With their five straight wins to close out the 2017 season, the San Francisco 49ers have all the momentum to make a huge splash in 2018. With their offseason additions and potentially explosive offense, heads are turning and now Jason La Canfora is jumping onboard with a list of teams that will surprise in 2018. Here’s what he said about the 49ers.
I know, I’m really going out on a limb here. They became media darlings with the way they finished the season and rallied behind their new quarterback. But that was no fluke, and Jimmy Garoppolo is just getting started.
There is a very palpable feeling around this team that it is turning the corner and out of the dark ages. Kyle Shanahan knows who and what fits his system. Now in his second year as a head coach and with his sea legs under him, I expect to see immediate dividends from Jerick McKinnon, and the reshaped offensive line should be more adept at that outside zone running scheme. They are deeper at receiver, and should Rueben Foster not be in legal trouble I really like their chances of duplicating what the Rams did a year ago and coming from the basement to win the NFC West.
The 49ers are starting to pick up steam for 2018—they have a handful of primetime games if that’s any indication of how they perceived in the league. Now that Jimmy Garoppolo has familiarity with the 49ers’ playbook, the sky is the limit for how the offense will shake out. Their defense is definitely a wild card, but if the defensive line can get it together and generate some pressure alongside Garopollo’s development, they definitely could come out of nowhere and become a juggernaut.