Three burning questions for 2025 49ers

The 2024 season was a bitter disappointment for the San Francisco 49ers, crushed by injuries, underperformance and just about everything else that could have gone wrong. The offseason has not gone much better, as the roster was mostly gutted in free agency, with few major replacements coming in. 

Here are three burning questions the team is still facing going into the 2025 season. 

1. Will Brock Purdy be worth the money?

At this point, it is not a matter of if, but when Purdy will become the next quarterback to get a mega-contract. 

That leaves the 49ers in a tough spot because there still seems to be some doubt as to whether or not Purdy is a top-tier quarterback. Even with that, the 49ers are not really in a position to let him go and take their chances on somebody else.

The nature of the business right now is that if you have a good, top-half of the league starter, you pretty much have to invest huge money in them. 

That is pretty much the situation with Purdy. He is good. You can win with him. But is he great? And is he going to be the reason they win?

On a rookie contract as a seventh-round pick, Purdy has been one of the biggest steals in the NFL for the 49ers when it comes to salary cap resources. His cheap salary has allowed the 49ers to build up the team around him and spread the money throughout the roster. It's okay if he's simply really good instead of great. 

But will he still be a good value when his contract gets into the $40M-50M range and the team is not able to build out its depth as much due to a salary cap crunch? Is he good enough to make up for that? That remains to be seen. And the salary cap crunch is already here. 

2. What is Brandon Aiyuk's future?

After being the subject of trade rumors throughout the 2024 offseason, the 49ers and Aiyuk finally came to terms on a new long-term contract extension to keep him with the team. 

Both sides might already be regretting that decision.

Aiyuk's 2025 season was cut short by a knee injury, while his production had significantly dropped off prior to the injury.

What does this season hold for him?

Is he going to come back healthy and bounce back? Or are the 49ers already having some buyer's remorse and regretting their big investment? They already moved on from one top wide receiver that they recently paid big money to — Deebo Samuel — and might want to continue overhauling the position. 

3. Can Mykel Williams take some pressure off Nick Bosa?

The 49ers have one of the NFL's best EDGE players in Nick Bosa, and when healthy, he remains a disruptive force along their defensive line. The problem for the 49ers in recent years is that they have not really had anybody else on their defensive line who can complement him on the opposite side and take some of the attention away from him. 

They have had a revolving door of players the past two years along their defensive line, and the depth is not what it used to be. 

They attempted to address that in a far more significant way this offseason by drafting Mykel Williams with the No. 11 overall pick. Anytime you take an EDGE player in the top 15, there are always going to be expectations for that player to make an immediate impact. The 49ers need him to not only help out their franchise player on the other side of the line, but also to simply make their defense and pass-rush what it was when they were competing for Super Bowls.