Sudden Impact

Projecting what the team’s new talent will do for 49ers in 2017

- Craig Massei

With more newcomers than holdovers, the 49ers’ roster has been as overhauled as overhauled can get since it was blown up again this past offseason by yet another new leadership regime. If the 49ers are to emerge quickly in 2017 rather than the alternative, these new faces will have to be the difference-makers on a team that finished 2-14 last year. Here, The Niner Report identifies the key individuals who are new to the San Francisco roster while projecting what their impact will be during the 2017 season.

PIERRE GARCON: Will start at wide receiver and be moved around often in the different receiving slots that characterize Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Expect Garcon to make a larger impact than most San Francisco newcomers, surpassing the totals of 79 receptions for 1,041 yards and three touchdowns he produced last year with the Washington Redskins, particularly his touchdown total.

BRIAN HOYER: The ninth-year veteran has bonuses written into his contract if he can surpass 2,500 passing yards and 20 touchdowns passing. Those certainly are attainable numbers this season for a veteran that was handed the starting position at quarterback after he was signed as a free agent this spring. If Hoyer can remain healthy, expect him to smash those numbers by perhaps 50 percent or more as the triggerman in Shanahan’s offense.

MALCOLM SMITH: The Niners made Smith their big-money acquisition on defense this year in free agency, and while there is going to be some fierce competition for the two inside linebacker slots in Robert Saleh’s 4-3 defense, it’s a system with which Smith is familiar and in which he will do well. A triple-digit tackle total should be a formality as Smith becomes a cornerstone of San Francisco’s revamped defense.