It’s tough to find an outlet that doesn’t list the 49ers as its No. 1 roster in the NFL heading into the 2024 season. A panel of experts from ESPN put together a ranking of the NFL’s rosters and San Francisco unsurprisingly landed in the top spot.
The pick makes sense. They were one of the best teams in football in 2023 and they’ll be returning virtually all of their starters on both sides of the ball in 2024.
ESPN has the 49ers’ skill position weapons listed as their biggest strength, while their biggest weakness unsurprisingly is the offensive line.
There are a couple interesting notes in the piece.
First, San Francisco’s defensive line is listed as the X-factor for this season. This is the correct choice.
It’s tough to imagine this era of 49ers football where the defensive front isn’t spearheading their defense. However, that unit wasn’t great last year and they made enough changes in the offseason to expect more production in 2024. If they get it from Leonard Floyd, Maliek Collins and Yetur Gross-Matos, the 49ers defense should be a championship-caliber group. If they don’t produce it might derail the 49ers’ Super Bowl hopes.
One of ESPN’s experts, Aaron Schatz, also lists Jauan Jennings as a non-starter to know and posits that Ricky Pearsall will start over Jennings in three WR sets. That’s a definite possibility, and the 49ers would be thrilled if Pearsall was good enough to eclipse Jennings as a rookie, but Jennings should still see plenty of playing time this season thanks to his versatility. Expect Pearsall to have a role, but don’t expect him to replace Jennings as the team’s WR3 right away.
