While not the opening game, the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers will help kickoff the season on Thursday night in Melbourne, Australia.
The 49ers are far from at full force. They are facing significant attrition and adversity before the new year even begins.
Nick Bosa's backups, Sam Okuayinonu and rookie Romello Height , did not make the international trip. Bosa himself is recovering from last year's ACL injury and tendinitis. Bosa himself will probably play . The bigger question is whether the star pass rusher will handle a full workload and/or look like himself.
George Kittle—one of the best tight ends in football—tore his Achilles tendon in January. He's trending in the direction of playing , but it's difficult to imagine he'll have a full workload. With a limited receiver corps, that we will get to in a second, not having Kittle at his best is a significant roadblock for the San Francisco offense.
And then there are the receivers. Ricky Pearsall—someone the team expected to take a significant jump in year three—was shut down for the year. Christian Kirk, added in free agency as a footnote to their splash signing of Mike Evans, will start the season on injured reserve and miss at least the first four games. Evans missed most of training camp with an abductor, groin, quad injury and may also be on a limited pitch count similar to Bosa and Kittle.
That leaves San Francisco with rookie De'Zhaun Stribling—the betting favorite to lead this year's draft class in receiving yards—Deebo Samuel, Demarcus Robinson, Jordan Watkins, and Jacob Cowing to catch passes from Brock Purdy. That list won't exactly have a reloaded Rams secondary shaking in their boots, especially if Evans is limited or unavailable.
This isn't even the entire list.
Last year's overdrafted EDGE defender Mykel Williams will miss at least the first four games on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. Safety Malik Mustapha is trending out of the Week 1 opener. Starting guard Dominick Puni suffered a concussion in camp and may not be ready in time.
And all of this before we even mention Kyle Shanahan's offseason adversity and the fact he might not be 100% at this point either.
And, on top of that, have I mentioned that the 49ers will line up against Myles Garrett, Aaron Donald, and Trent McDuffie?
While the 49ers have a strong track record of winning under Shanahan, this seems to be a season where they at best finish in the middle of the pack. Their core has aged significantly and they were already players who were no strangers to injury.
It's hard to imagine San Francisco keeping Thursday's game competitive. It's even more difficult to think they can stave off the injury bug long enough to maintain a position in the playoff picture towards the end fo the year.
The 49ers' season may be over before it even begins.
