By: Jake Rajala

The Jimmy Garoppolo-led San Francisco 49ers clawed their way to a playoff berth last season. Kyle Shanahan will hand the keys to a different, younger QB in Trey Lance and aspire to return to the Super Bowl in Lance’s second NFL season. With that said, I’m going to simply outline the three biggest obstacles for the 49ers in 2022.

• The growth of the “middle of the pack NFC teams”

The 49ers edged out the decimated New Orleans Saints for a playoff berth last season, but I really expect NO to be a wild-card team next season at least. Jameis Winston was 5-2 without his insane WR trio (Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry, and Chris Olave) and the Saints also added the Honey Badger to their defense.

Outside of Who Dat Nation, the NFC East could have three potential playoff teams next season. The Washington Commanders will a QB upgrade in Carson Wentz from Taylor Heinicke, while the Philadelphia Eagles offense will aim to make a lot of noise with A.J. Brown. The 49ers battle the Saints and Commanders this season, so it will be vital that Shanny finds a way to squash the fellow NFC squads.

• The health of star players

It will be a challenge for Lance to help the 49ers return to the playoffs in the gritty NFC in his first season. If the 49ers suffer from the injury bug, it will be a mountain for the complex 49ers team to earn a golden ticket to the NFC playoffs in 2022-2023.

George Kittle, Dee Ford, Deebo Samuel, and Nick Bosa have both missed a lot of games in their 49ers tenure. In particular, Kittle’s injury history is a noticeable concern (13 missed games over the past three seasons).

• The production from young offensive players

The 49ers desperately need Brandon Aiyuk and Trey Sermon to be superb contributors in 2022. Aiyuk was a modest sophomore WR, but he wasn’t able to have a coming-out party last season. Although, he can be a star WR2 with 1,000+ receiving yds with his new big-arm QB moving forward. I’m sure that the 49ers faithful would love to see the 2021 third-round pick Sermon (167 rushing yds in 2021) ascend into a quality RB behind Elijah Mitchell, as well. The 49ers could win competitive match-ups off the backs of x-factor profiles like Aiyuk and Sermon.

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