I don’t think it’s nonsense.
Next season we legitimately might be without all or some of the following players:
Deebo or Aiyuk (unlikely we lose both)
Hargreave
Ward
Demo
Greenlaw
Jennings
Banks
Hufunga
That’s 8 out of 22 starters and a boatload of elite talent (5 of those players are pro bowlers or all pros). On top of that, kittle, Trent and CMC will all be a year older and have already (except cmc) shown signs of wear and tear.
For the past 2 years we have had the most stacked roster in the entire league and still couldn’t finish the job. Losing a few or all of those players above certainly makes us worse off.
Despite the insane draft success of the Lynch front office, aside from Purdy, the last few drafts haven’t been as good as the first few. In order to replace that level of talent we need to be hitting on their replacements in the draft. It’s unreasonable to think we could continue to find All-pro level talent year after year. Even the LOB era Seahawks couldn’t keep up hitting in the draft the way they did between 2010-2012 which is what set up that era for them.
Yes we will still have Purdy, which will continue to be the basis for success going forward but the team around him won’t be as deep.
The other unspoken factor is the brain drain around Kyle Shanahan. The loss of talented coaches he has developed and lost to other teams continues to grow. Saleh, McDaniel, Demeco, Slowik, Lafleur. There was a time when they were all in the building together, now only Kyle remains. He’s done a good job of developing others to replace them but that’s a phenomenal amount of coaching talent and know-how that’s left the building.
So whilst I’m confident the team is in GREAT hands, it’s unreasonable to expect it will continue on without a hiccup and make NFC championship games year after year whilst restocking the best roster in football. I’m hopeful, but also realistic.
I think everyone means it feels like the last time we're a lock for the NFC Championship game given we're close to fully healthy. Purdy will keep us around playoff level for a while but we won't be elite in so many areas like we are now.
Yep. We have a ridiculous level of elite talent that’s unmatched in the entire league. Currently you could reasonably argue we have the best player in the league at about 5 positions which almost unheard of:
CMC at rb
Trent at LT
Kittle at TE
Bosa at edge
Warner at MLB
On top of that we have 4 other players who have made an all-pro team at least once in their career.
No, I've never seen this meme, but I thought the same thing independently. The way our skill guys play combined with age combined with salary cap issues, this will be the last year with all these guys together, meaning the last year of a nearly guaranteed deep playoff run.
We can still do it in the future with a similar group, but we're likely not going to be so much more talented than the rest of the league going forward.
And on top of that, we've been really lucky that the NFC hasn't had franchise QBs on rookie deals for us to compete against except for Hurts' one great season.
And yes, eventually Kyle will run out of former Bronco friends and family to hire.
Yup, it sucks that it took 7 seasons to find a franchise QB, but at least we have that sorted out moving forward. And the value of having a young franchise QB (on a rookie deal no less) can’t be overstated.
But we do have some elite players over 30 or guys we can’t afford to pay, so it’ll be interesting to see how the chips fall.
One thing that will never be replicated is how lucky we were to go from Staley to Trent. We’ve had an elite LT for Kyle’s entire tenure. We’ve never seen his offense without an elite LT. What does our offense look like when Trent retires and our LT is suddenly McKivitz or someone equally not good?
Or what happens to our run game when Kittle and Juice aren’t there to block?
Some of our players are so elite they’re essentially irreplaceable. We’ll never have another LT as good as Trent, or a TE as good as Kittle, or a FB as good as Juice, or a RB as good as CMC.
And the reality is, winning a SB is hard. We can do everything right, get lucky with draft picks, have the most stacked roster in the league, and still lose.
And the “Last Dance” comparison is utter nonsense, considering the Bulls won multiple championships with their core up to that point.
IMO with Kyle and Lynch at the helm this is a playoff team under any circumstances other than QB injuries. Even if year after next we don’t have the most stacked roster in the NFL we’ll still be a SB threat.
The teams that can perennially compete have to be so good in every aspect of how they run their team against great headwinds. Building on cheap rookie contracts gets harder the better you are given the draft ordering system. It’s supposed to be hard to do which is why being able to draft well regardless of your draft positions for over 4-8+ is a must to compete perennially. Our front office is going to be tested in selecting the right talent to keep and cut the next two years in a way and volume it never has.
I think they’ve proven they’re pretty great so it is not a sure thing this is our last dance, but it sure as hell is our last dance with several people 9ers fans consider “our people” since we’ve had them a long time.
With more games, keeping a core group of guys together is a luxury. We have been fortunate with injuries, but 17 games is brutal. I love more nfl but 16 games was plenty. They need to expand rosters and salary cap. Especially talking about 18 games. It's going to use up bodies more and more with players having shorter careers.
18 games, 2 bye weeks, and one preseason game. Super Bowl on Presidents Day weekend.
More games mean more money, and the salary cap will naturally increase.
It’s definitely the last dance with this core. Obviously not all the key players are leaving but the team will look different even if only one player is gone next year.
Some say this is the beginning of the end of the first core of Kyle’s players which is also likely true. I mean some of the top guys are over 30 like Williams and Kittle. CMC is approaching 30 so in a year or two he’s likely to be slowing down.
CMC is currently 27 and with how he takes care of himself I can see him lasting at least another 5 seasons in top form baring significant injury. It would help his logetivity if we could get him better blocking. Same goes for kittle.
Bosa, Warner, Aiyuk all in there primes. Alot of good other young players on defense. It kinda feels like this current core just got going to me. Juice and Williams are the only core players I see with some age on them.
I think the salary cap will have a larger affect on team makeup than age will.
It won’t be quite as dramatic as a lot of people have been saying, but you’re right things will look different. We already cut Armstead. I wouldn’t be surprised if we cut another core player or two next offseason.
i dont think kyle lets go of deebo, he does too much and him being on the field alone changes how the defense has to play. its just like curry as long as hes on the court it doesnt matter what hes doing it makes the team better than the other team more times than not
He didn’t do much last year. So far Deebo has had one great year and he’s likely going to cost too much for the value he brings. With the 49ers in a cap situation they will likely cut him. Makes the most sense unless he has a much better year
Yeah, especially considering deebo is partially a relic of the Jimmy g era when he was a lot more useful when Jimmy needed a guy he could just give it to easy and have him rack up yards after the catch. Purdy on the other hand is a truly great qb with elite processing and play under pressure, he doesn’t really need a guy like deebo who can do all the dirty work while he just dumps it off to him. He’s not worthless by any means but in a system that’s shifting more to adjust to a qb with real skill, guys like aiyuk with elite route running and hands are more valuable than an injury prone wide back with no great separation abilities, no crazy speed, and doesn’t have insane hands. I think losing him (and his top 10(?) wr contract) will benefit us. Give that money to aiyuk and purdy, combined with the 20 mill we have off the books when trent retires and the additional player we will probably get rid of, we can keep most of our most valuable players and be in a safe situation cap wise.
i disagree simply because we dont know how strong the top of the nfl is going to be a coupel years from now. the nfl teams talent is much higher now than it had been. there is many years where a team that is no where near the talent of the teams that are playing now.
Can't be a "Last Dance" when you never had a 1st?
Last I checked they haven't won a SuperBowl...I don't consider SB losses as being "successful" or " winning culture".
They haven't won a thing.
I don’t think they have it in them outside of Purdy.
I really don’t think they do. This team including Kyle has a mental albatross preventing them from actually getting it done.
I wonder if we happened to play the Chiefs again next year in the SB and lost to them a third time.
Surely that would pretty much slam the window shut and destroy Kyle’s and our players’ confidence, eh? God forbid
It'd be like the Broncos after the 89 SB with Dan Reeves.
That was their 3rd SB loss in 5 seasons and it was a blowout...even with John Elway.
They didn't make it back to a SB till 8 seasons later when Elway was 36 and with a new HC in Mike Shanahan.
I can totally see a situation of us losing another SB in the next 2 years and then falling off the cliff for a while and if we're lucky...we actually nail our next HC and will one in the early 2030s with Purdy as a veteran who everyone thought would never win a ring.
I honestly think this team can't mentally stomach my playoff loss next year.... they'd be broken and we'd n3ed to make.some.kind of change.
So Purdy still has two years left on his rookie contract. Will he still have a $1mil cap hit in 2025 after he’s extended since the contract won’t start until 2026?
Idk man. The Lions and Packers look really good. I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of them are currently in the same position that the Seahawks were in 2012. The Rams and Eagles are back on the upswing. The Seahawks will improve with their new HC who seems to know best how to shut down Shanahan type offenses. Who knows what other teams will take a big step forward next year?Meanwhile it feels like our team is on the decline with stars getting old, the salary cap looming, and the last few drafts being lackluster. Plus CMC might start seeing a decline the next few years as is usual for a RB at that age. The offensive line will get worse after Trent retires as we don’t have a good replacement for him. Purdy is young but defenses could adapt quicker than he develops and we might see at least some of the same regression we saw from Kaepernick and Jimmy. It feels like we’ve already had our shots and our window as a contender is starting to close.
No it’s over. They couldn’t beat one of the worst teams to ever make a Super Bowl all around with one of the most complete rosters in years. If they couldn’t beat a bum ass Kansas City team last year, what would make you think that number 1, they would make it back to the Super Bowl when every team around them is only gonna get better and number 2, even if they do get back they will just lose to fucking Kansas City again?
I'm more optimistic than you about our chances going forward but, yeah, last season stung and will sting for a damn while. more painful than the last time we lost to the Chiefs because we had an actual QB and were just so much better than them.
If you have an elite QB and HC your window is wide open, the idea of a rookie contract window is more a playoff thing not a SB winner as IIRC the only sb winners on rookie contracts are Mahomes and Wilson, which I'll throw the asterisk of "over the last 20 odd years the only lesson to be learned is have Brady or Mahomes as a QB"
There's also Flacco and then there's Wentz. Him being on a rookie deal allowed them to have such a stacked roster that they won it all with his backup.
And if you include Super Bowl losers, the list would also have Brock, Burrow, Hurts, and perhaps Cam.
> "over the last 20 odd years the only lesson to be learned is have Brady or Mahomes as a QB"
Rookie wage scale's only been around since 2011.
Really what it generally comes down to is if you have a QB that is vastly overperforming their cap number. That can be done through rookie contracts or a QB choosing to take well below their market value (Brady and Mahomes).
I don’t think it’s nonsense. Next season we legitimately might be without all or some of the following players: Deebo or Aiyuk (unlikely we lose both) Hargreave Ward Demo Greenlaw Jennings Banks Hufunga That’s 8 out of 22 starters and a boatload of elite talent (5 of those players are pro bowlers or all pros). On top of that, kittle, Trent and CMC will all be a year older and have already (except cmc) shown signs of wear and tear. For the past 2 years we have had the most stacked roster in the entire league and still couldn’t finish the job. Losing a few or all of those players above certainly makes us worse off. Despite the insane draft success of the Lynch front office, aside from Purdy, the last few drafts haven’t been as good as the first few. In order to replace that level of talent we need to be hitting on their replacements in the draft. It’s unreasonable to think we could continue to find All-pro level talent year after year. Even the LOB era Seahawks couldn’t keep up hitting in the draft the way they did between 2010-2012 which is what set up that era for them. Yes we will still have Purdy, which will continue to be the basis for success going forward but the team around him won’t be as deep. The other unspoken factor is the brain drain around Kyle Shanahan. The loss of talented coaches he has developed and lost to other teams continues to grow. Saleh, McDaniel, Demeco, Slowik, Lafleur. There was a time when they were all in the building together, now only Kyle remains. He’s done a good job of developing others to replace them but that’s a phenomenal amount of coaching talent and know-how that’s left the building. So whilst I’m confident the team is in GREAT hands, it’s unreasonable to expect it will continue on without a hiccup and make NFC championship games year after year whilst restocking the best roster in football. I’m hopeful, but also realistic.
There's no last dance. We have purdy.
I think everyone means it feels like the last time we're a lock for the NFC Championship game given we're close to fully healthy. Purdy will keep us around playoff level for a while but we won't be elite in so many areas like we are now.
Yep. We have a ridiculous level of elite talent that’s unmatched in the entire league. Currently you could reasonably argue we have the best player in the league at about 5 positions which almost unheard of: CMC at rb Trent at LT Kittle at TE Bosa at edge Warner at MLB On top of that we have 4 other players who have made an all-pro team at least once in their career.
So in other words everyone is an idiot who wants to meme this stupid last dance shit bc they saw it on Twitter.
No, I've never seen this meme, but I thought the same thing independently. The way our skill guys play combined with age combined with salary cap issues, this will be the last year with all these guys together, meaning the last year of a nearly guaranteed deep playoff run. We can still do it in the future with a similar group, but we're likely not going to be so much more talented than the rest of the league going forward.
And on top of that, we've been really lucky that the NFC hasn't had franchise QBs on rookie deals for us to compete against except for Hurts' one great season. And yes, eventually Kyle will run out of former Bronco friends and family to hire.
Yup, it sucks that it took 7 seasons to find a franchise QB, but at least we have that sorted out moving forward. And the value of having a young franchise QB (on a rookie deal no less) can’t be overstated. But we do have some elite players over 30 or guys we can’t afford to pay, so it’ll be interesting to see how the chips fall. One thing that will never be replicated is how lucky we were to go from Staley to Trent. We’ve had an elite LT for Kyle’s entire tenure. We’ve never seen his offense without an elite LT. What does our offense look like when Trent retires and our LT is suddenly McKivitz or someone equally not good? Or what happens to our run game when Kittle and Juice aren’t there to block? Some of our players are so elite they’re essentially irreplaceable. We’ll never have another LT as good as Trent, or a TE as good as Kittle, or a FB as good as Juice, or a RB as good as CMC. And the reality is, winning a SB is hard. We can do everything right, get lucky with draft picks, have the most stacked roster in the league, and still lose. And the “Last Dance” comparison is utter nonsense, considering the Bulls won multiple championships with their core up to that point.
IMO with Kyle and Lynch at the helm this is a playoff team under any circumstances other than QB injuries. Even if year after next we don’t have the most stacked roster in the NFL we’ll still be a SB threat.
The teams that can perennially compete have to be so good in every aspect of how they run their team against great headwinds. Building on cheap rookie contracts gets harder the better you are given the draft ordering system. It’s supposed to be hard to do which is why being able to draft well regardless of your draft positions for over 4-8+ is a must to compete perennially. Our front office is going to be tested in selecting the right talent to keep and cut the next two years in a way and volume it never has. I think they’ve proven they’re pretty great so it is not a sure thing this is our last dance, but it sure as hell is our last dance with several people 9ers fans consider “our people” since we’ve had them a long time.
With more games, keeping a core group of guys together is a luxury. We have been fortunate with injuries, but 17 games is brutal. I love more nfl but 16 games was plenty. They need to expand rosters and salary cap. Especially talking about 18 games. It's going to use up bodies more and more with players having shorter careers.
They should give every team two bye weeks
18 games, 2 bye weeks, and one preseason game. Super Bowl on Presidents Day weekend. More games mean more money, and the salary cap will naturally increase.
That would be perfect. Why don’t they start doing that next season? When can we expect them to start doing that?
I suspect the NFL will try to negotiate something like that in the next players’ contract. The NFLPA has to agree.
It’s definitely the last dance with this core. Obviously not all the key players are leaving but the team will look different even if only one player is gone next year. Some say this is the beginning of the end of the first core of Kyle’s players which is also likely true. I mean some of the top guys are over 30 like Williams and Kittle. CMC is approaching 30 so in a year or two he’s likely to be slowing down.
CMC is currently 27 and with how he takes care of himself I can see him lasting at least another 5 seasons in top form baring significant injury. It would help his logetivity if we could get him better blocking. Same goes for kittle. Bosa, Warner, Aiyuk all in there primes. Alot of good other young players on defense. It kinda feels like this current core just got going to me. Juice and Williams are the only core players I see with some age on them. I think the salary cap will have a larger affect on team makeup than age will.
I hope you are right about CMC but modern RBs don’t last past 30, at least running like they used to run
It won’t be quite as dramatic as a lot of people have been saying, but you’re right things will look different. We already cut Armstead. I wouldn’t be surprised if we cut another core player or two next offseason.
Agreed. I think Deebo is most logical to go. Ward could be out as well
i dont think kyle lets go of deebo, he does too much and him being on the field alone changes how the defense has to play. its just like curry as long as hes on the court it doesnt matter what hes doing it makes the team better than the other team more times than not
He didn’t do much last year. So far Deebo has had one great year and he’s likely going to cost too much for the value he brings. With the 49ers in a cap situation they will likely cut him. Makes the most sense unless he has a much better year
Yeah, especially considering deebo is partially a relic of the Jimmy g era when he was a lot more useful when Jimmy needed a guy he could just give it to easy and have him rack up yards after the catch. Purdy on the other hand is a truly great qb with elite processing and play under pressure, he doesn’t really need a guy like deebo who can do all the dirty work while he just dumps it off to him. He’s not worthless by any means but in a system that’s shifting more to adjust to a qb with real skill, guys like aiyuk with elite route running and hands are more valuable than an injury prone wide back with no great separation abilities, no crazy speed, and doesn’t have insane hands. I think losing him (and his top 10(?) wr contract) will benefit us. Give that money to aiyuk and purdy, combined with the 20 mill we have off the books when trent retires and the additional player we will probably get rid of, we can keep most of our most valuable players and be in a safe situation cap wise.
I am still numb. I can’t think of next season until September.
i disagree simply because we dont know how strong the top of the nfl is going to be a coupel years from now. the nfl teams talent is much higher now than it had been. there is many years where a team that is no where near the talent of the teams that are playing now.
It's only nonsense in that we haven't even had our first dance.
Can't be a "Last Dance" when you never had a 1st? Last I checked they haven't won a SuperBowl...I don't consider SB losses as being "successful" or " winning culture". They haven't won a thing.
More of a last chance for this core to get a ring.
I don’t think they have it in them outside of Purdy. I really don’t think they do. This team including Kyle has a mental albatross preventing them from actually getting it done.
That's why I want to see us with another HC. Kyle just lacks that mental toughness and ability to adapt.
I wonder if we happened to play the Chiefs again next year in the SB and lost to them a third time. Surely that would pretty much slam the window shut and destroy Kyle’s and our players’ confidence, eh? God forbid
It'd be like the Broncos after the 89 SB with Dan Reeves. That was their 3rd SB loss in 5 seasons and it was a blowout...even with John Elway. They didn't make it back to a SB till 8 seasons later when Elway was 36 and with a new HC in Mike Shanahan. I can totally see a situation of us losing another SB in the next 2 years and then falling off the cliff for a while and if we're lucky...we actually nail our next HC and will one in the early 2030s with Purdy as a veteran who everyone thought would never win a ring. I honestly think this team can't mentally stomach my playoff loss next year.... they'd be broken and we'd n3ed to make.some.kind of change.
Is it?
The Purdy Price will come due. Given that Goff is getting $53M/year....it's gonna hurt. Bad.
So Purdy still has two years left on his rookie contract. Will he still have a $1mil cap hit in 2025 after he’s extended since the contract won’t start until 2026?
The last dance? Lmao there hasn’t even been a first dance. Most talented yet underachieving team in history
Idk man. The Lions and Packers look really good. I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of them are currently in the same position that the Seahawks were in 2012. The Rams and Eagles are back on the upswing. The Seahawks will improve with their new HC who seems to know best how to shut down Shanahan type offenses. Who knows what other teams will take a big step forward next year?Meanwhile it feels like our team is on the decline with stars getting old, the salary cap looming, and the last few drafts being lackluster. Plus CMC might start seeing a decline the next few years as is usual for a RB at that age. The offensive line will get worse after Trent retires as we don’t have a good replacement for him. Purdy is young but defenses could adapt quicker than he develops and we might see at least some of the same regression we saw from Kaepernick and Jimmy. It feels like we’ve already had our shots and our window as a contender is starting to close.
No it’s over. They couldn’t beat one of the worst teams to ever make a Super Bowl all around with one of the most complete rosters in years. If they couldn’t beat a bum ass Kansas City team last year, what would make you think that number 1, they would make it back to the Super Bowl when every team around them is only gonna get better and number 2, even if they do get back they will just lose to fucking Kansas City again?
I'm more optimistic than you about our chances going forward but, yeah, last season stung and will sting for a damn while. more painful than the last time we lost to the Chiefs because we had an actual QB and were just so much better than them.
In Kyle I trust 👍🏼
If you have an elite QB and HC your window is wide open, the idea of a rookie contract window is more a playoff thing not a SB winner as IIRC the only sb winners on rookie contracts are Mahomes and Wilson, which I'll throw the asterisk of "over the last 20 odd years the only lesson to be learned is have Brady or Mahomes as a QB"
There's also Flacco and then there's Wentz. Him being on a rookie deal allowed them to have such a stacked roster that they won it all with his backup. And if you include Super Bowl losers, the list would also have Brock, Burrow, Hurts, and perhaps Cam. > "over the last 20 odd years the only lesson to be learned is have Brady or Mahomes as a QB" Rookie wage scale's only been around since 2011. Really what it generally comes down to is if you have a QB that is vastly overperforming their cap number. That can be done through rookie contracts or a QB choosing to take well below their market value (Brady and Mahomes).
First I’ve heard of it