POLL: Worse "Roster Purge" / Mass Exodus? 2015 vs 2025

The mid-decade changing of the guard is upon us.

2015 involved a HC change, retirements (some unexpected) and a mass departure of free agents along with later subsequent trades.

2025 the HC regime remains intact, but nevertheless there is a turnover of notable names on the roster who've departed due to trade, FA, etc. which is fresh and ongoing in the consciousness of the fanbase.

Poll: Which of the two years do you feel is "worse" or leaves a foreboding dread for the upcoming season?

I feel like the last 30 years have all been equally terrible.

2015 by far, are you kidding me?

Justin Smith, Patrick Willis, Chris Borland and Anthony Davis retired. Frank Gore, Mike Iupati and Crabtree gone as FAs. Tomsula hired as HC with possibly the worst staff in football backing him up. It was a disaster.

This shouldn't even be a discussion. Saleh coming back alone was a huge improvement to the coaching staff and we have seen zero unexpected retirements this year.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
2015 by far, are you kidding me?

Justin Smith, Patrick Willis, Chris Borland and Anthony Davis retired. Frank Gore, Mike Iupati and Crabtree gone as FAs. Tomsula hired as HC with possibly the worst staff in football backing him up. It was a disaster.

yeah that was a disaster to the point where I had to stop watching like midseason that year. It was depressing

It hurts to lose players to whom we have become attached. But, if I'm being honest, the only player whose performance I'll miss is Greenlaw.

UFAs that left:
- Greenlaw's energy and performance will be sorely missed. No guarantee he will be the same, but I think he will pull through. Reports said he wanted to leave to be the #1 LB somewhere.
- Hufanga had already been replaced with Mustapha.
- Banks wasn't very good, and his backups seemed to perform better.
- Ward was leaving regardless.
- Yiadom - meh
- Dobbs - meh
- Allen - meh
- Jaylon Moore would have been nice to keep, but he was overpaid.
- Elijah Mitchell - surprised he didn't get hurt signing that contract with the chiefs.

Traded away:
- Deebo will turn it on this year for another payday, but likely to fall back after that. He could be pretty lazy, and running his mouth without backing it up was frustrating. The force feeding of Deebo had grown ineffective the last 2 years.

Released:
- Hargrave - oft-injured with us, it just didn't work out.
- Flannigan-Fowles - meh
- Juice - will miss his leadership, but his performance did drop off and he is getting old and too light (not the bulldozer he was as a Raven).
- Floyd - a big surprise to me, but he couldn't stop the run worth a darn.
- Collins - also surprising, but same issue as Floyd.

I am probably forgetting some, but all in all, a lot of underperforming players. I think some would have worked in rotational roles, but nothing to get upset about.

Are we really having this conversation?

There were 2 HOFers who left the team in 2015 and two other guys who were knocking on that door.

On top of that we lost 2 starters on the OL, a starting CB, starting WR and the promising backup to our retiring HOF LB...retired heading into year 2 of his career.

This offseason we lost Dre and a FB...and a bunch of underachievers.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
2015 by far, are you kidding me?

Justin Smith, Patrick Willis, Chris Borland and Anthony Davis retired. Frank Gore, Mike Iupati and Crabtree gone as FAs. Tomsula hired as HC with possibly the worst staff in football backing him up. It was a disaster.

Yeah, lol. This was partly a rhetorical post/poll to illicit the obvious response from those old enough to remember 2015, but nevertheless some of the recent news headlines are prematurely predicting comparable doom and gloom for this coming season…

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
2015 by far, are you kidding me?

Justin Smith, Patrick Willis, Chris Borland and Anthony Davis retired. Frank Gore, Mike Iupati and Crabtree gone as FAs. Tomsula hired as HC with possibly the worst staff in football backing him up. It was a disaster.

I want to know who voted for 2025 so they can be drug tested.

Originally posted by genus49:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
2015 by far, are you kidding me?

Justin Smith, Patrick Willis, Chris Borland and Anthony Davis retired. Frank Gore, Mike Iupati and Crabtree gone as FAs. Tomsula hired as HC with possibly the worst staff in football backing him up. It was a disaster.

I want to know who voted for 2025 so they can be drug tested.

Haha, yeah, it isn't even close. I don't understand why so many are flipping out.

The Borland retirement was an absolute dagger to the heart. With Patrick Willis retiring somewhat surprisingly (as I seem to recall) and Justin Smith dragging his decision along, only to bow out in the end, the one ray of light was - well okay, we have this kid that looks like he has something special about him.
Only for him to also announce an unprecedented early retirement!!! Man, that was a kick in the teeth.

I don't really blame him though. The issues he raised are real.

Only way this season would even be close to 15 would be if Kittle retires to pursue his wrestling career and CMC retires to be a stay at home dad.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
2015 by far, are you kidding me?

Justin Smith, Patrick Willis, Chris Borland and Anthony Davis retired. Frank Gore, Mike Iupati and Crabtree gone as FAs. Tomsula hired as HC with possibly the worst staff in football backing him up. It was a disaster.

No kidding that was the worse. I wish Patrick Willis last till the Shanahan era and retired after the 2019 season.

2015 was so much worse it's not even comparable. The fact that this is even a conversation just highlights how good fans have it right now and how quickly people forget how bad things can get.

Originally posted by joeknows:
The Borland retirement was an absolute dagger to the heart. With Patrick Willis retiring somewhat surprisingly (as I seem to recall) and Justin Smith dragging his decision along, only to bow out in the end, the one ray of light was - well okay, we have this kid that looks like he has something special about him.
Only for him to also announce an unprecedented early retirement!!! Man, that was a kick in the teeth.

I don't really blame him though. The issues he raised are real.

The Willis retirement was completely unexpected 8 years of elite level play and retiring at 30 was a shock.

Borland retiring only a few days later was as you describe it but I 100% blame him for that. His comments after the fact will make me despise the dude for ever.

He basically lied to the team about his desire to play football or he would've never been drafted. He said he basically knew he was going to retire after showing people he could play which means he knew during the draft process what he was going to do. I would've understood if he was set on playing a full career and then a rash of concussions or another health scare pushed him into retirement.

He cheated the team. F him.