The San Francisco 49ers defense could be one of the best outfits in football. It's got two of the best playmakers in the game with defensive end Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner leading the way for a team that may only be getting better on that side of the ball. The club made some smart decisions to load up on defensive talent in the 2025 NFL Draft,
They made sure to focus on improving the defense by taking five straight defensive players, starting with DE Mykel Williams in the first round, then DT Alfred Collins in the second, LB Nickolas Martin and Upton Stout in the third round, and finally taking another defensive tackle in CJ West in the fourth. All five men are expected to be big-time contributors for this defense, and their influx could really raise the profile of an already top-10 defense in the league.
Couple them with returning CB Eli Apple and new players like CB Tre Brown and DE Bryce Huff, and this may just be one of the best defenses in the league. With Bosa and Warner anchoring your team, there isn't much you can't accomplish. That said, the supreme defense that the 49ers are molding may not have the impact that they hoped it would.
Middling Offense May Be 49ers' Downfall Once Again
San Francisco had a top-10 defense in 2024, but the team still only won six games. So how come that happened?
Same reason it happened last year: a middling offense. The team was 14th in touchdowns last year and was still one of the better rushing teams without Christian McCaffrey for most of the season. Yet, it was the scoring efficiency of the passing game that limited the Niners. While Brock Purdy still helped lead the team to rank in the top five in passing yards, the team only threw 23 touchdowns, with Purdy accounting for 20 of them.
He missed two games, and when he was healthy, you could tell he couldn't drive the offense as he used to in 2023. Part of that is the lack of talent around him, with McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk missing time, and others, like Deebo Samuel, not producing to the level many had hoped. The offensive issues caused the team to stumble and fall, essentially wasting one of the best defensive groups in the game last year.
The defense may only get better with the influx of younger talent, but it won't matter how good the defense is if the offense can't score more consistently, then this will be another six-win season.