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How the 49ers Measure Up with the other Contenders in the NFC

Originally posted on San Francisco 49ers on SI
By Parker Hurley | Last updated Aug 30, 2025 11:00 AM ET

The San Francisco 49ers are one of the most boom-bust teams in the NFL. The top talent on their roster says that they should compete for a Super Bowl, while the bottom of the roster says a rebuild is happening. That is why it is no surprise that Garrett Podell of CBS Sports ranked the NFC Contenders, and the 49ers were in the middle of the pack.

The San Francisco 49ers are middle of the pack in the latest NFC contender tiers

He broke the teams into six tiers and had the 49ers as Tier 3. This was called ‘Wild Card Wilderness.’ There were four teams in the first tier, and two teams in the second tier. This tier was six teams, so the 49ers are in the seven through 12 range according to this breakdown.

The 49ers almost could have been in their own tier, but in about the same spot. Teams like the Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings, and Seattle Seahawks make sense in this range. These are teams coming out of rebuilds or rising up with young quarterbacks.

The 49ers should be higher with the contenders, but the article mentions that injuries are far too common for this team. If you told anyone that their top six players would stay healthy, you would lock them into the top five, let alone the top seven.

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However, Christian McCaffrey, Nick Bosa, and Trent Williams are coming off down years. Brock Purdy is taking on more as well, so there are plenty of questions at the top. The team has some stalwarts in George Kittle and Fred Warner, but it is not like these two are getting a lot younger either.

So, if they did end up 12th in the NFC, no one would really be shocked. You cannot say that as definitively with Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Detroit, Green Bay, Washington, and Tampa Bay. These are the six teams in the two tiers ahead of them.

You could argue that a couple of those teams do not have the ceiling that San Francisco has, but all of those teams have higher floors than San Francisco. So, they sit in the Wild Card tier when they really should be in a tier that is called boom or bust. The teams that sit in the tiers below them include the Dallas Cowboys, Carolina Panthers, New York Giants, and New Orleans Saints.

This article first appeared on San Francisco 49ers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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