SF 49ers: 5 most disappointing players from 2020
By Peter Panacy
The SF 49ers’ 2020 campaign ultimately will end in disappointment, and these five players rank as the most disappointing this season.
The 2020 SF 49ers will finish with a sub-.500 record for the third time in four years under head coach Kyle Shanahan.
And while that simple stat needs some context, especially considering the first year was the start of a rebuild and this year was marked by overwhelming injuries, it’s hard to completely overlook the reality the Niners simply didn’t get the kind of production out of players who needed to be key contributors.
Each one of those players has his own context, too. Case in point, it was disappointing EDGE Nick Bosa and cornerback Richard Sherman missed the majority of 2020 with serious injuries. The same could be said of wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who was in and out of the lineup with various injury setbacks.
San Francisco could have overcome those setbacks if other players on the roster delivered better. That’s where the real disappointments reside, even if the initial expectations for some players wasn’t supposed to be that high in the first place.
Regardless, one can only wish these five SF 49ers players were able to be bigger contributors this season.
No. 5: SF 49ers Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo
Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is on this list for the simple reason of being unavailable for much of the year.
True, injuries are hardly a good reason to consider a player a disappointment. Bosa, Sherman, Samuel and even tight end George Kittle could fall into the same category, too, yet Garoppolo’s placement here is solely due to the reality San Francisco wins when he’s on the field.
The SF 49ers are 22-8 in regular-season games where Jimmy G started compared to head coach Kyle Shanahan’s 7-26 record when Garoppolo hasn’t been under center.
Garoppolo being a disappointment is solely based on the importance of good quarterbacks and their availability to a playoff-contending team. Garoppolo has teetered on being both good and available, having missed the bulk of the 2018 and 2020 seasons with injuries, and his on-field efforts from when he was playing earlier this season weren’t quite enough to avoid the speculation the Niners could move on from him in 2021.
The fact that last part is a discussion also merits putting Jimmy G on the list of disappointments.