What the 49ers can Take Away From a Nightmare Season

In a largely dark year, the 49ers had some nice bright spots that they could take away from a nightmare season.
Oct 10, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers safety Malik Mustapha (6) celebrates after intercepting the ball against the Seattle Seahawks during the first half at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
Oct 10, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco 49ers safety Malik Mustapha (6) celebrates after intercepting the ball against the Seattle Seahawks during the first half at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
In this story:

2024 was a nightmare season for the San Francisco 49ers.

Hardly anything went well for them. It was an outright depressing year that saw them lose 11 games and miss the playoffs. However, not everything was negative for them this past season. In a largely dark year, the 49ers had some nice bright spots that they could take away from a nightmare season.

Those bright spots are their rookies. The 49ers 2024 draft class was mightily impressive. It was their best draft class under Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch that gave them an immediate positive impact. This class can be their best one yet and that is why there is hope heading into 2025.

Practically every rookie last year played a role and contributed heavily with some impressive performances. It starts with offensive lineman Dominick Puni. He was the first rookie to stand out and become a starter. Injuries to Spencer Burford and Jon Feliciano defaulted him the opportunities.

Nevertheless, that doesn't take anything away from him holding onto the starting job. Had Puni not looked the part, the 49ers would've removed him as the starter. He made the most of his opportunities and is now the cornerstone on the offensive line.

Next up is safety Malik Mustapha. This rookie is one I was totally wrong on. I saw no chance of him being a key contributor for the 49ers. He was more than a contributor, he was an impactful starter and arguably one of their best defensive players.

Mustapha is strong in run support and decent in coverage. All he needs to do is clean up his tackling so he doesn't whiff so heavily and take a step forward as a coverage safety. If he does that, the 49ers will have hit a home run with him.

Another vital defensive player for the 49ers was cornerback Renardo Green. He is a key reason why the 49ers will end up being okay with letting Charvarius Ward walk. Green was tremendous this year and will have high expectations in 2025.

But no other rookie from 2024 will have higher expectations than wide receiver Ricky Pearsall. He was a first-round pick, so the 49ers need to get their return on investment. They may get that. Pearsall showed a lot of promise in his limited action in 2024.

He will also be relied upon more next year with Brandon Aiyuk coming off a torn ACL and MCL. You just hope that wide receiver Jacob Cowing will get some more love in the 49ers' offense. He is a player who can give the 49ers some desperately needed explosiveness.

It's been a long time since the 49ers can look at their draft class after the first year and feel extremely encouraged. That is the biggest takeaway from their nightmare season and why they can bounce back in 2025.

Read more


Published
Jose Luis Sanchez III
JOSE LUIS SANCHEZ III

Jose Luis Sanchez III has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily for FanNation since 2019. He started off as the lead publisher for FanNation's All49ers, then switched positions to become the Deputy Editor in 2020. Sanchez writes, edits, and produces videos daily for All49ers. He also co-hosts a show on YouTube with All49ers lead publisher Grant Cohn weekly. Prior to FanNation, Sanchez started his writing career back in 2016 for the school newspaper at Skyline college where he covered all sports team in the Bay Area. Following that from 2017 to 2019, he found a role as a contributor for FanSided's news desk along with their site's Just Blog Baby covering the Las Vegas Raiders and Golden Gate Sports every professional Bay Area sports team. Atop all of that, he was able to graduate with a Bachelors degree in Communication Studies at San Francisco State University in 2020. Sanchez is committed to ensuring he delivers transparent analysis and straightforward opinions that resonates with readers to get them thinking.