For a team that returned 17 regular starters from a squad that made it all the way to the Super Bowl last season, the 49ers had a decidedly different look to open the season this year compared to the lineup they put on the field for their 2019 season opener at Tampa Bay. That was both good and bad. Several new starters had won their jobs while establishing themselves during the course of last year’s exhilarating run to the NFC championship. Others had been brought in by design to replace the departed. And still others were filling in for injured regulars, meaning the 49ers had a surprising 10 new faces in their starting lineup on offense and defense to begin their 2020 journey, Sept. 13, against the Arizona Cardinals. Several of them will be remaining there, and some others obviously won’t. Here, The Niner Report takes a look at every new starter and where each stands as the team moves through the early part of its schedule, giving a bottom-line determination whether San Francisco is better or worse at the position now than the 49ers were when the season started last year.
WR DANTE PETTIS
The third-year veteran, San Francisco’s second-round draft pick in 2018, had a lot to prove to the 49ers this summer after his vanishing act last season, when Pettis didn’t catch a pass in San Francisco’s final 11 games, including playoffs, and didn’t even play a snap in the final nine games. But Pettis came to training camp this summer displaying focus and determination, and he produced some of the best practices of his career to get back in the mix for playing time in San Francisco’s receiver rotation.
This story is from the October 2020 edition of Niner Report.
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This story is from the October 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.
