Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Sunday, June 8th, 2025

Bond between Robert Saleh, former mentor cause for 49ers’ optimism on defense (paywall)

“After Sorensen and Staley weren’t retained, the 49ers replaced them with coordinator Robert Saleh and assistant head coach Gus Bradley, who have a shared history and share the same defensive philosophy. In fact, Saleh, then a low-level assistant, learned the 4-3 defense the 49ers employ under Bradley when they spent two seasons together with the Seahawks in the early 2010s, with Bradley serving as Seattle’s coordinator.

They later partnered for three seasons (2014-2016) with the...

Hard to say what counts as disappointing. Brock Purdy regresses? Brandon Aiyuk misses the season? 49ers fans have lived through worse. They don’t do average years—it’s either “almost there” or “burn it down.”

Around these parts, many fans may tell you the season is a trainwreck if the 49ers don’t win every game (including their preseason contests). You can be a bit more modest and say not making the Super Bowl is an abysmal failure. In 2024, that was true—the 49ers were a Super Bowl team, but then Dial-A-Injury came to collect interest from 2023, along with a defensive coach...

49ers rookie guard Dominick Puni earned a top-10 spot in PFF’s 2025 rankings after starting all 17 games in 2024. His 81.5 run-blocking grade led the way.

The Pro Football Focus rankings continue for all 32 players at each position. The offensive line is a talking (or arguing) point for San Francisco 49ers fans. We discussed center earlier this week and Jake Brendal’s No. 24 ranking in that position. Offensive tackle Trent Williams clocked in at No. 4, ending his consecutive No. 1 streak.

Today, we are discussing the guard position, and second-year guard Dominick Puni has made the list...

Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Saturday, June 7th, 2025

Kurtenbach: I see the vision for the 49ers’ much-maligned offensive line and it’s just fine (paywall)

“All this to say that judging offensive line play is seriously subjective at best and borderline irresponsible without knowing the actual play call on the field.

And these days, with the steady deterioration of play at the position — a byproduct of spread offenses, bad coaching, and a lack of bodies at the lower levels of the game — it doesn’t take much to be good enough.

I’m guessing that, health...

The Niners are rebuilding their defense, and Deommodore Lenoir is at the center of that.

It’s been quite the revamp for the San Francisco 49ers this offseason on the defensive side of the ball, as they released several veteran starters, while letting others walk in free agency.

With hopes of getting younger, the 49ers primarily focused on the 2025 NFL Draft, kicking things off with five straight defensive selections, addressing all three levels of the defense.

Now, San Francisco enters the 2025 season with a new-look defense, where the newcomers like first-round pick Mykel Williams are already attracting much of...

A pair of young wideouts destined to make plays for the 49ers in 2025, but will Jacob Cowing or Jordan Watkins have a bigger role?

It’s amusing to see grand proclamations during OTA practices, regardless of position. How can you possibly come to the conclusion that an offensive lineman is standing out when there are no padded practices? Should we really be impressed by skill players when they don’t have to face the physicality that comes during training camp?

The answer is no, but in a day and age where you have to have an opinion about everything, that isn’t...

Shanahan and Lynch deserve so much credit for turning the 49ers around

The San Francisco 49ers have enjoyed success under Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch. The team sorely needed direction and stability when the duo took over before the 2017 season. The first season started slowly, with the team losing nearly every game before a trade for Jimmy Garoppolo injected some life into the organization, and 2018 essentially ended with Garoppolo’s ACL injury in Kansas City. The team competed in four out of five NFC Championship games with two Super Bowl berths from 2019 to 2023.

Even with last year’s...

Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Friday, June 6th, 2025

Kawakami: Brock Purdy on a magic number, the 49ers’ future, and pal Tyrese Haliburton (paywall)

“When we’re golfing, my agent texted me saying, ‘We’re getting close,’” Purdy said. “And then a couple of holes go by, and I look at my phone again and I had a missed call and he goes, ‘Dude, pick up the phone,’ from John Lynch. ‘IT’S DONE,’ in all caps. And so then that moment right there, my heart dropped and I was like, this is crazy, it’s happening.

“I just hugged...