Last Year: 

Record: 5-11

Offense: 303.8 YPG (31st), 14.9 PPG (32nd)

Defense: 387.4 YPG (29th), 24.2 (18th)

It was a year of change for the 49ers. They lost 2 defensive cornerstone players in Patrick Willis and Justin Smith to retirement and then another shocking retirement from a promising young player in Chris Borland. And if that wasn’t bad enough, head coach Jim Harbaugh, who in my opinion was the biggest reason for the 49ers turnaround, was let go. [Editor’s note-Kevin: No take-backs.] Then they made a terrible hire in  Jim Tomsula, who presumably got the job because management “liked him,” to be his replacement. With so much going wrong before the 2015 season got started, the 49ers were behind the 8-ball before a game was even played. As far as the actual on-field performance of the 49ers, it was an absolute disaster on offense. Kaepernick looked completely lost without Harbaugh around and even got so bad the 49ers turned to Blaine Gabbert as plan B. The receiving production wasn’t very good either and the most disappointing of the bunch had to be newcomer Torrey Smith who simply wasn’t impactful enough. Joe Staley played well and Alex Boone was bad either but the right side of the offensive line also really struggled. Defensively the 49ers were not very good either but that unit had more success than the offense. Navarro Bowman looked good as he returned to the lineup after missing all of the 2014 season. Veteran Ian Williams played well at the nose and youngsters Arik Armstead and Aaron Lynch showed signs of potential. But overall the combination of rapid talent loss and losing a very good coach clearly set the 49ers back.

Offseason: 

Key Acquisitions: G. Zane Beadles

Key Loses: WR. Anquan Boldin, G. Alex Boone

2016 Draft Picks

RD(PK)	PLAYER	POS	SCHOOL
1(7)	DeForest Buckner	DE	Oregon
1(28)	Joshua Garnett	OG	Stanford
3(5)	Will Redmond	CB	Mississippi State
4(35)	Rashard Robinson	CB	LSU
5(3)	Ronald Blair	DT	Appalachian State
5(6)	John Theus	OT	Georgia
5(35)	Fahn Cooper	OT	Ole Miss
6(32)	Jeff Driskel	QB	Louisiana Tech
6(36)	Kelvin Taylor	RB	Florida
6(38)	Aaron Burbridge	WR	Michigan State
7(28)	Prince Charles Iworah	CB	Western Kentucky

2016 Outlook

Coaching Staff

HC: Chip Kelly

OC: Curtis Modkins

DC: Jim O’Neil

ST: Derius Swinton

Projected Depth Chart

Offense

QB. Colin Kaepernick, Blaine Gabbert

RB. Carlos Hyde, Mike Davis

WR. Torrey Smith, Jerome Simpson

WR. Quinton Patton, Dres Anderson

WR. Bruce Ellington

TE. Vance McDonald, Garrett Celek

LT. Joe Staley, Colin Kelly

LG. Zane Beadles, Ian Silberman

C. Daniel Kilgore, Marcus Martin

RG. Josh Garnett, Brandon Thomas

RT. Eric Pears, Fahn Cooper

Defense

DE. Arik Armstead, Glenn Dorsey

NT. Ian Williams, Mike Purcell

DE. DeForest Buckner, Quinton Dal

OLB. Ahmad Brooks, Corey Lemonier

MLB. NaVorro Bowman, Shayne Skov

MLB. Gerald Hodges, Michael Wilhoite

OLB. Aaron Lynch, Eli Harold

CB. Tramaine Brock, Kenneth Acker

SS. Antoine Bethea, Jaquiski Tartt

FS. Eric Reid, L.J. McCray

CB. Dontae Johnson, Will Redmond

NB. Jimmie Ward

Special Teams

K. Phil Dawson

P. Bradley Pinion

Breakdown

Offense: 

A lot of teams made changes and improved this off-season. The 49ers, however, are not 1 of those teams. Their lone major free agent acquisition was acquiring Zane Beadles at guard. Their receiving corps is without question the worst in the NFL and I’m struggling to figure out how their passing game is gonna work when nobody is open the majority of the time. Honestly Quinton Patton is the 1 guy in that group that has the potential to maybe breakout and be something. Smith is what he is at this point which is a 1 dimensional vertical guy. Where I do expect to see some improvement with this team is in the run game. Chip Kelly’s offense is built to be successful on the ground. Hyde has the talent to be a feature back and Davis has some ability talent as well to compliment that. But in order for this offense to maximize whatever it is they can be, it’s going to come down to Colin Kaepernick and whether or not he and Kelly can get on the same page. If Gabbert for whatever reason is this teams starting QB in 2016, then expect the 49ers to give the Browns a real run for their money for that 1st overall pick in next year’s draft.

Defense: 

Defensively, I think the 49ers have some nice young talent to make some strides on this side of the ball. The numbers won’t reflect how good they are because they’ll presumably be on the field a ton due to a combination of Chip’s offensive style and the presumed ineptitude I expect from their offense. But the 49ers have players at all levels of their defense that could break out this season. On the defensive line, they have 2 Oregon ends that are huge and have talent. If Buckner is good right out of the gates and Armstead grows a lot from last year, the 49ers defensive line could cause a lot of problems for opposing offenses. At the linebacker level, I expect Bowman to play even better now that he’s 2 years removed from his injury. On the edge, Aaron Lynch should be on everyone’s young players that could break out list for this upcoming season. In the secondary, Brock is steady and they have a lot of intriguing young corners like Dontae Johnson and Will Redmond who have plenty of potential. At safety, Reid has seemingly taken a step back after a very impressive start to his career. In a contract year, you have to believe he’ll be hungry to try and produce the best season of his career and veteran Antoine Bethea has been doing it for years. The 49ers really do have a shot at have a pretty decent defense; it’ll just largely depend on how their young guys have developed and if the 49ers offense can give them ANYTHING at all.