By the end of the 1997 season, you’d have to place the 49ers among the top 3 teams in the league

– good by anybody’s standards but their own. With all the changes this year, how do the 49ers look compared to last year? Here’s a position by position analysis.

Defensive line – Stubblefield is gone and an injured Wilkins is here. There is no way Stubblefield was worth the money he was asking. But without the 49ers re-signing of Doleman, they would have been weaker on the line this year. Junior Bryant is a solid player and he's going to have his chance to prove he can start in this league. Unlike Stubblefield, Bryant gives 100 percent all the time. The key to the line will be if Bryant Young can stay healthy. Stubblefield had a great year last year, but Wilkins and Bryant should help compensate for his loss. Call this a slight drop-off.

Linebackers – Is Tubbs better than Plummer? He’s certainly younger and Plummer wasn’t even supposed to start last year. Improved.

Secondary – Langham for Woodson, McQuarters for Drakeford. Otherwise this is the same secondary as last year. McQuarters looks like he may be a real player. Call this even, and improved if Langham can do the job.

Offensive line – Scrafford is gone but Brown is here. Pollack is injured and Ruhman is raw. Barton is a big question mark. Doesn’t sound any different than last year. This year 4 of the 5 linemen have the benefit of having worked together for one year. That has to count for something. Even.

Receivers – IF Jerry Rice is back to his old self, what a tremendous receiving corps they will have with the added confidence Stokes and Owens gained last year. Can Smith and/or Clark replace Brent Jones? Jones was injured a lot last year. Young just has to gain some confidence in his new tight end. IF Rice is back, then greatly improved.

Quarterback – Almost one full year without injury to Steve Young! And give extra points for Mariucci talking Detmer into joining him in San Francisco. It looks like Young might get to scramble a little bit more this year. A definite improvement.

Backfield – At the beginning of last year the 49ers felt Edwards would be good enough to take Floyd’s place. Then Floyd had an outstanding year. If Hearst can stay healthy, the 49ers have their running game going. If not, then it’s the same old 49ers. Can Levy take the place of Kirby? Probably not. The backfield has to be considered weaker this year.

Special teams – Is McQuarters really as good as he seems to be? It could make for some interesting kick offs. It is laudable that the 49ers are trying to go with a strong-footed kicker to get those touchbacks and be patient with his field goal production. But what happens to the patience of the top brass when the swirling winds of Candlestick cause the inevitable inconsistency in field goals from the new kicker? The 49ers are not known to put up with that for very long. There have been a lot of other changes on special teams so this area will have to be "wait and see."

Overall – the 49ers seemed to have improved themselves this year. And will there be a surprise signing again this year? There always seems to be one quality player who’s willing to work for slave wages for a shot at the elusive ring. If the two Youngs, Hearst, and the secondary can stay healthy, they might be able to improve. And they were almost at the top last year!

Footnotes:

This article on "The 49ers" © 1997 by David Humpal. All Rights Reserved.