The San Francisco 49ers had a pretty productive offseason even if may have been critical of the approach they took in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Still, they are going to have to get lucky next season if ESPN’s latest power rankings are to be believed.
ESPN ranked all 32 NFL teams and put the Niners in eighth place. The top two teams, according to the rankings, are the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams.
That’s not all that surprising since the Seahawks won the Super Bowl and the Rams nearly beat Seattle in the NFC Championship game. Looking back, that game was the real Super Bowl because either Los Angeles or Seattle should have taken care of either the New England Patriots or Denver Broncos.
It’s no shock the Niners are still seen as being behind their two NFC West rivals, but it’s a little surprising to see some of the other teams ahead of San Francisco. The Green Bay Packers, Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills, and Broncos are ranked higher.
After the Niners dispatched the Eagles from the playoffs with their entire defense decimated and George Kittle popping his Achilles, it doesn’t make sense to have Philly ahead of the 49ers. The Packers don’t feel like they’re ahead of the Niners either, and even the AFC teams ESPN put ahead of San Francisco are debatable.
Really, power rankings in May are a pretty futile exercises. They’re clearly basing those rankings off of last season, which makes sense, but would it truly surprise anyone if the Pats, who had an incredibly easy schedule last season, finished 2026 at 9-8 or something like that?
The real question for the Niners is did they do enough in the offseason to remain competitive in the extremely tough NFC West? The fact they were just one win away from being the No. 1 seed in the NFC last season even while being completely ravaged by injuries suggests that if Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, and Kittle are their usual selves as they return from injury, the team should be right there.
The additions of Mike Evans, Dre Greenlaw, and Osa Odighizuwa all help strengthen the roster, so even if rookies don’t make a huge impact, it should still be a fairly solid 49ers team on the whole.
ESPN is right to have them behind Seattle and LA for now, but it shouldn’t shock anyone to see the Niners overtake their rivals next season.
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