Last Year:

Record: 2-14

Offense: 19.3 (27th)

Defense: 30.0 (32nd)

Offseason: 

Key Acquisitions: QB. Brian Hoyer, RB. Tim Hightower, FB. Kyle Juszczyk, WR. Pierre Garcon, WR. Marquise Goodwin, C. Jeremy Zuttah, DE. Elvis Dumervil, LB. Malcolm Smith, CB. K’Waun Williams, K. Robbie Gould

Key Losses: QB. Colin Kaepernick, WR. Torrey Smith, CB. Tramaine Brock, S. Antoine Bethea

 Breakdown

Offense:

The 49ers made some changes on offense but by and large I expect them to be in the 25-30 range again in terms of scoring. Instead of opting to draft a QB they pretty much brought in the Bears pair of back up QBs in Hoyer and Barkely. Hoyer was actually pretty decent in the five games he started for the Bears and though he has been a journey man is a stable bridge option until they can find a potential franchise guy. Their receiving corps will not be great but they at least have a competent professional looking group of receivers with the addition of free agents Pierre Garcon and Marquise Goodwin. Now the 49ers will not have to rely on Jeremy Kerley as a go to option. The running game was the one aspect of the 49ers offense that was somewhat trustworthy. Hyde was effective a year ago and now they have added a pro bowl fullback in Juszczyk to lead the way for him. The offensive line should be better as well as the team traded for Zuttah to upgrade the center position. Joe Staley was the one constant on the line at LT. The rest of the line was a disaster a year ago but their 2016 first round pick Garnett should be a lot better with a year of experience under his belt and it is possible that Beadles actually remembers how to play again. The niners got better at center and receiver but got worse at QB so at best their probably going to be right where they were a year ago in terms of offensive production at best just a smidge better.

Defense:

The unit that has me most intrigued about the 49ers this season is their defense. The defensive line is loaded with potential and high first round picks. Solomon Thomas, the team’s first round pick in this year’s draft, figures to man one of the defensive end spots. He was one of the top rated prospects in his class and has a lot of potential. Opposite him most likely will be Aaron Lynch who lost most of last season dealing with an ankle injury. He flashed potential as quality edge rusher in his first two seasons racking up six sacks in both years.  And of course they still have the two former Oregon Ducks, both of whom were top 10 picks and are very long and athletic, in DeForrest Buckner and Arik Armstead. They are expected to be the starting defensive tackles in the 49ers switch to the 4-3 defense. If Buckner builds on his impressive rookie year and Armstead plays more like he did in his than the 49ers could really be on there way to having a special defensive line moving forward. The team also added veteran sackman Elvis Dumervil who most likely will be used primarily for pass rushing situations. It remains to be seen how much he has left in the tank but he was one of the best pass rushers of the past decade at his best and at the very least can be a positive role model for all the young rushers they have. Their linebacking corps is where they most likely will see the most improvement. The 49ers were the worst run defense in the NFL in 2016 because of how poorly their linebacker play was. Bowman should be back in the lineup which will be an instant fix to improve linebacker play. They also picked up former Super Bowl MVP Malcolm Smith to play weakside and due to a combination of off field and injury concerns had the best linebacker in the class Reuben Foster fell right into their laps near the end of the first round. If he is healthy expect him to be the strong side backer. The secondary is where the majority of the concern should be placed for this defense. Pass defense was actually a strength of the defense in comparison to their run defense in 2016 but I think a lot of that had to do with teams just realizing they could run so easily on them they did not even pass as much as they could have against them. There is also the fact that teams were usually up in the 4th quarter against this team and often running the ball to finish them off. They have a lot of young and unproven guys at cornerback. Both Dontae Johnson and Rashard Robinson were fairly mediocre to average at best in 2016 and they are projecting to be the team’s starting corners on the outside. The guy to look out for is K’waun Williams who projects to be the nickel back. He is the best corner they have. He played really well for the Browns in his first two seasons in 2014 and 2015. However, last season he injured his ankle in training camp and needed surgery. That combined with some foolishness on the part of the Browns is why he did not play a snap. Who knows what to expect at safety from this team. Bethea was the team’s best safety and defensive back a year ago and now he is in Washington. Eric Reid figures to retain his role as the starting SS. He had a very good rookie year back in 2013 and has proceeded to play worse than the previous year ever since. One would think another year of that trend and he will play himself right out of job. Jimmie Ward has pretty much played cornerback for the 49ers since being drafted back in 2014. However in college he was actually a safety and the 49ers plan to convert him from corner back to his more natural safety position as the cornerback experiment had not worked out so great. Overall the defense has a lot of potential and it figures to be the strength of this team as they look to kick off the Lynch/Shanahan era.