The 49ers are still one of the NFL’s three best teams according to the Touchdown Wire summer power rankings. Their Super Bowl berth and active offseason have kept them behind the Chiefs and Ravens. That’s unlikely to change throughout the offseason.
With San Francisco primed to sit near the top of the power rankings as long as they’re healthy, we went through their schedule and located where each of their 2020 opponents is ranked in the TD Wire rankings.
Here is a week-by-week look at their schedule, along with each team’s ranking, and a key quote from author of the summer power rankings, Doug Farrar.
Weeks 1 & 16 | Arizona Cardinals, No. 15
There’s not likely a team more likely to climb outside of their summer ranking than the Arizona Cardinals. Second-year quarterback Kyler Murray was primed to break out even before the addition of star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Rookie do-everything linebacker Isaiah Simmons could be a big enough difference maker on defense to help Arizona contend in a tough NFC West.
Key quote:
“If 2018 was the year of Patrick Mahomes, and 2019 was the year of Lamar Jackson, it could be posited that 2020 will be the year of Kyler Murray.”