49ers offense was missing its most necessary component in 2025

The San Francisco 49ers finished the 2025 season near the bottom of the league in offensive explosiveness, ranking below the league average in both explosive rush rate (10-plus yards) and explosive pass rate (20-plus yards), according to a chart from @sfdata9ers.

The 49ers sat at roughly 9% in explosive rush rate and 9% in explosive pass rate — right at the league average horizontally but below it vertically, placing them in the lower half of the league overall. Teams like the Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers all posted markedly better numbers in both categories.

The data is notable given that running back Christian McCaffrey, the engine of San Francisco‘s offense, ranks among the most explosive players in the NFL over the past five seasons.

But McCaffrey, who turned 30 in June, showed signs of slippage as a rusher in 2025. His 3.9 rushing yards per carry were his lowest since 2020, although he still had a league-high 17 explosive catches. McCaffrey, though, isn’t enough to raise the tide of this offense heading into 2026.

Additionally, the 49ers don’t have an obvious replacement waiting behind McCaffrey unless they think Kaelon Black and Jordan James can deliver the same punch. The receivers aren’t explosive, either, save for perhaps 2024 first-rounder Ricky Pearsall. New additions Mike Evans, Christian Kirk and 2026 second-round De’Zhaun Stribling aren’t known as game-breakers, so perhaps the identity of this offense will change in the coming years

This lack of explosiveness didn’t really negatively affect the offense, though. The 49ers offense still ranked 10th in points and 11th in yards per play before going on to win 12 games and their Wild Card playoff match.