The 49ers have built something here. San Francisco has advanced far beyond the reconstruction stage, assembling a balanced roster that is built to last and not only reach the playoffs, but contend for championships once there. That recent development has upgraded the talent throughout the roster, providing increased competition for jobs and leaving several 49ers veterans perhaps playing for their place in the team’s future plans as San Francisco hits the final stretch of its exhilarating turnaround season. In several cases, it won’t be a matter of whether the 49ers would like certain players to return, but more a question of whether the high standard of play by those veterans in 2019 has pushed them out of San Francisco’s price range with the team knowing it will need to pay its budding young stars in the future. Here, The Niner Report takes a look at eight key 49ers veterans who will be under the microscope down to the finish of the season. These are individuals that could be playing down the homestretch and into the playoffs for their futures in San Francisco — and in some cases, even their NFL careers — and we analyze the reasons that is so with each particular player.
DL Arik Armstead
This story is from the January 2020 edition of Niner Report.
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This story is from the January 2020 edition of Niner Report.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
EIGHT IS ENOUGH
Set 49ers lineup still has several new starters
Calling all cornerbacks
Loss of Verrett exposes 49ers’ thin depth at CB
Always finding their way to run
49ers system accomplished at developing homegrown talent
ANOTHER COMEBACK?
Resilient veteran Verrett to miss rest of season
TOP 10 Rookie running backs
THE BACK LIST
STOCK UP STOCK DOWN
DEOMMODORE LENOIR | AMBRY THOMAS
Will Mostert run for 49ers again?
Raheem Mostert was primed this year to be the centerpiece of one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses, featured as the lead performer in San Francisco’s grinding rushing attack while making his climb among the league’s top running backs.
THE WONDER OF WARNER
49ers make All-Pro star highest-paid LB in NFL
Making the right choice at QB
In the weeks that follow after you read this — and perhaps sometime even sooner than that — Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers organization will make a titanic decision that will have present, future and perhaps even everlasting implications for the franchise. It will chart the course for the team’s pivotal 2021 season while determining whether San Francisco really does have the juice to return to powerhouse status and again be considered a legitimate contender to get back to the Super Bowl.
TOP 10 Linebacker seasons
Fred Warner vaulted to stardom with a spectacular 2020 season — and the 49ers rewarded him this summer with a $95.225 million deal that makes him the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history. By today’s standards, Warner’s performance last year was worth the money as he posted an Approximate Value of 19 — matching the highest score ever recorded by a San Francisco defender according to a Pro Football Reference formula that puts a single number on each player-season across all positions since 1960. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman (twice) also had seasons with an AV of 19 as they dominate this list of the greatest individual seasons by a linebacker in 49ers history.
