The 2025 season had everything for the San Francisco 49ers: injuries, thrilling victories, and a playoff win. With injuries to cornerstone players like Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, and George Kittle, the path to victories was made difficult, but the team still finished with 13 wins. It’s safe to say there were plenty of surprises in 2025.
Looking back on last season’s statistics has unearthed three surprising stats for the 49ers.
Mac Jones and Brock Purdy finished second and third in Adj. Completion %
First,
adjusted completion percentage excludes drops, throwaways, spikes, and instances of the quarterback being hit as he threw. Pro Football Focus has many useful advanced metrics, and the two 49ers quarterbacks finished back-to-back in 2025.
- Jared Goff 80.2%
- Mac Jones 79.6%
- Brock Purdy 78.7%
- Kyler Murray 78.4%
- Josh Allen 78.2%
The PFF QB Annual lists both 49ers quarterbacks in the top five in a few categories. Jones finished second in perfectly accurate % (share of attempts graded as perfectly accurate) with 22.9%. The 49ers’ offense operated efficiently and on time in the passing game with Jones, but the difference lies in Purdy’s mobility. Purdy led the NFL with a 9.0% pressure-to-sack rate, which is defined as the best at avoiding sacks when pressured.
It also helps that Purdy finished second behind Lamar Jackson with 8,70 yards per attempt in clutch situations. PFF believes Purdy was the third-unluckiest QB in the NFL, with a -4.5 net interception luck rating. Basically, the metric measures interceptions over their projection model than expected. Jones recorded the fifth-largest grade jump in 2024, with a 13.3-point increase.
Ricky Pearsall led all receivers in contested catch rate
The qualification for contested catch rate is 50 targets, and the second-year receiver finished with the best rate at 81.8%. There are two schools of thought: Is Pearsall struggling to gain separation, or does he excel with 50/50 balls? I’m more inclined to lean towards being better at the catch point, but against stickier coverage, the first point can have legs. Either way, given the injury issues dealt with in 2025, this stat is encouraging.
Pearsall is clearly talented, and with a full season, can rack up some serious numbers. Another point to make is that Pearsall did most of his damage with Jones. Combined with the accuracy numbers cited previously for Jones, both stats make sense.
The 49ers’ defense finished dead last in the NFL in success rate allowed
While this may not shock people, it certainly shocked me. Yes, the 49ers’ pass rush was abysmal (3.15% sack rate, 32nd). Myles Garrett finished with more sacks than the entire 49ers team. Still, there were plenty of awful defenses in 2025. The Jets failed to record a single interception, but the 49ers were tied for 30th with Dallas with an INT% of 0.95%. Finishing with a 48.05% success rate allowed on defense, the 49ers managed to be the worst in the NFL, according to SumerSports.
The 49ers’ defense didn’t finish last in EPA/play allowed (0.06, 24th), at least. It wasn’t a good year overall, but the good news? The defense will improve, and the team won 13 games in 2025.
