Turnover can happen quickly in the NFL, so teams must always be looking to the future. Quality starters are great, but depth is, too, so losses to injury, retirement and free agency can be filled quickly and cost-effectively from within and via the draft.
Certainly the 49ers – 1-6 this season and in the midst of their bye week – are an example of what can go wrong.
As Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com pointed out this week, the 49ers are just four seasons removed from playing in the Super Bowl. And, when the team released nose tackle Ian Williams this week, it left just nine players remaining who were on that NFC championship team: Colin Kaepernick, Tramaine Brock, NaVorro Bowman, Ahmad Brooks, Michael Wilhoite, Tony Jerrod-Eddie, Daniel Kilgore, Joe Staley and Garrett Celek.
What looked like the foundation of a dynasty in San Francisco under head coach Jim Harbaugh quickly crumbled.
“The penthouse and outhouse are never very far apart in the NFL,” wrote Wagoner. “A few bad decisions on the personnel or coaching fronts can kill a blooming dynasty too soon or, in some cases, before it ever really gets started.”
Back during the peak of the Harbaugh era, it seemed as if the 49ers were doing all the right things. Even while the team was winning, general manager Trent Baalke was stockpiling draft picks, presumably to keep a fresh wave of talent coming in to provide depth and future success.
Yet as Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee this week wrote, that hasn’t happened.
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Barrows noted that Baalke has had 69 picks since he started running the team’s draft in 2010, the most of any team in the league. Over that span, the Seahawks (66), Vikings (65) are next in line with most picks.
Barrows wrote that the roster now has perhaps more holes than any other franchise.
“The 49ers are so bereft of talent – maybe the Browns have less? Maybe the Bears? – it’s hard to figure out their greatest weaknesses,” he wrote.
The 49ers rank last in the NFL in total offense, and its weak receiver corps and lack of high-quality production at quarterback are two big reasons. Also, when running back Carlos Hyde is injured – as he has been too frequently the past two seasons – there has been no quality replacement.
On defense, the 49ers are dead last in the league against the run, and the weak linebacker group is a significant reason. The retirements of Patrick Willis and Chris Borland and the injury to Bowman have left the cupboard bare of impact players.
Now, it appears the 49ers will be in the race to earn the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft. But with so many weaknesses on the roster, they’ll need both quality and quantity to start their climb back out of the cellar.
