Albert Breer not buying exaggerated demise of 49ers in 2025 offseason

The 2025 offseason is off to a slow start for the San Francisco 49ers. They watched a slew of pieces of their roster walk out the door while bringing in scant replacements for those pieces.

It looks from a 30,000-foot view like they're a club that's undergoing a rebuild. They had a six-year window of Super Bowl contention that appeared to slam closed with a 6-11 finish in the 2024 campaign. However, Sports Illustrated's NFL insider Albert Breer isn't buying the notion that the 49ers are in the midst of a lengthy rebuild like the one head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch took over when they arrived in 2017.

Via Sports Illustrated:

But there’s also a nuance here that’s worth paying attention to: This is more roster churn than any sort of teardown.

While a good chunk of the core of the 2023 Super Bowl team is gone now, the Niners did get ahead of a few potential losses, signing Brandon Aiyuk (four years, $120 million) and Deommodore Lenoir (five years, $88.9 million) to long-term contracts, and Jauan Jennings (two years, $15.4 million) and Colton McKivitz (1 year, $5.85 million) to shorter-term deals. That’s with Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Trent Williams and Christian McCaffrey intact as All-Pro foundation pieces to build around, and with a big contract for Brock Purdy coming.

What Breer lays out is the correct way to frame what this offseason has been for the 49ers. They're relying now on cheap free agency additions and draft picks. This was always going to be something they'd have to do. At some point every team that wants to open a Super Bowl window has to hit on draft picks.

That's what San Francisco did in 2017, 2018 and 2019 that helped them open their first Super Bowl window. Missing on too many picks in 2022 and 2023 put them in a position where their roster looks bare following a mass exodus in free agency. If their 2024 draft class continues producing and if they can connect on a handful of picks in the 2025 draft they'll be able to supplement a star-studded roster and contend in the very near future. If they whiff on draft picks again, they'll be in a bad spot short and long-term.

This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Albert Breer not buying exaggerated demise of 49ers in 2025 offseason