The Niners haven’t done much winning over the past two seasons and former franchise great Steve Young thinks the focus of ownership is part of the problem.
From 2011 through 2013, the Niners had no fewer than 11 wins in any season. Since then, the most wins they’ve had in a season is eight in 2014. San Francisco won just five games last year only has one victory in 2016.
Losing players to retirement like Justin Smith and Patrick Willis hasn’t helped. Neither has losing Michael Crabtree, Frank Gore, and Mike Iupati to free agency. However, the priorities of Jed York and his family shouldn’t be ignored either, as Young said during a recent interview.
“Their equity value in the team is their A game, it’s what drives them,” Young said on KNBR, via SFGate. “It’s what drives most of the owners. It’s what matters. It’s what they think about. It’s what they talk about. And the B-game is whether we win some games.”
“In the NFL, you don’t have to win to make money,” Young continued. “The greatest growth equity value teams are not necessarily the winners. In fact, if you think about the 49ers in the last 15 years since the Yorks owned the team, you’re talking about equity values that went from, I’m just rough now, $200 million in 2000 to well over maybe $2 billion.”
The Niners may be a more valuable team than they used to be, but they certainly aren’t as good. The talent on the roster doesn’t resemble that of the teams that made three consecutive playoff appearances from 2011 through 2013, including two trips to the NFC Championship Game and one Super Bowl appearance.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear San Francisco will be turning the corner anytime soon. Colin Kaepernick can become a free agent after the season, which would leave the team with Blaine Gabbert and we see how that experiment has gone. The defense is dead last in total yards allowed per game. The offense isn’t much better at 29th. It could be rough next few years for Niners fans.
H/T Sporting News
