San Francisco 49ers: Ranking 5 most important offensive players in 2020

The 49ers offense might have to shoulder a bigger load in 2020, and these five players could be the most crucial this upcoming season.

A lot of the credit for the San Francisco 49ers‘ appearance in Super Bowl LIV went to the defense in 2019, particularly the elite pass rush which will likely carry over into 2020.

Yet head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense ended up being the No. 2 scoring unit in the league. So it isn’t as if the Niners were merely a defense-only team throughout the season. Similarly, while many credited San Francisco’s ground game as the prime reason Shanahan’s offense was so prolific.

True, the 49ers’ No. 2 scoring offense was predicated a lot on the league’s No. 2 rush offense. So there might be some merit to that.

And there’s certainly merit to the idea the Niners got to the Super Bowl because of their defense.

Defenses are always hard to gauge on a year-to-year basis. Last season, the additions of linebacker Kwon Alexander and EDGEs Nick Bosa and Dee Ford transformed what was a laughable unit the season prior. It’s yet to be known whether or not San Francisco’s defense will be as good this year.

Either way, Shanahan will need some key contributions from his top offensive players to balance out the responsibility.

There are some obvious names here, yes. But there are also players necessary to ensure the Niners can retain a similar kind of offensive prowess as they had the year before.

So, if we could break down the five most important players on San Francisco’s offense heading into 2020, who would they be?

Niner Noise takes a look.