There’s no shortage of ways to illustrate the dramatic turnaround the 49ers have undergone since head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch arrived in Santa Clara in 2017.
The most substantial thing that duo has done is quickly turn around what was once one of the league’s worst rosters. What was once a team almost devoid of top-end talent is now a club with three of the NFL’s 50 best players going into the 2020 season according to Pro Football Focus. Of those three, two landed in the top 15. Of those two, one made it into the top five.
Here are the three 49ers represented in PFF’s top 50 for 2020:
41 | DE Nick Bosa
It’s not a huge surprise to see Bosa on this list after he dominated in all 19 games he played as a rookie. By the time the 49ers’ Super Bowl run was finished, No. 2 overall pick had 102 pressures and 14 sacks. While he had an outstanding first year that culminated in a Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, PFF believes Bosa’s best is still on the horizon:
It’s just one year of play, but considering how good he was in college and the fact that his one season in the NFL was a record-breaking one, there is reason to believe that he is already one of the best pass-rushers in the game — and that he could get even better.
A better version of Bosa will land him much higher than No. 41 on this same list next season.