Ranking each San Francisco 49ers rookie after their first regular season game

Sep 10, 2025 - 05:30

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Ranking each San Francisco 49ers rookie after their first regular season game

After an exodus of veterans in the offseason, the San Francisco 49ers will rely heavily on their rookies to help them get back to the postseason in 2025.

While there are a slew of factors that will ultimately determine the team's fate, their class of first-year players will be perhaps the biggest factor in the 49ers' ceiling. After each week, we'll be updating a running ranking of the team's rookies.

Here's where things stand after the group's first regular season game against the Seattle Seahawks:

1. S Marques Sigle

Sigle had a strong debut as one of the rookie starters for San Francisco. He wasn't tested much in coverage against a lackluster Seattle receiving corps, but he was all over the place as a run defender. Sigle showed off his athleticism and instincts getting downhill for six tackles and a fumble recovery. It's early, but it looks like the 49ers found another quality starter in the fifth round.

2. DE Mykel Williams

It wasn't a super productive day for Williams who registered only one one tackle and no pressures as a pass rusher. However, his presence as a versatile piece of the defensive line played a role in the 49ers' stacking up Seattle's run game and limiting them to zero explosive runs and an average of just 3.2 yards per carry.

3. CB Upton Stout

There's an argument to place Stout lower on the list. He allowed a 25-yard catch on the Seahawks' first touchdown drive. He also committed a pass interference penalty in the end zone to set up Seattle's second touchdown. Stout gets some leeway since he didn't play in the preseason and his growth within Sunday's game was evident when he broke up a pass by falling back away from his assigned coverage to read a throw to a receiver behind him. The arrow is still pointing up for Stout after a strong training camp.

4. WR Jordan Watkins

We're to the point of these rankings where snap counts and limited sample sizes become a factor. Watkins was out of Sunday's game with an ankle injury, but he was putting together a good camp and a good preseason debut before he got hurt. Given the injuries in the 49ers receiving corps it wouldn't be a surprise if Watkins sees early playing time once he returns from his high ankle sprain.

5. DT CJ West

It was a bit of a surprise that West only registered seven snaps in Sunday's game. He didn't notch a statistic in his limited action. There's still upside here, but the 49ers would love to see him become a more impactful player soon.

6. OL Connor Colby

One minor question about the 49ers depth chart was answered Sunday when Colby was the first interior lineman off the bench when right guard Dominick Puni left the game for one play with an apparent knee injury. Colby, a seventh-round pick, is likely the No. 1 option off the bench at both the guard spots.

7. DT Alfred Collins

Collins' workload was relatively similar to West's. The second-round pick was on the field for nine snaps. He did tally a tackle, but he's another player who'll need to start making more of an impact if the 49ers are going to be serious contenders in the NFC.

8. LB Nick Martin

The 49ers made Martin a healthy scratch for his first regular season game. That's probably related to special teams. San Francisco had five linebackers active Sunday. Dee Winters and Fred Warner both played all of the defensive snaps (save for a brief stretch where Warner was out with an injury). The other three, Luke Gifford, Tatum Bethune and Curtis Robinson were all primary special teams contributors. If Martin is going to be active without an injury ahead of him on the depth chart he'll need to be better on kick coverages.

9. RB Jordan James

James hasn't seen much action since breaking his finger and getting surgery before the preseason opener. He was ruled out on the Friday injury report as he works back into practice. Until we see anything from him, he'll stay low on the rankings.