Finally, the San Francisco 49ers season has come to an end. After a miserable five months filled with contract holdouts, injuries, special teams gaffes, and tons of late-game mishaps, the 49ers can breathe. In 2025, general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan can go back to the drawing board and embrace an offseason of renewal and resolutions.
General manager John Lynch, appearing Friday morning on KNBR’s “Murph and Markus“ show, said the organization’s plan is “well in the works” as they look to make a dramatic improvement next season.
“We just got to get back to where we belong, which is competing for championships,” Lynch said. “I wholly and strongly believe that we’ve got the group in place to do that. A lot of circumstances that happened this year and is just not taking care of business.”
Taking Lynch’s words into account, let’s take a look at what moves the 49ers need to make to start competing for championships again in the form of New Year’s resolutions.
Note: Getting healthy is a given so it is not included
Pay Brock Purdy
The first move the San Francisco 49ers need to make this offseason is paying quarterback Brock Purdy. While the value is up for debate, signing Purdy to an extension gives the team a clear outline for the rest of the offseason.
Purdy is coming off a down season, throwing for 3,865 yards, 12 interceptions, and scoring 25 total touchdowns. The regression may help the 49ers during negotiations, but if the team’s verbal commitment is to be believed, locking up Purdy is all but guaranteed.
The wide range of opinions regarding Purdy’s next contract makes for an intriguing offseason discussion. Will the former Mr. Irrelevant seek a record-breaking $65 million extension or give the 49ers a “hometown discount”?
Whatever the decision is, the 49ers need to get a deal done before the start of the 2025 league year on March 12th.
Fix the Offensive Line
The 49ers should take a page out of the Kansas City Chiefs playbook. After a 31-9 loss in Super Bowl 55, the Chiefs’ brass made wholesale changes to the offensive line.
Giving up three sacks and a backfield rushing for just 69 yards, the Chiefs made a decision to beef up the trenches. Signing Joe Thuney and drafting Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith in the same offseason — all have become cornerstone pieces to Kansas City’s interior offensive line. In 2024, Thuney, Humphrey, and Smith combined to allow zero sacks. They also have pass and run-blocking grades above 70 this season, per Pro Football Focus.
The 49ers started this transformation last year by drafting Dominick Puni. They should continue it by replacing impending free agent Aaron Banks and center Jake Brendel.
Of centers that have played 50 percent of their team’s snaps, Brendel grades out as the 24th-ranked pass-blocker. He has allowed the second most hurries this season and has been flagged 10 times. Simply, the 49ers cannot afford to rely on Brendel captaining the offensive line in 2025.
Replacing Banks will be easier as Ben Bartch and Spencer Buford provide in-house options.
Fortify the Trenches
Nick Bosa wrapped up his fourth consecutive season with double-digit sacks and over 65 hurries. No other defensive lineman has over 10 sacks or 50 pressures. Disregarding Chase Young’s 11 sacks in 2023, just 2.5 after being acquired at the trade deadline, the 49ers have not had a player reach 10 sacks opposite Bosa since 2019.
In 2025, the 49ers must make an effort to get Bosa some help and create a vaunted defense once again.
The interior defensive line also needs a revamp. With Javon Hargrave’s future up in the air and a run defense allowing 123 rushing yards per game, San Francisco has their work cut out for them.
Bringing back D.J. Jones in free agency seems like a no-brainer. But depending on where the 49ers pick in the first round, the NFL Draft may give the roster another youth boost in 2025.
Decide Greenlaw and Hufanga’s Future
Kyle Shanahan has stated the 49ers want to re-sign Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga. Their impact, or lack thereof, has been felt for the majority of 2024. In Greenlaw and Hufanga’s one game on the field together, the 49ers held the Los Angeles Rams to 12 points.
Both players’ injury history makes re-signing them a massive risk, especially Greenlaw. After just 34 snaps, the linebacker was placed on Injured Reserve with a calf injury. The 49ers need to decide if it is worth banking on Greenlaw’s return to form next season.
In Hufanga’s case, he has played well enough to garner significant interest on the open market. He may even price himself out of San Francisco’s range depending on Purdy’s contract extension.
Cut Dead Weight
The 49ers have many decisions to make this offseason, most of them having to do with re-signing players. In 2025, the San Francisco 49ers will need to choose the fates of Deebo Samuel and Javon Hargrave.
The 49ers could save 17 million dollars combined in 2025 and 2026 by moving on from Samuel after June 1st. However, his late-season push could open the door for his return. Meanwhile, Hargrave would only save the team $3 million next season, per Over the Cap.
Cutting Samuel and Hargrave would be a drastic change for the 49ers, but one that may be needed to kickstart a pivotal offseason.
Re-haul Special Teams
Does much need to be said here? The 49ers’ Special Teams unit finished the season losing a league-high 61 expected points. The punt coverage has been terrible all year and the field goal unit may be worse.
Jake Moody entered Sunday’s season finale as the highest-drafted kicker in the NFL. He finished the 2024 season with a 70.5% field goal percentage. That is good for 31st among full-time kickers this season.
Something has to change and it starts by replacing Moody and special team coordinator Brian Schneider this offseason.
As the 49ers enter 2025, prepare for one of the most important offseason in the Lynch and Shanahan regime.
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