After watching their last few seasons end in tragedy for one reason or another, from watching all of their quarterbacks go down against the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023, to a heartbreaking shootout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs earlier this year, the San Francisco 49ers are back at it again, with the Kyle Shanahan's squad locked and loaded for the third season of the Brock Purdy era.
Soon, fans will find out if the roster adjustments John Lynch made over the offseason were the right ones, if Shanahan can keep ahead of the rest of the NFL with his unique brand of YAC-heavy game-planning, and if Purdy can capture lightning in a bottle for a third season in a row, which would set him up for an absolutely massive contract in 2025 that would effectively change the design of the team forever.
But first, the 49ers have to defeat the New York Jets in Week 1, which isn't impossible but could be quite tricky, considering the Robert Saleh of it all.
*Watch NFL games LIVE with fuboTV (click for free trial)*
1. Brandon Aiyuk has a quiet night
After spending the summer more in headlines than on the football field, fans around the world will be keeping a close eye on Brandon Aiyuk to see if he is truly worthy of his new $120 million contract.
It makes sense, right? Aiyuk is fresh, the 49ers won't have Ricky Pearsall in Week 1, and considering the unique challenge of playing former defensive coordinator Saleh, San Francisco will surely want to put together a massive performance for their former first-round pick in his big comeback game.
And yet, just because the 49ers want to put over Aiyuk in his comeback game doesn't mean it will happen, as it's safe to assume Saleh will be keeping a close eye on the former Utah State product in the hopes of shutting him down to make San Francisco a bit more one dimensional.
Now granted, more is doing some pretty heavy work in that sentence, as it's borderline impossible to make the 49ers one-dimensional unless they have to win a playoff game without a starting quarterback, as they just have too many weapons to keep the ball matriculating down the field with ease, but with one of the elite young cornerbacks in Sauce Gardner on the outside and recently-extended defensive back Michael Carter II sitting pretty in the slot, Saleh has the tools to slow down Aiyuk if he wants to.
Fortunately, if that happens, the 49ers can still run the ball behind newly re-signed left tackle Trent Williams or throw the ball to about a half-dozen different pass catchers, from Deebo Samuel, to George Kittle, Jauan Jennings, or even Christian McCaffrey, who can pull double-duty as a pass-catcher all over the field, so Aiyuk's loss can be the rest of the team's gain.
2. Leonard Floyd will get a chance at redemption versus Aaron Rodgers
Last year, Aaron Rodgers famously saw his 2023 season come to a crushing end in Week 1 when he was sacked to the ground by Leonard Floyd on his fourth offensive snap in Jets green and had to exit the game with what was later diagnosed as a ruptured Achilles.
In 2024, Rodgers has the unlucky circumstance of having to face off against Floyd once more in the season opener, with the journeyman rusher once more hoping to make his presence known in the Cal Golden Bear's return to the Bay Area.
Discussing that fateful play with Adam Schefter of ESPN, Floyd revealed how the play came together and the backlash he received from fans immediately after Rodgers' diagnosis became known.
“What I remember is just getting the sack, man,” Floyd explained to Schefter via NBC Sports. “That's what I remember. And after the sack, I pretty much didn't know he was hurt or whatever. I just remember playing football, just a regular play. Getting a sack on a quarterback, grabbing him, bringing him down. And it was just a normal play and he ended up getting hurt.
“I kind of got a lot of backlash from it, the fans were going crazy at me over him being injured. And I'm like, I'm just playing football. Like, I ain't really trying to hurt him or whatever. It was a play they had cut-blocked me, and he was still holding the ball, and the more he held the ball, I was like, ‘yeah, keep holding it. I'm going to sack you.' He ended up getting hurt and I felt bad he got hurt because I always wanted to play against him. I want the best in Aaron Rodgers; I want the best version of him. It was a good play for me, bad play for him.”
In Week 1, Floyd wants to put up production, sure, as he just signed a two-year, $20 million contract to compete with the likes of Yetur Gross-Matos and Drake Jackson for playing time, but what he wants to do most of all is bring down Rodgers and watch him pop up and run the next play, hopefully, a few times during the game, if the 49ers want to secure a win in Week 1.
3. The 49ers open the season 1-0
So, if the 49ers are able to overcome any player-specific game planning and the defense is able to get at Rodgers without prematurely ending his run a drive into the 2024 season, it's safe to assume the 49ers will leave Week 1 with a win, right?
Yes, unless the 49ers suffer a major injury themselves, this feels like the kind of game where Shanahan and company will overcome the odds, secure the win, and prove to everyone once more that San Francisco is still the creme of the crop in the NFC.