Good Morning Faithful,
Here are the top 49ers headlines for Friday, March 26.
New and Notable
NFL's Mike Silver Believes 49ers are NFC Favorites in 2021
We're just a week into the new league year and national pundits have already begun casting their projections for the 2021 NFL season.
While not all analysts are on the 49ers train, Mike Silver has already established himself as the conductor. With the talent (and coaching) the 49ers possess in-house, the NFL Network analyst foresees San Francisco making a drastic bounce back from their uninspiring 2020 campaign.
"I think the 49ers are the favorite not only in the NFC West, but the NFC. And in the NFC West, I don't think it's close," Silver said on Around the NFL. "The 49ers, to me, are very much like the team that came very, very close to winning the Super Bowl. And I do write off last year to the insane wave of injuries they experienced. I know they might lose some guys. You get Nick Bosa back. If Jimmy Garoppolo ends up being the quarterback and can stay healthy. You see them trying to fortify what they have."
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NFL Free Agency Winners are Teams that Take Care of Their Own
Every team has a different strategy when free agency season rolls around. For NFL.com columnist Jim Trotter, the San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are his early winners of free agency, as they shored up their rosters by re-signing players over bringing in flashy acquisitions. Here's what Trotter had to say about the 49ers first wave of free agency:
"San Francisco reached the Super Bowl two years ago, then was decimated by injury last season, losing its most important players on each side of the ball for much of the year. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo played in just six games and edge rusher Nick Bosa appeared in only two before injuries sidelined them. Not surprisingly, the 49ers fell from 13 wins to six.
"With both returning, as well as a number of others who missed time, the 49ers are in a prime position to make another run -- which highlights the significance of re-signing key free agents...Plus, the restricting of some contracts allowed them to be strategic on the external market in signing center Alex Mack, who previously played under coach Kyle Shanahan in Cleveland and Atlanta, as well as edge rusher Samson Ebukam."
