Report: Titans hiring 49ers’ Robert Saleh as next head coach
“The 49ers have Gus Bradley on staff, serving as the team’s assistant head coach and a potential natural successor to Saleh. However, San Francisco is expected to evaluate all of its options.”
49ers game review: Wide receivers group struggled in Seattle. Are changes coming? (paywall)
“he tone was set immediately on Rashid Shaheed’s 95-yard, game-opening kickoff return. What happened on the 49ers’ coverage?
One issue: rookie running back Jordan James.
The fifth-round pick was lined up on the left side, the second closest to the sideline, and wasn’t blocked as he ran downfield and appeared to have an angle to make the tackle at the 27-yard line, about seven yards from Shaheed. However, James didn’t take a sharp turn and his rounded-off path allowed Shaheed to sprint through a wide alley as James loped behind him. Linebacker Luke Gifford and cornerback Chase Lucas dove at Shaheed’s feet around the 38-yard line and he later avoided the attempted slide-tackle trip by Eddy Piñeiro, a former soccer player, en route to the end zone.
James does have this excuse: inexperience. He arrived Saturday having played 17 special-teams snaps in his NFL career, including nine in the previous week’s wild-card win at Philadelphia.“
49ers’ rookie Mykel Williams on season-ending knee injury: ‘It’s been hard’ (paywall)
““Bosa’s been extremely helpful,” Williams said Monday. “He’s like a real big brother. He looks out, he comes in, checks on me, sits down, eats lunch with me, talks to me, asks me about my knee, asks me how I’m feeling. I feel more comfortable leaning on him and asking him for stuff, versus like a lot of other people … because he’s been through it. He knows exactly what it feels like and how to move.”
Ranking 49ers’ position groups as their offseason begins (paywall)
“The dominant theme from the 49ers’ season was how well backups and newcomers slid into key roles. The exception was defensive end. Once Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams went down with ACL injuries, no one stepped up. Bryce Huff was leading the team with four sacks in Week 7, but he had no sacks from that point on and didn’t have a single pressure Saturday. Midseason addition Keion White was only marginally more productive. Bosa and Williams are expected to make full recoveries, but those recoveries will spill into the offseason, if not the regular season. It seems like another year in which the 49ers must fortify their edges.”
49ers locker room postmortem: Kittle’s optimism, and other notes (paywall)
“I talked to Ji’Ayir Brown for a while as the locker room started to empty out. He’s simultaneously an honest, reflective person, and someone who has ambitions that might border on delusional. I respect that.
I think you have to have unrealistic expectations to make it to the NFL and succeed, and Brown and his former JUCO-to-Penn State teammate Jaquan Brisker both pursued an unrealistic path to get where they are.
I found it particularly interesting hearing how much Brown enjoyed and missed playing nickel. My argument for most of the second half was that Jason Pinnock shouldn’t have been on the field at all. They should have used Brown like they used Deommodore Lenoir last year, and Marques Sigle like Isaac Yiadom/Renardo Green, where they’d inject them onto the field and slide Lenoir inside on nickel snaps.
That, in my view, would have maximized Sigle, while limiting his vulnerability, but also maximizing him as a true free safety, with two other safeties to communicate with and face more responsibilities in the box.
It would be the best of Brown. He said as much.
“[Playing nickel] taught me a lot about the defense and a lot about myself, and I enjoyed it, bro,” Brown told me. “’I honestly wish it was more of that, that I kept doing throughout the year, because I feel like I was such a great player in that spot, which I’m a great safety as well, but just that nickel spot, it’s a different game down there. So I actually liked it. I enjoyed the hell out of it. Man, I’m glad it fell on my plate.”
Brown said he loved being close to the action.
“When you back there at safety, you might get one or two plays in the game where you could really make a difference,” Brown. “But when you’re in that fire, every play, it’s a big difference.”
While Brown was a mixed bag this season, it clearly looked like his best season. Taking on that additional nickel role would have been a lot on his shoulders, but they already trusted him to communicate on the backend more than anyone. There was far more good than bad, and he was great coming downhill in the run game.“
Two NFL mock drafts have 49ers targeting offensive line help
“Gordon McGuinness has the 49ers selecting Utah offensive tackle Caleb Lomu with their first-round pick.
“Lomu disappointed as a run blocker in 2025, resulting in a 62.0 PFF run-blocking grade, but his 82.1 PFF pass-blocking grade was impressive,” McGuinness wrote. “The 49ers need a long-term replacement for left tackle Trent Williams, and Lomu could be the perfect fit.”
Lomu allowed eight pressures and no sacks across 383 pass-blocking snaps last season. While his 82.1 pass-blocking grade marked a career high, his 62.0 run-blocking grade represented a noticeable drop from his 70.1 mark in 2024.
Josh Edwards of CBS Sports has the 49ers going with a different player in the first round. In his latest mock draft, he has the team selecting Georgia offensive tackle Monroe Freeling.“
Jauan Jennings emotionally reflects on 49ers tenure ahead of NFL free agency
“When I first flew in here, I thought I was going to San Francisco, just like everybody else. And you find out fast, it’s Santa Clara. And now it’s home — quickly turned into home. A run I’ll never forget, for sure.”
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