ESPN’s Aaron Schatz and Seth Walder featured five past and present 49ers on their NFL All Quarter-Century Team they constructed in an article published on Wednesday.
Here are the four players and one coach who represented San Francisco on the 53-man roster and elite coaching staff.
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WATCH HEREChristian McCaffrey
McCaffrey has collected 10,853 all-purpose yards and 81 touchdowns over his eight-year NFL career with the Carolina Panthers (2017-22) and 49ers (2022-present).
Walder raved about McCaffrey’s versatility and consistency as an all-around running back in his reasoning for naming the 29-year-old to the squad.
“As the best receiving back of the past 25 years, McCaffrey needs to be included on this roster,” Walder wrote. “He averages 47 receiving yards per game, which is more than anyone else with at least 500 carries in the span.
“But he's not only a receiving back. What makes McCaffrey special is that he has maintained 4.7 yards per carry over his career, 14th-best among running backs this quarter-century.”
San Francisco 49ers
It is no surprise that McCaffrey; a two-time All-Pro, a three-time Pro Bowl selection and the 2023 Offensive Player of the Year; made the cut.
Kyle Juszczyk
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His routine dominance and jack-of-all-trades play style have earned him nine Pro Bowl appearances and an All-Pro nod over his 12-year NFL career with the Baltimore Ravens (2013-16) and 49ers (2017-present).
Schatz reiterated the sentiment.
“Juszczyk's nine Pro Bowl selections are four more than the Ravens' Patrick Ricard and five more than former Charger Lorenzo Neal,” Schatz wrote. “He's a unique playmaker as a fullback in the passing game, with the ability to move around and run all kinds of different routes.”
Juszczyk enters his ninth San Francisco season with 24 career touchdowns and 2,901 all-purpose yards on 348 touches -- mighty numbers for one of football’s rare fullbacks.
Trent Williams
A future Pro Football Hall of Famer, Williams would’ve been impossible for ESPN to exclude from its All Quarter-Century Team.
The 36-year-old left tackle has anchored the blind side for over 14 NFL seasons with the then-Washington Redskins (2010-19) and 49ers (2020-present) en route to three All-Pro nods and 11 Pro Bowl appearances.
“Williams was chosen for the Pro Bowl in 11 seasons from 2012 to 2023, the most by any offensive tackle since 2000,” Schatz wrote. “He was very good in his 20s for Washington before holding out the entire 2019 season over disagreements with the team's medical staff. He is even better in his 30s for San Francisco, leading all tackles in pass block win rate in 2023.”
Williams will play a big part in protecting recently extended 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy during the 2025 NFL season.
Richard Sherman
Sherman undoubtedly was one of the best cornerbacks in league history throughout his 11-year NFL career with the Seattle Seahawks (2011-17), the 49ers (2018-2020) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2021).
A Stanford product, Sherman quietly had a steady professional tenure in the Bay, collecting 116 tackles, 16 passes defensed and four interceptions – including a pick-six – over 34 games with San Francisco. Though, general football fans probably remember Sherman for his time in Seattle.
“Sherman headlined the "Legion of Boom" secondary that took over the NFL in the 2010s, making the game-clinching deflection that sent the Seahawks to their second Super Bowl appearance of the 21st century,” Walder wrote.
“And in retrospect, it's a testament to Sherman and Earl Thomas III (more on him later) that the emulations by other teams of Seattle's Cover 3 defense never had as much success as the original. From 2012 to 2014, Sherman earned three straight first-team All-Pro selections and recorded 20 interceptions.”
Sherman finished his career with 495 tackles, 116 passes defensed and 37 interceptions.
Kyle Shanahan
Shanahan made the team as its offensive coordinator, a role he officially held for nine years with the Cleveland Bowns (2014) and Atlanta Falcons (2015-16) before serving as 49ers head coach since 2017.
However, the 45-year-old essentially is San Francisco’s offensive coordinator, as he is the one sending play calls into Purdy’s ear.
Shanahan always has made do with what he has, and his offenses tend to run smoothly when players are healthy -- unlike in 2024.
“Our criteria for the coordinators was that head coaches were allowed as long as they spent some time as a coordinator in this quarter-century,” Walder wrote. “Shanahan -- along with Sean McVay and the resulting coaching tree -- proliferated a schematic shift across the league that happened to be quite successful.
“Teams coordinated or coached by Shanahan averaged 0.06 EPA per play (postseason included), including three seasons where they ranked top two in DVOA and six seasons in the top six. Shanahan's statistical success is notable given that he usually hasn't had elite quarterbacks playing for him -- the quarterback with the most playing time under him is Jimmy Garoppolo.”
Purdy, by the end of his five-year, $265 million contract extension that runs through 2030, should replace Garoppolo as the quarterback to play the most under Shanahan.
