Robert Saleh will have a new cast of characters on defense, as he’ll need to replace at least four starters.
According to Over the Cap, the average NFL team must replace eight percent of its snaps heading into the NFL Draft. The San Francisco 49ers have the fourth-highest percentage of snaps to replace in 2025. We knew it was high, but more than double (16.6 percent) puts the roster turnover in relation to the rest of the league.
The offense will remain largely unchanged outside of Deebo Samuel and Aaron Banks. That side of the ball will only miss 10.5 percent of snaps from 2024. It’s Robert Saleh who will have a new cast of characters. The Niners will replace 22.6 percent of their defensive snaps from 2024.
De’Vondre Campbell played the fifth-most snaps last season at 719. Defensive tackle Maliek Collins was right behind him at 715, and Charvarius Ward came in at seventh with 694 snaps. Despite appearing in every game, Leonard Floyd was 10th in snaps with 604 snaps. Talanoa Hufanga played 308 snaps in under half a season. That’s four starters.
So, a linebacker, two defensive tackles, a defensive end, and a cornerback. And not just any cornerback. A corner one year removed from being an All-Pro, and helped give the secondary a much-needed lockdown option and a makeover for the previous three seasons.
The study only did offense and defense, but it’s worth noting that Eric Saubert (1st), Isaac Yiadom (2nd), and Chris Conley (5th) were all top five on the team in special-teams snaps last season. Of course, the special teams play on the 49ers was atrocious last season. So getting new blood on the kick teams isn’t the worst idea.
You can make a similar argument defensively. Mooney was a stud, and Collins was a quality DT2, but he should have never been relied on to be the best interior threat, which was the case in 2024 once Javon Hargrave went down with a season-ending injury in Week 3. Campbell will be addition by subtraction, and I’d argue Floyd was never the type of edge rusher the Niners fielded during their successful playoff runs.