Are you ready for some … well … something really, really different?
A different kind of football. A different kind of NFL season.
Well, maybe not so much different for the 49ers — relatively speaking, of course — who have done so much during this summer to bring a sense of normalcy to a situation that really has nothing normal about it as San Francisco prepares for a 2020 season that will be impacted greatly by the novel coronavirus pandemic that has gripped the nation and world.
It’s exceedingly difficult to prepare for the unknown, but the 49ers certainly did their best over the summer, perhaps better than other NFL teams that don’t have the structure, commitment and focus that general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan have ingrained in the franchise during the three whirlwind seasons they have worked together in charge of the team.
But their fourth together promises to present the biggest challenge yet. COVID-19 has turned the NFL world upside down, like it has in so many other aspects of life, and the 49ers will tread warily but determinedly as they try to make it to — and then through — a season that they enter with such high expectations and hopes after reaching the Super Bowl last season.
“Everything we do is completely different now,” Shanahan said, “starting with the (Santa Clara) county’s rules and then going to our league’s protocols. There’s more to think about than usual. There’s kind of this other thing that’s new in there, that football doesn’t matter if you don’t handle COVID right.”
There’s no textbook or manual for that one. So The Niner Report is here with a Pandemic
This story is from the September 2020 edition of Niner Report.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2020 edition of Niner Report.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
EIGHT IS ENOUGH
Set 49ers lineup still has several new starters
Calling all cornerbacks
Loss of Verrett exposes 49ers’ thin depth at CB
Always finding their way to run
49ers system accomplished at developing homegrown talent
ANOTHER COMEBACK?
Resilient veteran Verrett to miss rest of season
TOP 10 Rookie running backs
THE BACK LIST
STOCK UP STOCK DOWN
DEOMMODORE LENOIR | AMBRY THOMAS
Will Mostert run for 49ers again?
Raheem Mostert was primed this year to be the centerpiece of one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses, featured as the lead performer in San Francisco’s grinding rushing attack while making his climb among the league’s top running backs.
THE WONDER OF WARNER
49ers make All-Pro star highest-paid LB in NFL
Making the right choice at QB
In the weeks that follow after you read this — and perhaps sometime even sooner than that — Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers organization will make a titanic decision that will have present, future and perhaps even everlasting implications for the franchise. It will chart the course for the team’s pivotal 2021 season while determining whether San Francisco really does have the juice to return to powerhouse status and again be considered a legitimate contender to get back to the Super Bowl.
TOP 10 Linebacker seasons
Fred Warner vaulted to stardom with a spectacular 2020 season — and the 49ers rewarded him this summer with a $95.225 million deal that makes him the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history. By today’s standards, Warner’s performance last year was worth the money as he posted an Approximate Value of 19 — matching the highest score ever recorded by a San Francisco defender according to a Pro Football Reference formula that puts a single number on each player-season across all positions since 1960. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman (twice) also had seasons with an AV of 19 as they dominate this list of the greatest individual seasons by a linebacker in 49ers history.
