The 49ers will still carry over a Super Bowl-caliber roster entering 2023, but they’ll need to make some improvements via free agency and the NFL Draft.
Despite an ugly and one-sided loss in the 2022 NFC Championship game, the San Francisco 49ers are still viewed as serious Super Bowl contenders heading into the league’s new year.
At least according to the latest oddsmakers that list the Niners as the third-best team to win the Super Bowl, trailing only the Buffalo Bills and the now-defending champions, the Kansas City Chiefs.
San Francisco’s core remains intact, although there are going to be inevitable questions surrounding head coach Kyle Shanahan’s quarterback situation.
With quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo headlining a notable list of 49ers players hitting NFL free agency, will Shanahan turn to Brock Purdy or Trey Lance to helm the offense under center in 2023?
That’ll be important.
However, bulking up and improving the roster will also be vital this offseason. Whether it’s through free agency or the 2023 NFL Draft might not matter as much, although the contexts for both are important. According to Over the Cap, Shanahan and general manager John Lynch currently have just over $8.8 million in salary cap space with which to work.
On top of that, and despite having as many as 11 picks in the upcoming draft, the Niners are going to be idle in the first two rounds in the wake of trades that landed Lance and All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey.
Needless to say, it might be tough for San Francisco to address those needs.
But those needs aren’t going to go away. Here are the three biggest ones.
49ers offseason need No. 3: Defensive backfield
The 49ers only started to take their secondary needs seriously last offseason, namely by spending big money on free-agent cornerback Charvarius Ward in a move that worked out well.
However, with defensive backs like Emmanuel Moseley and Jimmie Ward hitting NFL free agency this offseason, it could easily be a revolving door of starting-caliber players.
Two-year pro Deommodore Lenoir made big strides as a starting cornerback, but there could easily be a void at safety if Ward departs. Plus, as recent seasons have shown, the Niners have historically lacked depth at cornerback.
Failure to stockpile that depth could lead to the kind of situation that plagued San Francisco in 2021 when the secondary was a clear-cut weakness.
Simply put, the 49ers need to throw bodies at the defensive backfield and then deploy the best options, especially if neither Moseley and Ward return.
49ers offseason need No. 2: Defensive line
If there’s a good note, the Niners have always prioritized their defensive line, and it looks as if that’ll be the case again in 2023 with this group being a pressing need.
All-Pro EDGE Nick Bosa led the entire NFL with 19.5 sacks last season, but no one else on San Francisco’s roster had more than five. Simply put, he needs help. And with the 49ers not getting much at all late in the year from 2022 rookie pass-rusher Drake Jackson, paired with fellow EDGE Samson Ebukam hitting the open market, the need for a No. 2 complement to Bosa is pretty obvious.
On the interior, defensive tackle Arik Armstead hopefully bounces back after an injury-plagued 2022 campaign, but fellow defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw is looking more and more like a bust.
At the very least, he’s not the impact player for which the Niners had hoped when they drafted him in the first round back in 2020.
Outside of Bosa, and to a lesser extent, Armstead, no one on San Francisco’s D-line is notably imposing.
49ers offseason need No. 1: Offensive line
If anything, the Chiefs winning Super Bowl LVII showed that offense is vastly more important than defense. KC’s defense was nowhere close in contrast to the 49ers’ top-ranked defense last season, and yet Kansas City’s offense did more than shoulder the load.
Of course, it helps to have an MVP-caliber quarterback in Patrick Mahomes, but he’s also well-protected. That Chiefs offensive line surrendered zero sacks in the Super Bowl to an Eagles team that registered 70 during the regular season.
As such, the Niners have their own O-line questions to answer heading into 2023:
- Are starting guards Aaron Banks and Spencer Burford good enough to continue?
- Center Jake Brendel is a free agent, but is there an upgrade available?
- What about right tackle Mike McGlinchey, who’s a free agent?
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Specifically McGlinchey, perhaps San Francisco would like a better pass-blocking upgrade, but that doesn’t erase the fact that McGlinchey still helped make the 49ers’ run game a high-value one.
Nevertheless, Philadelphia outworked the Niners’ O-line in the NFC Championship game but failed to do so against a stout Chiefs O-line in the Super Bowl.
San Francisco can learn that lesson.