The 49ers' roster as a whole is one of if not the best in the NFL. But where do San Francisco's five most important players rank as a group? The answer might surprise you.
ESPN released its rankings of the 32 NFL roster cores, which they define as "the five most important players to a team -- the guys each roster is built around."
Where San Francisco's star-studded roster fell on that list might come as a surprise.
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1. Kansas City Chiefs
2. Cincinnati Bengals
3. Philadelphia Eagles
4. Miami Dolphins
5. Buffalo Bills
6. Dallas Cowboys
7. Los Angeles Chargers
8. New York Jets
9. Baltimore Ravens
10. San Francisco 49ers
Roster core: DE Nick Bosa, OT Trent Williams, RB Christian McCaffrey, TE George Kittle, LB Fred Warner
Average core age: 28.4
San Francisco 49ers
"You could absolutely make the case for quarterback Brock Purdy to be on this list," Seth Walder wrote. "But the 49ers are a great team because of what's around their QB -- whoever it might be. This exercise also sells them short, because there are just too many quality players on San Francisco's roster; receiver Deebo Samuel and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave would make the core for almost every other team, and receiver Brandon Aiyuk might, too."
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Of the nine teams ranked higher than the 49ers on ESPN's list, there are a few that certainly could be considered questionable. However, the difference between San Francisco's core and the nine other teams is that each of the other teams has a quarterback on their list, whereas the 49ers' quarterback position remains a question mark ahead of the 2023 season.
If one of Brock Purdy, Trey Lance or Sam Darnold were to develop into the franchise quarterback San Francisco is searching for, you can expect the 49ers to be ranked higher next season.