Edelman: 49ers could benefit from under-the-radar status in 2025

Former NFL star wide receiver Julian Edelman joined The Herd with Colin Cowherd to discuss one of his favorite teams—the San Francisco 49ers. The Bay Area team is entering a pivotal season after undergoing a massive roster overhaul and making their young quarterback, Brock Purdy, the highest-paid player in franchise history.

Edelman admitted he's unsure how the 49ers will fare this season, noting the team's struggles with consistently hitting on draft picks in recent years. In fact, if not for selecting Purdy with the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, that entire draft class could have gone to waste—and without Purdy, the 49ers would likely be in serious trouble right now.

Despite these concerns, Edelman thinks the 49ers have one significant advantage—they can use the uncertainty and lowered expectations following last year's disappointing 6-11 finish to fuel a bounce-back season.

"I will say one thing, though, about the San Francisco 49ers," Edelman said. "There's been a lot of talk about them regressing this year, which they've been the target of the West Coast for the last five years. Maybe them flying under the radar could help them this year.

"Maybe the weak schedule, where everyone thinks they're circling San Francisco because they're banged up, maybe they energize that fuel and put that towards [winning].

"You never know, but I think this could be a good thing for them if they are the underdogs going under the radar because they haven't been that in a long time."

Regarding San Francisco owning the NFL's weakest schedule based on opponents' 2024 records, Edelman doesn't put much stock in that narrative.

"First off, there is no easy schedule in the National Football League," Edelman emphasized. "I'm so sick and tired of hearing people say that. Like, there is no Louisiana Lafayette Tech school. Everyone is getting paid the same amount of money."

He continued, "Everyone always says that, but who's gonna be the hot division this year? We don't know. It could be some scrambled division that plays really great, so I don't like that."