When the 2018 offseason rolled around, the San Francisco 49ers were seen as media darlings after their strong finish to the season. At-best, they were seen as a playoff team and at-worst, they were going to be at least .500. A year later and expectations have fallen.
Well, that year has passed and the praise has flamed out a bit. No one is saying the 49ers will finish as bad as they did in 2018, but no one is chomping at the bit for a playoff appearance.
NFL Network’s Gregg Rosenthal put together a roster reset where he evaluates the teams in the NFC and makes a hierarchy of sorts. Obviously, the 49ers are not at the top tier of teams, but he has them listed as sleepers in the NFC along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
There is some serious post-hype potential for the 49ers and Bucs, two former “it” teams that buzz now has forgotten. It’s Year 3 of the John Lynch/Kyle Shanahan partnership, with enough raw talent on defense and offensive acumen from Shanahan to win 10 games in 2019 after winning 10 games combined over the last two campaigns.
In his evaluation of the NFC West in particular, Rosenthal acknowledged the hype-train the 49ers were on in 2018. He called the Jason Verrett signing the sleeper addition. He also asked the same question we asked which is how filthy a 49ers’ defensive line with DeForest Buckner, Nick Bosa, and Dee Ford could be.
This is all interesting because the 49ers have definitely gotten a lot better, and while we haven’t seen Jimmy Garoppolo’s potential, my how much difference a year makes. While there’s great optimism, all the injury recoveries have left numerous question marks and the same media darlings the 49ers were last year doesn’t seem to translate over.
Obviously, expectations were a bit overblown around this time in 2018 after the finish the 49ers had to their season, but when you read in some articles about how the 49ers going 8-8 is progress, things have gone down a tack.
Do you think the 49ers are the NFC’s sleeper team? Or are you quelling expectations even more this year?