SANTA CLARA — Logan Ryan was about to board a Thanksgiving Disney cruise bound for the Bahamas last month with his wife and two young children when he got a call from 49ers general manager John Lynch.
The former New England Patriots safety had been resigned to his career being over after more than a decade in the NFL. But the invitation to join the 49ers and pursue a third Super Bowl ring intrigued him enough to study film and work out on the ship. It wasn’t until he saw the 49ers play, however, that he understood why his new team is the title favorite.
Their culture of high effort and attention to detail matches their top-level talent.
The 11-year NFL veteran saw receivers sprinting downfield to block safeties. He marveled at how Chase Young, all 6-foot-5, 264 pounds of him, raced 50 yards across the field just trying to make a play.
“It’s a selfless style of ball, and with many stars and such a talented roster, it’s really refreshing,” said Ryan, a product of the Bill Belichick culture with the Patriots.
Culture and chemistry are two terms thrown around a lot in sports, but they are difficult to define and harder to maintain. Regime changes are common, with problems arising not only in procuring talent, but paying for it and properly identifying whether the puzzle pieces fit. Meddling ownership, even with good intentions, can lead to bad results.
With the 49ers (11-3) currently the NFC’s top seed heading into a Christmas night matchup with AFC’s top team in Baltimore, everything has come together in 2023. The only thing missing for coach Kyle Shanahan and Lynch is a championship — something the 49ers haven’t won since the 1994 season.
Shanahan and Lynch arrived in 2017 and despite a 10-32 record over their first two years, they made two early moves that kicked off a player-driven cultural reset: selecting tight end George Kittle in the fifth round of the 2017 draft and linebacker Fred Warner a year later in the third round.
Christian McCaffrey is thriving in a 49ers environment that feeds his obsession with practicing, preparing and playing football. A.P. Photo
Each year when the 49ers adjourn following offseason workouts for mandatory time off, it’s Kittle and Warner who address the rookies and new veterans about what is expected when training camp begins a month later.
“I tell them to be a sponge,” Kittle said. “Watch the veterans closely and listen.”
Bringing in Nick Bosa as the No. 2 pick in the 2019 draft and Christian McCaffrey via trade last October, two players whose dedication to football borders on obsession, has only raised the stakes.
“When you do hit on those guys and you get those guys here, it’s really cool for younger guys to come in and see kind of how things are done,” Shanahan said. “You don’t have to talk as much as we used to when we got here because they just watch guys like that do it the right way and they try to emulate them because they know how successful they’ve been on the field.”
Upon arrival, McCaffrey enlisted then-backup quarterback Brock Purdy to drill him on the new playbook in hopes of playing with just a single practice under his belt.
“I was blown away,” Purdy said. “I thought, ‘So this is what greatness looks like.’”
McCaffrey was delighted to discover the team he’d joined shared his value system when it came to preparation and practice and pushed him to be even better by focusing on what really mattered instead of extraneous minutia.
“There’s such a high standard here when it comes to the football, when it comes to the tape,” McCaffrey said. “You don’t have to dress a certain way. You don’t have to do this or that. One of the coolest things about this place is you have so many different personalities and characters but everybody’s standard is the right way when it comes to being on the field. If you don’t, you’re kind of just an outcast.”
Shanahan credited the York family, which owns the team, has given him and Lynch a free hand in the football operation and all the capital they need to bring in players via draft, free agency or trade.
“What we have here is 1,000 percent based off the people that are in this building,” Shanahan said.
Like the 1994 championship team, which had Steve Young at quarterback and included Jerry Rice, Ricky Watters, Deion Sanders, Bryant Young, Ken Norton Jr. and others, there is no shortage of stars. That team blended the big names with role players and became an unstoppable force under coach George Seifert and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan, whose 14-year-old son Kyle was a ballboy.
After winning four Super Bowls in the 1980s, there was an established way of doing things. A veteran hierarchy was as responsible as the coaching staff for making sure new players, whether they be veterans or rookies, adhered to the common goal.
Chris Foerster, the 49ers’ current offensive line and run game coach, said Shanahan pushes not only his players, but also his coaches as part of the process.
“It’s always about the X’s and O’s and the fundamentals and techniques of getting better,” Foerster said. “… Everybody has things they can work on.”
The 49ers made another significant trade seven weeks ago for Young, the defensive end from Washington who was the No. 2 overall draft pick the year after Bosa.
“One thing you notice is they just take care of their players,” Young said. “Everybody’s on the same page here, so it helps that things are detailed. And then you’ve got guys like Fred, Nick, Trent (Williams), guys that like that overtime. Your best players are your hardest workers.”
Defensive end Clelin Ferrell (94) knows exactly what’s expected of him since joining the 49ers. Nhat V. Meyer
Drafted by the Raiders just two spots after the 49ers picked Bosa in 2019, defensive end Clelin Ferrell likes the fact there is no confusion as to what is expected. Shanahan and his staff are direct, without the need for mind games or psychological button-pushing common to the sport, which Ferrell experienced with the Raiders.
“Starting at the top with our owners and through the front office and Kyle, everybody has bought into their roles and the idea we’re going to be a player-led organization and we’re going to have a standard,” said Ferrell, who joined last offseason on a one-year deal. “There’s a connectivity here that really, really shows.”
Willie Snead IV is a practice squad wide receiver who has been with successful teams in New Orleans and Baltimore. He sees a familiar thread with the 49ers’ player-friendly culture.
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“The coach trusts the main guys, the captains, to build the team around,” Snead said. “It’s filled with men who could lead any group and it trickles down.”
But it’s not for everyone: Shanahan won’t spend a lot of time attempting to light a fire under a player who isn’t buying in.
“He’s said this before: ‘If you’re not meant to be here, you won’t be here,’” Snead said.
Like Ryan, the new safety, offensive lineman Jon Feliciano points to an effort level among receivers that jumps off the page and helps illustrate the 49ers way. During training camp, star wideouts Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk threw some pointed barbs at seventh-round rookie Ronnie Bell about his early attempts at blocking downfield.
“It’s not everywhere you see receivers blocking 30 yards downfield, especially with the amount of motions and stuff we do,” Feliciano said. “But you see Aiyuk and Deebo doing it, and other receivers doing it.
“The right guys are in the building, and it goes for both sides of the ball.”
