Kerry Hyder – Edge, Jerick McKinnon – RB, Jordan Reed – TE, Dion Jordan – Edge, C.J. Beathard – QB, Colin Holba – LS, Nick Mullens – QB

PRESUMED STARTERS

QB: Jimmy Garoppolo

RB: Raheem Mostert

WR: Deebo Samuel

WR: Brandon Aiyuk

WR: Richie James

TE: George Kittle

FB: Kyle Juszczyk

LT: Trent Williams

LG: Laken Tomlinson

C: Alex Mack

RG: Daniel Brunskill

RT: Mike McGlinchey

LDE: Arik Armstead

LDT: Javon Kinlaw

RDT: D.J. Jones

RDE: Nick Bosa

OLB: Dre Greenlaw

MLB: Fred Warner

OLB: Samson Ebukam

CB: Emmanuel Moseley

CB: Jason Verrett

SS: Jaquiski Tartt

FS: Jimmie Ward

K: Robbie Gould

P: Mitch Wishnowsky

FORECAST

For the 49ers, they have to make the call in the season’s first eight weeks if they’re playing for this season or next when it comes to Garoppolo. Considering they could very well open the year 4-1 before their bye, that decision might not be a hard one. Even then, if a team is desperate and willing to deal, I think the Niners would listen.

Shanahan doesn’t trust Garoppolo when the game’s on the line (or maybe other times), that much is sure. But he can win with him in an offense he’s developed that doesn’t require much from the QB at all. Of course, that could just be because Garoppolo is the best he’s had as a head coach.

Final Record Prediction: 10-7, possible NFC Wild Card (with Garoppolo), 7-10 (if they trade Garoppolo)

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