Not all is good for the San Francisco 49ers right now, days after their surprising 27-7 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Australia. Several of their starters and rotation players — including defensive linemen Mykel Williams, Sam Okuayinonu and Alfred Williams and wide receivers De’Zhaun Stribling and Christian Kirk — are injured, and they have some holes at a couple of key position groups.
But the Niners have plenty of talent overall, and the star players they do have are very impressive, even if they’re accumulating a little too much mileage.
That high-end talent is why plenty of people still believe the team will be there in the end — as long as it stays healthy enough, and Niners legend Steve Young is one of them.
Young thinks very highly of San Francisco’s stars
The Hall of Fame quarterback recently said while on “The Rich Eisen Show” that the 49ers will be there in the end as long as they have enough good fortune when it comes to staying healthy. He even called people sleeping on the team’s chances “idiots.”
He also made it clear how highly he thinks of the roster by saying that several of its players will end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“George [Kittle] and Nick [Bosa] and Trent [Williams] and Christian [McCaffrey] and maybe George,” Young said.
When Eisen asked Young about middle linebacker Fred Warner, Young also included him, as well as wide receiver Mike Evans. He then lavished praise on Williams, who, at age 38, is still an immovable object at left tackle, just as he has been for many years.
“He’s in the argument for the best football player that ever played,” Young said. “You have to. You can’t – there are tackles, you know, Anthony Muñoz is like this right? It’s like they played the game, and nobody bothered him. Nobody. No matter who he plays for 15 years, nobody bothers him.”
Young even said that Williams may not be close to being done.
“Trent is showing he’s such a unique human specimen that he might be able to play at 43. Top-level tackle if he wants to.”
If Williams can still play at a high level through the 2031 season, and if he does it in a 49ers uniform, that is something the organization would surely welcome.
Bosa and Warner looked spry on Thursday after recovering from the season-ending injuries they suffered last year. Kittle is back from the torn Achilles he sustained in the wild-card round of last season’s playoffs, and McCaffrey’s workload has been managed well since the start of training camp.
San Francisco is surely hoping to develop a couple of young studs, especially on defense, in order to fortify its chances of finally winning its sixth Super Bowl championship. It hasn’t claimed the Vince Lombardi Trophy since the 1994 season, when Young was in his prime.
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