3 reasons why San Francisco 49ers will struggle in 2020
By Peter Panacy
No. 2: 49ers Suffer a Slew of Injuries, Especially the Secondary
The 2018 and 2018 Niners had one thing in common despite the vast difference in win-loss totals: injuries.
A season ago, San Francisco dealt with, what Football Outsiders phrases, an adjusted-games lost total of 95.8, which was sixth highest among all 32 teams. Unlike 2018, however, the 49ers depth was good enough to overcome these losses. That was a big difference.
Injuries loom over every team this time of year before the regular season. Even the most-favored Super Bowl contenders’ prospects for a championship can be entirely derailed by suffering too much attrition on the injury front.
Still, San Francisco is vulnerable.
One of the biggest concerns on the roster has to be within the secondary. Safeties Jimmie Ward and Jaquiski Tartt both have injury histories as of late. Cornerback Richard Sherman has been banged up multiple times over his career. And the Niners don’t exactly have a ton of proven and serviceable depth behind their cast of starters in the defensive backfield.
Some options, yes. But it’s not likely the team would be thrilled starting defensive backs Marcell Harris or Ahkello Witherspoon in an attempt to get back in the Super Bowl.
Should the 49ers suffer more than a couple of elongated injuries, particularly on the back end of the defense, it could spell all sorts of problems for the 2020 squad.