SANTA CLARA — The book on the 49ers going into the 2025 season? Stars and scrubs, as one columnist put it.
Made sense too.
If there ever was a team dependent on their big-name players coming through in hopes of erasing the memory of a 6-11 season it was the 49ers.
Disaster struck, as it so often has with the 49ers. Brock Purdy, their $265 million starting quarterback, has missed three games with turf toe and there are probably more to come. Nick Bosa, their $170 million edge rusher, is done for the year with a torn ACL. There isn’t even a timeline yet for wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, their $120 million wide receiver who is recovering from ACL/MCL surgery.
Making Aiyuk’s absence worse is two wideouts, Ricky Pearsall Jr. (knee) and Jauan Jennings (knee, shoulder, ribs), have also missed time. George Kittle, the NFL’s best tight end coming off one of his best training camps, yanked a hamstring in the opener and we probably won’t see him until Week 7 in Atlanta.
“Next man up” has been the rallying cry of teams which lose key players to injury since the days of John Facenda narrating features on NFL Films. The late John Feinstein wrote a book with that title on the Baltimore Ravens.
It’s an overused cliche, but may as well be stitched on the 49ers’ jerseys.
A look at how five relatively obscure 49ers have stepped in and contributed to an unlikely 4-1 start that includes wins over all three NFC West opponents:
(I’m not including supersub quarterback Mac Jones simply because he’s one of the NFL’s highest-paid backups at two years, $7 million and there was considerable evidence in training camp he was going to be a very good addition)
Eddy Piñeiro
Anyone remember that queasy feeling whenever Jake Moody took the field to line up for a field goal attempt? The 49ers mercifully put a stop to the Moody third-round draft blunder by releasing him on Sept. 9 when he missed a makeable field goal and had another blocked in Week 1 against Seattle.
Moody had become a tortured soul and needed a fresh start. A member of the Chicago Bears practice squad, he may be a good kicker one day. It wasn’t happening with the 49ers.
Rather than bring back Greg Joseph, who was in camp for an aborted “competition,” the 49ers signed Piñeiro, harkening back to the Robbie Gould days of accuracy over distance.
After missing his first extra-point attempt, Piñeiro is 11-for-11 on field goal attempts and made his last six extra points. He drilled one from 59 yards in the 26-23 win over the Rams Thursday night and even doinked one off an upright on another. He kicked a game-winner from 35 yards out against Arizona. The 49ers aren’t 4-1 without him.
Bryce Huff
Bosa is irreplaceable because he had no flaws as a run defender or explosive edge rusher. Huff was acquired from Philadelphia after a washout season during which he wasn’t utilized as a hand-in-the-ground pass rusher. He had a 10-sack season for the New York Jets in 2023 when 49ers’ defensive coordinator Robert Saleh was the head coach.
His job was to provide a pass rush on the opposite side of Bosa. Now he’s the 49ers best pass rusher with three sacks. His strip sack in Week 2 against New Orleans closed out a 26-21 win. Whether the 49ers can add another edge rusher before the trade deadline (Trey Hendrickson, anyone?) on Nov. 4 is uncertain. What is certain is that Huff at least gives them some push against opposing quarterbacks.
Jake Tonges
Tonges was a good local story (Los Gatos High, Cal) for even making the 53-man roster. With Kittle out, he’s taken his opportunity and run with it (and caught with it, and blocked with it).
Against the Rams, Tonges caught seven passes for 41 yards and he leads the 49ers with a Kittle-worthy three touchdown receptions. He can sub in as a fullback in some of Shanahan’s ever-changing formations.
With all due respect to Ross Dwelley, the man Tonges beat out to make the roster, it was a huge roster upgrade and bought the 49ers some time until Kittle’s return.
Kendrick Bourne
After a rough game in the 49ers’ loss to Jacksonville, Bourne stepped up with Pearsall and Jennings both out with 10 receptions and a career high 142 yards against the Rams.
An undrafted free agent who played for the 49ers from 2017 through 2020, getting his first chance as an NFL player under Shanahan. His prior relationship with Jones when both were in New England hasn’t hurt either.
“I didn’t come here to be the guy,” Bourne said after the Rams game. “I’m not coming in to try and get 50 catches a game. I’m here to play a role, help the younger guys, be a vet. It’s about being humble.”
Connor Colby
The 49ers have made no secret about the fact that they were going to rely heavily on their draft class, and Mykel Williams, Alfred Collins, Upton Stout and Marques Sigle have all stepped in and contributed immediately.
Colby, however, was a seventh-round draft pick out of Iowa. A developmental player who down the road could see the field. The plan was never for him to be in the starting lineup. Ben Bartch, even with training camp injuries, was counted upon to replace Aaron Banks, who signed with Green Bay as a free agent.
Bartch sustained a high ankle sprain in Week 2 and went to injured reserve. Colby shined in 61 snaps against New Orleans in Bartch’s absence and has lined up at left guard next to Trent Williams ever since. He’s struggled some, but there is no guarantee Bartch gets his job back when he comes off injured reserve.