SANTA CLARA — Nothing stops the NFL information stream, whether it’s factual, speculative or even fabricated.
Consequently, there is no shortage of storylines taken as gospel that wind up meaning nothing at all when the regular season begins when the regular season starts Sunday on the road against the Seattle Seahawks.
“I do think we have a team that can compete but like every year, Week 1 is where dreams and reality meet,” left tackle Trent Williams said Monday after a brief practice. “Every season is its own story, is its own book. I would hate to sit here and act like I know what’s going to happen. I really don’t.”
A look at five myths about the 2025 49ers waiting to be dispelled:
Myth No. 1: The 49ers were decimated in the offseason
Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga, Aaron Banks, Leonard Floyd, Javon Hargrave, Charvarius Ward, Deebo Samuel (trade), and Jordan Mason (trade) are all elsewhere. And with Greenlaw the only possible exception, that was the plan all along.
Besides key injuries, there’s a reason the 49ers were 6-11 last season. To their credit, the 49ers didn’t simply run it back and assume everything would be better with the same players.
Take a look at the above list and then try and identify a player they absolutely couldn’t do without. Unless Greenlaw holds up physically, there are none.
General manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan are saying the right things, talking about the difficulty of losing or trading so many players. No way they’re going to tell the world they barely made an offer for any of the departed. No reason to insult someone on their way out the door.
The roster is younger, better. Over the last couple of years, the 49ers spent big to retain Nick Bosa, Brandon Aiyuk, Christian McCaffrey, Williams, George Kittle, Fred Warner, Deommodore Lenoir and finally quarterback Brock Purdy. They had bad luck with Aiyuk and we’ll see how he’s recovered once the 49ers are five or six games into the season.
But the roster is better for all the alleged losses in personnel.
Myth No. 2: Training camp injuries make for a bleak outlook
Last time I checked, there hasn’t been a catastrophic injury that will necessitate something dramatic. Early in camp, I designated eight players the 49ers should put in bubble wrap to make sure they were ready on Sept. 7. They were, in order, Bosa, Williams, Ricky Pearsall Jr., McCaffrey, Kittle, Warner, Purdy and Lenoir.
All are good to go. Even Jauan Jennings showed up Monday. That’s a pretty solid nucleus. It also appears that guards Dominick Puni and Ben Bartch are on schedule to start Week 1. Jacob Cowing (hamstring) and Kevin Givens (pectoral) begin the season on injured reserve. Unfortunate, but nothing close to a body blow.
Missed practice time for players such as rookies Mykel Williams, C.J. West and Upton Stout may be cause for some rust, but that’s a far cry from being unavailable.
“Those kids can play,” Williams said. “They’re not here just because we don’t have another option. They’re here because they look like they’re the better option.”
Myth No. 3: The schedule is so easy the 49ers should coast to the playoffs
Sorry, but the NFL doesn’t work that way. There’s a reason they still play the games rather than just pay off the bets.
There are teams every year that come out of nowhere and go from awful to competent and beyond. The 49ers usually stub their toe against the Cardinals. The Rams have been in the playoffs two years running and Seattle has remade itself in the second year under Mike Macdonald.
Think winning in Tampa Bay is going to be easy? Or in Houston under Demeco Ryans? Of the supposed also-rans — the New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts — go ahead and assume a couple of those teams will be much better than anyone anticipated.
Myth No. 4: Issues at wide receiver will cripple the passing game
This is where the $265 million investment in Purdy needs to pay off. Jennings may or may not be on the field depending on how he responds after Monday’s practice. Demarcus Robinson is suspended for the first three games. Skyy Moore just joined the team. Russell Gage Jr. is a solid, unexceptional veteran. Marques Valdes-Scantling and/or Robbie Chosen could be promoted from the practice squad as soon as Week 1.
So there’s Pearsall and then everybody else. And it’s Purdy’s job to be the puppet master and properly distribute the ball to whoever the wide receivers are. Josh Allen won an MVP in Buffalo without a wide receiver who had more than 821 yards on the roster.
Purdy isn’t Allen, but he needs to be so good that he elevates his receivers to something better, and plus he’s got Kittle and McCaffrey at the ready to be flexed or put in motion to create mismatches.
Myth No. 5: The offensive line is awful
Right tackle Colton McKivitz used to be public enemy No. 1 on 49ers social media. That is, until it became apparent he was actually pretty good. Then center Jake Brendel assumed the mantle.
The advent of All-22, as well as video games, has spawned a ton of experts — most of whom couldn’t talk football strategy in depth with a real coach for more than five minutes before getting lost in the terminology.
The belief here is that the disconnect between what fans/bloggers/media believe they know and what they actually know is at its most vast when it comes to the offensive line.
If Williams gets hurt, it’s a body blow. He’s had a very healthy camp and practiced more than I thought he would. And the rest of the line — Bartch, Brendel, Puni, McKivitz, plus blocking tight end Luke Farrell — are plenty good enough for the 49ers to thrive.