The NFC West was easily the most competitive and by far the best division in football last season. The Super Bowl was actually played in the NFC Championship game last year when the Seahawks narrowly beat the 49ers. I say that is the Super Bowl because it has everything you look for in the biggest game of the year; both teams have elite defenses, a young QB who plays well under pressure, and a great head coach. And the biggest part of all, they were the best two teams in football. So how do you make a team that went to the last three NFC Championship games even better?

The 49ers have literally been a couple of plays away from winning or participating in the biggest game in football the last three years. When you look back at the games the answer is blatantly smacking you in the face, the 49ers need a quality WR and they got one via trade with the Bills. Steve Johnson is going to add an element to the 49ers offense that has been missing for the last few years. Johnson is not too far removed from three straight seasons of 1,000+ yards receiving, and many can make the argument that his down 2013-2014 can be explained through inconsistent QB play.

With Johnson, Michael Crabtree, Anquan Boldin, and Vernon Davis that gives QB Colin Kaepernick a whole heap of targets to throw to. Johnson is most likely at some point this season take over the #2 WR role from Boldin who is getting up there in age. Sure, you can say it doesn’t matter who is at WR because the 49ers run the ball more than any team in the NFL and Frank Gore is just too old to continue churning out Pro-Bowl type season. Insert recently drafted Carlos Hyde, who was the most complete RB available in this draft. Hyde will most likely get a Red Shirt like season to learn the playbook and the 49ers system but with all the raw talent he obtains there is a chance the likes of Marcus Lattimore (drafted in 2013) or Kendall Hunter won’t be able to hold of Hyde.
Hunter is nothing more than a change of pace back and you really don’t know what Lattimore will have to offer given the fact that his knees have already taken a beating in college. Either way the 49ers did exactly what they needed to do in order to close the gap between themselves and the Seahawks. They got WR help to counter the Seahawks Top-Tier CB & Safeties, and they got their future RB in order to keep pounding the ball down opponents throats.