The 10 steps 49ers took to be back in Super Bowl LVIII
FILE – San Francisco 49ers quarterback #13 Brock Purdy was 22-for-28 passing for 230 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions against the Commanders Sunday in Landover, Md. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle
2024.02.06 – With a 48-month plan, San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York, who had fired three head coaches in 25 months before hiring Kyle Shanahan, was on board with his new head coach’s 10 step direction.
Shanahan picked general manager John Lynch and both inherited a 2-14 team that didn’t have an All-Pro pick in 2016 and had zero Pro Bowl selections for the first time since 2005.
There is a well-worn joke, that the NFL, with its impatient owners, endless roster churn and brief careers, stands for Not For Long.
Given that, head coach Shanahan’s initial timeline in 2017 for returning the 49ers to glory sounds like an eternity, plus a few more years.
“We were trying to build it,” Shanahan said, “to have a legit shot (in) the fourth year.”
Shanahan’s message to his new boss: They would begin their climb to the top from unprecedented depths.
Said York: “He’s like, ‘This is one of the worst rosters I’ve ever seen in the National Football League.’ ”
The 49ers’ ascent was faster than expected. They played in a Super Bowl in February 2020, 36 months after Shanahan and Lynch were hired. And now, after three straight appearances in the NFC Championship Game, they are preparing for Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
This season’s team, by some measurements, is the most loaded of the Lynch-Shanahan era. The 49ers had an NFL-high nine Pro Bowl selections, their most since 2013, and five first-team All-Pros, their most since 2012.
What’s the secret to turning a joke into a juggernaut? Nothing to it. Just make two of the best trades in franchise history to net two of the NFL’s best players, draft your franchise QB with pick No. 262, draft an All-Pro linebacker with pick No. 70, select an All-Pro tight end with pick No. 146 …
Ranking the top 10 moves that built this year’s Super Bowl team:
1. Drafting QB Brock Purdy
In the 2022 offseason, over the course of several months, quarterbacks coach Brian
Griese and assistant QBs coach Klay Kubiak were asked to study college quarterbacks leading up to the draft. They examined about 15 and offered their grades and evaluations to the staff.
They knew their work could net nothing. The 49ers had QB Trey Lance, were paying backup Nate Sudfeld $2 million guaranteed and had plenty of draft needs.
Looking back, it’s not hyperbolic to call it perhaps the greatest apparent grunt work in franchise history.
Griese and Kubiak championed Brock Purdy, leading the 49ers to select him with the last pick in the draft, allowing them to escape unscathed from missing on Lance and
leading to one of the NFL’s all-time great underdog stories.
This season, Purdy had the most passing yards (4,280) in franchise history and had the ninth-highest yards per attempt (9.6) and 14th-best passer rating (113.0) in NFL history.
And he’ll count $1.94 million against the salary cap — combined — over the next two years, helping the 49ers maintain their stacked roster.
Last month, Griese was asked if Purdy’s deep-ball proficiency was a surprise. Purdy’s arm strength, among other traits, had been widely questioned when he was a draft prospect.
“I keep getting the same question: People ask me, ‘Did you have concerns about his arm coming out of college,’ ” Griese said. “And I say, ‘No, otherwise I wouldn’t have been in favor of drafting him.’ ”
2. Trading for RB Christian McCaffrey
Not everyone was initially totally in on last season’s move for Christian McCaffrey. Shanahan needed some convincing before surrendering four draft picks for a high-mileage back who had missed 23 of 33 games due to injuries from 2020-21 and played an increasingly devalued position.
“Kyle is usually pedal to the metal,” Lynch said. “And he was actually the one guy showing some (restraint) when everyone else was pedal to the metal when we saw it within striking distance … and Kyle was just trying to be smart: ‘Are we sure? ’
2024.02.06 – Why the 49ers WILL Win SB – (FD News – Purdy, Deebo)
FILE – San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) scores a touchdown in the 4th quarter during an NFC Divisional Round Playoff Game against the Green Bay Packers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., Jan.130, 2024. The 49ers won 24-21.Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle
2024.02.06 – Why the 49ers WILL Win SB – (FD News – Purdy, Deebo)
2024.02.06 – Why the 49ers WILL Win SB – (FD News – Purdy, Deebo)
2024.02.06 – 49ers vs. Chiefs (Krueger – SB Preview with Steve Young)
2024.02.06 – 49ers vs. Chiefs (Krueger – SB Preview with Steve Young)
Ultimately, we were able to pull it off. I think it’s paid great dividends.”
You think? The 49ers, who were 13-12 in the 25 games before McCaffrey entered the starting lineup, are since 22-3 in games he’s started and finished.
This season, McCaffrey led the league in yards from scrimmage (2,023), became the first 49er to lead the NFL in rushing (1,459) since Joe Perry in 1954 and scored the second-most touchdowns (21) in franchise history.
The reaction after the 49ers gave up second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-round picks for McCaffrey: That’s a lot. The revised reaction: Is that all?
3. Trading for LT Trent Williams
After the retirement of Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Staley in April 2020, the 49ers were in position to replace him with Iowa’s Tristan Wirfs, with the No. 13 pick in the draft.
But they passed on Wirfs — now a three-time Pro Bowl pick — because they were gambling: They were among a host of teams in trade negotiations with Washington for Williams. Lynch was encouraged by his talks with head coach Ron Rivera, but there was no deal at the start of the final day of the draft.
“Every time it felt like we were at a point where we’d have it finished he’d say, ‘Let’s wait till tomorrow,’ ” Lynch said at the time. “That was frustrating, but we were willing to take that chance.”
The risk was rewarded. The 49ers acquired one of the best offensive tackles in NFL history for a third- and fifth-round pick. The modest cost reflected that Williams, then entering his age-32 season, hadn’t played the previous year and was entering a contract year.
No problem. The 49ers made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history in 2021 and the $138 million man might be improving with age: Williams earned his only first-team All-Pro honors in each of the past three seasons.
“Thank God,” Lynch said in 2020, “we stayed persistent on that.”
4. Drafting LB Fred Warner
NFL coaches and talent evaluators grill college prospects to determine how passionate they are about football, a sport that exacts a huge physical and mental toll. So it was telling that Fred Warner was gauging the 49ers’ passion during the pre-draft process.
“I could tell,” Warner said on the day he was drafted in the third round, “they love the game just as much as I do.”
It was the first sign that Warner, a tone-setter on the field, would be a culture-builder off it. The four-time team captain’s intangibles were immediately impressive, but his fit in the NFL wasn’t before he was selected.
Warner played a hybrid “Flash” position at BYU that involved linebacker, safety and nickel corner, raising questions about his position at the next level. In 2019, before playing the 49ers, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said of Warner that “most people didn’t view him as a draft-pick guy.”
The 49ers’ ability to envision Warner, 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, as a prototypical modern-day linebacker has been richly rewarded. He ranks second in franchise history in tackles, has the most tackles in the team’s postseason history and tied a 49ers’ record with four interceptions this season, the most by a non-defensive back.
5. Drafting tight end George Kittle
After George Kittle was selected in the fifth round in 2017, sandwiched between Michigan tight end Jake Butt and Kutztown guard Jordan Morgan, he was asked to give a self-scouting report on a conference call with Bay Area reporters.
“I can block anybody that you want me to block,” Kittle said. “You can move me around, run routes, and do whatever you want me to do. I feel like I can catch the ball well … I think that’s my best thing — I’m a versatile guy.”
Really? The self-described Mr. Do It All basically did one thing at Iowa: block. But the 49ers noted the prospect with a puny career catch total (48) averaged a whopping 15.4 yards on his receptions.
“We thought it was tremendous value,” Lynch said when Kittle was picked.
2024.02.05 – 49ers vs. Chiefs (Warner, Greenlaw slowing down Chiefs)
FILE – George Kittle #85 of the San Francisco 49ers reacts after a touchdown pass during the third quarter against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium on November 12, 2023 in Jacksonville, Florida.Megan Briggs/Getty Images
2024.02.05 – 49ers vs. Chiefs (Warner, Greenlaw slowing down Chiefs)
2024.02.05 – 49ers vs. Chiefs (Warner, Greenlaw slowing down Chiefs)
It was even more than that. The No. 146 pick has averaged 13.6 yards on his 460 career catches, ninth in NFL history among tight ends with 300-plus receptions, and he owns the only three 1,000 receiving-yard seasons by a tight end in franchise history.
Oh, and he was right: He really can block anybody. His piledriver on Lions’ Pro Bowl defensive end Aidan Hutchinson (6-foot-7, 268 pounds) in last week’s NFC Championship Game was the latest addition to his pancake reel.
6. Drafting WR Deebo Samuel
The 49ers drafted Warner because of a draft mistake: It remained a position of need because they whiffed on linebacker Reuben Foster with a first-round pick in 2017. Looking back, it’s notable that they selected Warner, a squeaky clean leader, after Foster’s brief, troubled tenure was beset by off-the-field issues.
Similarly, a draft botch with lithe wideout Dante Pettis, a second rounder in 2018, led them to select Deebo Samuel, a punishing wideout with tree-trunk thighs, in the second round a year later.
Samuel didn’t have an elite ability to separate from defensive backs on his routes — a quality Pettis showed in college that didn’t translate — but he did have a talent for running over cornerbacks and safeties (and linebackers and … ).
Samuel officially became a wide-back in 2021, when he became the only player in NFL history to have 1,200 receiving yards and 300 rushing yards in the same season. This season, he became the second player in league history to have 4,000 receiving yards and 1,000 rushing yards in his first five seasons.
7. Drafting DE Nick Bosa
This isn’t higher because selecting Nick Bosa with the No. 2 pick in 2019 was a bit of a no-brainer. Mostly.
There was an argument for grabbing Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, who was viewed in some circles as the best regardless-of-position player in the draft and didn’t have Bosa’s perceived red flags.
Bosa played in just three games in his final season at Ohio State and suffered a torn ACL as a senior in high school. There were also questions about his locker room fit due to his controversial social-media posts.
2024.02.05 – 49ers vs. Chiefs (Wake Up with Bruce & Krueger)
FILE – San Francisco 49ers’ defensive end Nick Bosa, 97, gets the first of two sacks on Detroit Lions’ quarterback Jared Goff, 16, in the second quarter during the NFC Championship Game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Calif., on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024.Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
2024.02.05 – 49ers vs. Chiefs (Wake Up with Bruce & Krueger)
2024.02.05 – 49ers vs. Chiefs (Wake Up with Bruce & Krueger)
Williams, selected No. 3 by the Jets, has been a first-team All-Pro and a two-time Pro Bowl pick. But the 49ers have zero regrets.
Bosa, who has been voted a team captain, is on a Hall of Fame trajectory. Rookie of the Year. NFL Defensive Player of the Year. After five seasons, he ranks third in team history in sacks (53.5) and has a franchise-best 10 sacks in the postseason.
“I don’t know that anybody outside of our building thought it was going to happen in 2019,” York said of the Super Bowl year that was preceded by a 4-12 season. “But I remember when Nick Bosa was sitting there at No. 2, it was like, ‘All right, we’ve got a chance.’ ”
8. Drafting WR Brandon Aiyuk
For all their talent-acquisition success, Lynch and Shanahan have an inordinate amount of forgettable first-round picks: Foster, Lance, Solomon Thomas and Javon Kinlaw.
It appeared Brandon Aiyuk was destined to join their company after the No. 25 pick in 2020 began his second year playing behind journeyman Trent Sherfield in the regular-season opener in Detroit. However, Aiyuk has since shown why Shanahan termed him his “favorite receiver” in a loaded group that included Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb (No. 17) and Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson (No. 22) in 2020.
Aiyuk, the sixth receiver selected that year, might not quite be in their class. But he’s knocking on the door after a slower start to his career. This season, he ranked seventh in the NFL in receiving yards (1,342), second in yards per reception (17.9) and became the first 49ers player with consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons since Anquan Boldin (2013-2014).
9. Signing CB Charvarius Ward
Teams typically are forced to pay a premium in the early days of free agency. And it appeared the 49ers did just that when they gave a three-year, $40.5 million contract to Charvarius Ward, who had four interceptions and 29 pass breakups in his first four seasons with the Chiefs.
“He’s a guy that our scouts did a great job identifying in free agency,” Lynch said Friday. “We all became really impassioned as to what he could become.”
This season, Ward became, well, underpaid. He did so because he became a Pro Bowl selection and a second-team All-Pro, both career-firsts, after he posted numbers that roughly matched his production in Kansas City. Ward tied for fourth in the NFL with five interceptions and had a league-best 23 pass breakups.
10. Drafting LB Dre Greenlaw
The 49ers are thankful Dre Greenlaw was dealing with a balky hamstring during the pre-draft process. The injury explains why he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.73 seconds at the combine — a woeful figure for an NFL linebacker — and he slipped to the 49ers in the fifth round in 2019.
The 49ers trusted GPS data at Arkansas that indicated he was the Razorbacks’ fastest player. Say this: Speed hasn’t been an issue while Greenlaw has had back-to-back seasons with 120-plus tackles.
Greenlaw has seven career unnecessary roughness penalties and has been disqualified from two games. The 49ers will take the tradeoff: He’s become the enforcer of a perennially nasty defense and his pairing with Warner has evoked memories of Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman.
UP NEXT
The 49ers are at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, for Super Bowl LVIII, where they will face the Kansas City Chiefs (6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT, CBS). The two teams faced off in Super Bowl LIV, with the Chiefs winning 31-20.
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Read more at: San Francisco 49ers Media Services / More AP NFL
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