Golden Nuggets: Who is in your 49ers Franchise 5?

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CBS Sports is doing a series where they pick the top-five members of each NFL team.

It has been a long week with everything happening around the country. We have had some spirited debates (to say the least,) here on Niners Nation, so let’s lighten it up a bit heading into the weekend.

The San Francisco 49ers are one of the legacy NFL teams. The Niners have won five Super Bowls, tied for the second-most out of any franchise. San Francisco has had several legendary players don its uniform. So, how do you narrow it down to a top-five, with some stipulations?

CBS Sports is doing a series where its staff members make a list of each NFL team’s “Franchise Five” but with a few rules in place.

You can only select one head coach, one quarterback, and three non-quarterbacks. CBS’ Tyler Sullivan was responsible for coming up with the 49ers “Franchise Five” and here is how his list looks:

Head coach: Bill Walsh

Quarterback: Joe Montana

Non-QB player: Jerry Rice

Non-QB player: Ronnie Lott

Non-QB player: Dwight Clark

Honorable mention: Jimmy Johnson, Steve Young, Frank Gore, Terrell Owens.

Walsh, Montana, Rice and Lott are no-brainers for me. I was too young to see Clark play, so I would replace him with Frank Gore on my list.

If I had to do a second-team all Niners with the same rules, my list would look like this:

Head coach: George Seifert

Quarterback: Steve Young

Non-QB player: Patrick Willis

Non-QB player: Terrell Owens

Non-QB player: Charles Haley

Now for the really hard one, how would your 49ers “Franchise Five” look like if you can only use players from 2000 and beyond.

Head coach: Jim Harbaugh. I really thought of putting Kyle Shanahan here, but he needs to string together a few winning seasons before I can put him above the psychotic one.

Quarterback: Jimmy Garoppolo. This is the toughest one to figure out if we are going post 2000. San Francisco had Jeff Garcia, who had a nice couple of years, then it was nothing but hot garbage until Harbaugh rescued Alex Smith. I definitely considered Colin Kaepernick, and Brian Hoyer here (ha!), but Garoppolo is my pick. He’s won as many division titles as any Kap and Smith, and was within eight minutes of winning the Super Bowl.

Non-QB player: Frank Gore

Non-QB player: Patrick Willis

Non-QB player: Bryant Young. I thought of Justin Smith and NaVorro Bowman here as well, but Young is under appreciated for what he did for the franchise early this century.

What does your 49ers “Franchise Five” look like for the all-time list, and for post 2000?

Now, here are some Joe Montana highlights for your pleasure:

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On to some more links:

Steve Young or Joe Montana? Fivethirtyeight’s Josh Hermsmeyer says Young was the better quarterback.

The pandemic is forcing NFL teams to alter offseason schedule. But, The Athletic’s David Lombardi says Niners’ head coach Kyle Shanahan is using the extra time to perfect his play designs.

San Francisco signed a few veterans who will challenge for a roster spot come September, but some of them may not last until Week 1. Peter Panacy of Fansided put together his list of five Niners who can be cut without playing a snap.

Shanahan has been keeping in contact with QB Jimmy Garoppolo. The head coach says Jimmy G is fired up and ready for next season to get started. (h/t David Bonilla of 49ers Web Zone.)

Is there an undrafted free agent who could make an impact for the 49ers in 2020? Fansided’s Justin Fried makes the case for running back JaMychal Hasty.

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