There's no denying that the San Francisco 49ers have one of the premier rosters in the NFL, with most regarding theirs as the best collection of talent in the league.

Yet there is one clear problem with the overall makeup of their team, one that still exists despite the 49ers making eight selections in this year's draft.

In ranking each team by their under-25 talent for ESPN, Aaron Schatz identified that issue with how the 49ers roster is presently constructed.

Schatz ranked the 49ers 23rd, with the presence of starting quarterback Brock Purdy, who is 24, pulling them up from the lower reaches of the list. 

In his blurb on the 49ers, Schatz suggested Purdy might be the most valuable young asset in the NFL, before pointing out that Purdy will not qualify to be part of the equation for this list next offseason.

Schatz added:

"Other than Purdy and 24-year-old safety Ji'Ayir Brown, not a lot of the young 49ers talent has developed. Spencer Burford (24) was near the bottom of the league in pass block win rate (86.1%) a season ago and is not penciled in as a starter this year. Edge rusher Drake Jackson (23) hasn't started a game in two years, although he does have a reasonable total of six sacks in 23 career games. Instead, most of the 49ers' top young standouts are this year's rookies. Wide receiver Ricky Pearsall is older for a rookie, turning 24 during the first week of the season. Second-round cornerback Renardo Green is 23, and third-round guard Dominick Puni is 24."

The 49ers' roster is one of the oldest in the NFL. Per FTN Fantasy, it was the third-oldest in the league last year by snap-weighted age last season and, as Schatz points out, it has not exactly been replenished by a steady flow of young talent quickly developing quickly and earning prominent roles with the team. A lack of first-round picks in 2022 and 2023 owing to the Trey Lance trade and the trade for Christian McCaffrey that saw the Niners give up four picks have contributed to the 49ers' lack of success in that regard.

San Francisco has high hopes for this year's influx of rookies following a draft in which they held a first-rounder for the first time since 2021. However, by spending their first three picks on older rookies, theirs is not a draft that will solve the age issue. Fourth-round safety Malik Mustapha (22) is their youngest draft pick of 2024.

As a result, the 49ers' 2024 draft class will, for the most part, be around 27 or 28 when they come to the end of their first contract.

It is not a problem the 49ers will worry much about now given their focus is entirely on winning the Super Bowl this year after coming within one defensive stop of doing so in February. Should the likes of Pearsall, Green and Puni impress, their age will be far from the minds of most.

But with the 49ers' old and expensive roster set to get more difficult to keep together next offseason when a lucrative extension for Purdy will become the priority, the Niners will need to make a concerted effort to get younger. Talent, character and fit with the team will always trump most other factors when evaluating players but, at some stage, age must become more of a consideration for San Francisco.

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