I would wager that most 49ers fans resident in the United States have not heard of a man by the name of Alan Hansen. However, in the world of British sports, he is responsible for one of the most infamously wrong quotes of all time.
Speaking as a soccer pundit for the BBC’s ‘Match of the Day’ show, Hansen said of a Manchester United side featuring several inexperienced players following a loss on the opening day of the 1995-96 season: “You can’t win anything with kids.”
United went on to leave Hansen
eating his words, recovering a 12-point deficit to long-time leaders Newcastle United to win the Premier League title, while also lifting the FA Cup.
The team wasn’t totally made up of young players. United had a well-balanced blend of youth and experience that allowed them to win one of the most thrilling title races in history. In the 2025 season, the 49ers will be hoping they have the right mix to be able to challenge for the Super Bowl again, with the game being held at Levi’s Stadium next February.
Lynch’s optimism
Yet when looking at the 49ers’ depth chart following the initial moves to cut the roster down to 53 players, it’s easy to wonder whether San Francisco is set to be a little too reliant on inexperienced players.
The 49ers needed to get younger to refresh an ageing, top-heavy roster, but concern about having at least six first or second-year players in starting roles for 2025 would be understandable.
For his part, general manager John Lynch expreseed optimism around the roster. Speaking in a press conference on Wednesday, Lynch said:
“Yeah, I think 10 of 11 of our Draft picks, that’s a lot of Draft picks and 10 of 11 made it and an undrafted free agent made it as well. So, there is a lot of youth on this team. There’s a lot of opportunity with youth. The expectation, the standard doesn’t change. They’ve got great examples of guys who’ve done it at a high level in this League, so that’s really cool for these guys, but you don’t expect for it to go perfectly. Hopefully you’ve worked through a lot of that during the offseason, during training camp, these guys have played preseason games, because of some injuries in camp a lot of these guys have probably got more reps than they’ve expected. Now in the same tune, some of our rookies were hurt for a couple weeks during training camp. So, I think a lot of it just remains to be seen, but we’re excited about what this group has infused into our team. We’re excited about the team in general. Did a lot of talent leave this team last year? Absolutely. That’s the League and we made the best of it. I like where our team’s at.”
He added of their blend of youth and experienced superstars like Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Nick Bosa and Fred Warner:
“It’s a great mix. I remember when I was a rookie having [former LB] Hardy Nickerson next to me. So, to be a young guy and have an established vet who’s been really successful, who can help you on the field, but help you off the field too, take you through that, that’s what you want in a locker room. I think we’ve got that throughout this locker room. There’s a lot of really impressive people. Obviously, their work on the field speaks for itself. So, tremendous for these rookies to have role models. You want to be successful? Study successful people, they’re all over this locker room. So, I think that bodes well for us.”
A test of the ecosystem
Lynch’s comments speak in part to the faith he has in those players, not just as stars who raise the floor of the team with their individual performances, but as leaders who can elevate those around them.
In essence, having so many young players in prominent roles is a test of the 49ers’ ecosystem. Yet with four of those six inexperienced starters set to be on defense – Mykel Williams, Renardo Green, Upton Stout and Marques Sigle – and Alfred Collins and C.J. West also set to play significant snaps if not start as rookies, perhaps the most important part of that ecosystem for 2025 will be the defensive coaching staff.
The 49ers brought back Robert Saleh confident in his ability to lift the defense back to the levels it reached under his guidance in 2019 and 2020, and under DeMeco Ryans in 2022. The pressure on him to live up to expectations is enormous, particularly given the level of faith being placed in young talent. However, that pressure also extends to his assistants.
Kris Kocurek will be expected to quickly get the best out of Williams, Collins and West on the defensive line, while veteran linebackers coach Johnny Holland will need to work his magic with that group to put Dee Winters in the best position to succeed at the WILL position and ensure the 49ers are in a good spot at SAM when they play base downs.
The biggest area of concern on defense is in the secondary, where the Niners look set to rely on Renardo Green taking a second-year leap at outside corner and Stout and Sigle thriving at nickel corner and safety respectively as rookies. At some point this season, Malik Mustapha will return from injury and likely start at the other safety spot as he did as a rookie.
With a distinct lack of depth in the defensive backfield, particularly at corner, there is a huge emphasis on the starters staying healthy and excelling. As such, it is a massive year for defensive backs coach and defensive passing game specialist Daniel Bullocks, while the experience of assistant head coach Gus Bradley in coordinating the Seattle Cover 3 defense that formed the foundation of this 49ers scheme could prove a significant asset to the players in the back seven.
Throughout the course of Kyle Shanahan’s time as head coach, his offensive scheme is what has both kept the floor high and given the team such a lofty ceiling. However, the 2023 season was something of an anomaly for the 49ers in that their dominance came in a year in which the defense took a slight step back, with the offense a juggernaut that rarely struggled outside of a three-game stretch before the bye.
But the 49ers’ most complete seasons have typically come when the high-floor offense has been supported by consistently high-level defensive performances that helped raise the ceiling of the team. The 49ers proving they can win with ‘kids’ is in large part reliant on their ecosystem on the defensive side of the ball eliciting similar displays early and often in 2025.
