On the listing of stuff you don’t wish to hear concerning the 2025 San Francisco 49ers, “We’re in a similar situation to where we were last year,” could be on the prime of the listing.
So when Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan mentioned that on Monday after the staff’s first observe of the second week of preseason, it wasn’t only a purple flag — it was a thousand-foot flare demanding you look over right here.
The same scenario to final season? You keep in mind how final season went, proper?
However Shanahan’s isn’t flawed. This staff won’t be mired in weird contract negotiations (Jauan Jennings’ state of affairs pales compared to final yr’s Brandon Aiyuk and even Trent Williams’ absences), however the 2025 squad appears simply as injured because the 2024 squad.
We all know how that labored out.
For a staff that should begin the season robust — they open with a divisional sport and have three NFC West matchups within the first 5 weeks — the ever-growing listing of absences in Santa Clara has the Niners caught within the gates with lower than a month to go earlier than their season opener in Seattle.
In Saturday’s preseason debut, greater than a 3rd of the staff’s 90-man roster was held out of motion. Even when the Niners wished to play starters in that sport, at many positions accidents are so widespread it’s tough to distinguish the primary string from the third.
Final yr, the Niners have been so injured and usually shorthanded the staff needed to cancel a joint observe with the Saints. They didn’t have sufficient our bodies. And seeing as how Shanahan values joint practices greater than any preseason sport, it was telling on Monday that he instructed that this week’s joint observe with the Raiders in Nevada could be critically restricted.
“We couldn’t do [third-strings] today. We couldn’t do one-on-ones today,” Shanahan mentioned. “We’ve had to cut things out. Hopefully we don’t have to cut too many things versus Vegas, but we’ll see after [Tuesday’s] practice.”
A lot for that “new year, new Niners” mantra.
All these accidents, on prime of the overall thriller that comes once you dramatically reshape a roster, because the Niners did this previous spring, go away San Francisco in an inauspicious spot within the remaining stretch of preseason. (Week 1 prep begins in two weeks.)
San Francisco received six video games final yr. That wasn’t a mistake or a one-year blip — it was a future manifested in coaching camp once they have been torpid, undisciplined, and distracted for greater than a month. That was simply chalked as much as contractual chaos and the dreaded Tremendous Bowl hangover.
However whereas the off-the-field nonsense was an issue, and the hangover was actual, accidents have been the 2024 49ers’ largest issues.
In coaching camp and past, day was a crapshoot on who could be at work.
There could be bigger points at hand with how the 49ers deal with medical points — I’m no physician — however there’s a close to comical degree of absence with this staff, once more.
This season, the Niners roster is youthful and extra unproven. There’s no Tremendous Bowl hangover, however the observe crapshoot continues to be occurring.
Because it stands on Monday, the staff’s most well-liked starters at large receiver and prime rookie — 4 of the highest 5 — on the depth chart are in query or already dominated out for Week 1.
The defensive position is so banged up that normal supervisor John Lynch is signing a brand new participant almost on daily basis simply to get a two-deep for observe.
The identical factor is occurring working again — Jeff Wilson rejoined the staff Monday.
And whereas, sure, all these accidents have offered alternatives for the Niners’ massive steady of younger gamers to see severe observe motion, and that’s a very good factor — they want the reps, even when they’re Not Prepared For Primetime Gamers — it’s additionally resulted in depth safeties standing in at linebacker in scrimmages, and extra reps from Dallis Flowers (fourth season, third staff), Russell Gage (eighth season, fourth staff), and Patrick Taylor (sixth season, fourth staff) than anybody deliberate.
No less than with final season’s staff, you may (foolishly, it was confirmed) present the good thing about the doubt. They don’t want the reps collectively – they have been simply within the Tremendous Bowl.
This staff — no matter it could be — wants these reps collectively. They simply received six video games after which underwent a large roster renovation. They’re entitled to nothing.
When these all-important reps will come — if they arrive — is anybody’s guess. Because it stands, it received’t be this week. Subsequent week — with the staff’s doable “dress rehearsal” preseason sport in opposition to the Chargers — appears murky, too.
However please, maintain telling me how straightforward the staff’s schedule is. At this level, the hype across the perceived easiness of the schedule is so steadily mentioned, it, extra so than any participant, could be as properly standout performer of camp.
Wishful pondering doesn’t quantity for a lot on this league.
The Niners want this season to be totally different. And but, with Week 1 quick approaching, it seems to be something however.
After Saturday’s preseason debut, a blowout loss to the Broncos the place the 49ers’ lack of depth was obvious, the knee-jerk response from many gave the impression to be “here we go again.”
An overreaction? Maybe.
Then once more, on Monday, Shanahan agreed.
Initially Printed: August 11, 2025 at 7:08 PM PDT
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