Yesterday, Fooch took a look at the most recent power rankings from NFL.com, and today, I’m going to take a look at the most recent power rankings from ... SB Nation. Mostly because I worked on them, and wrote the blurb for the San Francisco 49ers, as well as a few other teams.
The important thing to note about these specific power rankings is that they are post-free agency/offseason power rankings more focused on which teams improved the most. In other words, it’s all about the offseason paper champions, as Ryan Van Bibber likes to put it.
As he says, “These rankings represent the informed opinion of our staff about which teams have done hte most to improve this spring, and not something like which teams are most apt to win the Super Bowl.” For reference, the Cleveland Browns are No. 1, so these are not conventional power rankings.
The 49ers ended up 15th on the list, which is a pretty good spot as far as I’m concerned, though I didn’t pick the ranking itself (final ranking was RVB’s to make). My writeup:
The 49ers extended quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo before free agency opened — giving him the richest contract in the NFL, but also getting in before a slew of big contracts were signed. From there, they managed to bring in Richard Sherman, and negotiated a very team-friendly deal for what they believe is still one of the premium cornerbacks in the NFL. Add a young starting center in Weston Richburg and Kyle Shanahan’s newest “offensive weapon” in Jerick McKinnon, and San Francisco has a lot of reason for optimism in 2018.
Do you folks agree the writeup and the placement, or would you rank the 49ers higher? I can see why non-49ers fans would be cautious about the Richburg signing, and I can see why McKinnon is more of a “prove it first” kind of player given his contract.