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The youth movement in San Francisco isn’t exciting 49ers great Jerry Rice.
In fact, he seems to be a bit concerned about the franchise and feels that things are in flux rather than being a team looking to compete for a Super Bowl, which is being hosted in San Fran next season.
“I just feel like we added on too many pieces. The reason why I say that is these guys are young guys,” Rice said to the San Jose Mercury News. “Super Bowl 60 is going to be here in San Francisco [at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara]. I would have preferred to sort of leave everything like last year, add on to that, and have a chance for this coming year.”
The 49ers had quite a bit of change this offseason after letting a number of veteran players go and trading away receiver Deebo Samuel.
San Francisco focused heavily on the draft, making 11 picks that included taking Georgia product Mykel Williams with the 11th overall selection.
“A lot of young guys. Now, can Kyle Shanahan pull it together and can these guys jell? We have to wait and see,” Rice continued. “But there’s this big question mark if it’s going to work.“I’m always going to go Niners no matter what. But we’re bringing in so many young players. It’s going to take a while for that team to jell. If it doesn’t happen this year, then maybe the next couple of years.”
The 49ers are coming off a season in which they went 6-11 and missed the postseason after making the Super Bowl the year before and making the playoffs in three straight seasons.
San Francisco was 4-4 when they reached their bye week in Week 9, but would go on to win just two of their final nine games of the year in 2024.
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