San Francisco 49ers: Lynch, Thomas, Johnson Named 3 of Top 25 Prospects

A lot of attention has been paid to the San Francisco 49ers’ mass exodus of talent this offseason, and rightfully so. The 49ers have been devastated by the loss of veteran talent such as Frank Gore, Justin Smith and Patrick Willis, and that’s the entirely justifiable reason why pessimists have the team doing poorly in 2015.

Football Outsiders' recently released Almanac 2015, for example, has the 49ers as a slightly below-average team facing the second-hardest schedule in the league, resulting in a mean wins projection of just 6.8, which would be their worst season since the Singletary era, if not quite dropping back to Nolan-era futility.

However, not all is pessimism, and even a negative projection like Football Outsiders' comes with its own silver lining—specifically, in this case, the young players ready to burst onto the scene.

Every year, Football Outsiders puts together its list of the top 25 prospects in football. To qualify, a player can’t have been selected in the first two rounds—so no Carlos Hyde on this list. They need to have entered the league in the last three seasons, going back to 2012 in this case. They have to have made under than five career starts, be on their original contract and be 26 or younger entering this season.

While not every player highlighted ends up succeeding, Football Outsiders has a very good hit rate considering those limitations. In recent years, T.Y. Hilton, Knile Davis, Lardarius Webb and Geno Atkins were highlighted before they became larger stars.

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It has historically shied away from having 49ers on the list, however. Since 2011, the only 49er noted was Kendall Hunter in 2013.

That changed with this year’s list. The 49ers show up early and often this time around, with a whopping three young players listed as potentially having a big impact in 2015 and years to come. That’s more than any other squad, so while Football Outsiders is down on the 49ers' prospects for the upcoming season, it believes they show signs of potential for the years ahead.

Rather than reproduce the entire list here or directly quote what FO says about the top prospects, it’s worth looking at those three up-and-coming prospects to try and figure out what they’ll be able to do in 2015.

Aaron Lynch

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The primary factor holding Aaron Lynch back from a huge 2015 is the quality of players ahead of him on the depth chart. Aldon Smith is one of San Francisco’s best players, and Ahmad Brooks has been impressing during camp, according to Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee.

However, Lynch was good enough in 2014 to justify a potential rotation, especially in pass-rush situations. Lynch tied for the team lead in sacks with six, and Pro Football Focus had him with most quarterback pressures of anyone on the team with 41. That’s roughly one pressure every eight times he rushed the quarterback, significantly ahead of Brooks’ one every 12 plays and just behind Smith’s one every seven.

Grantland’s Bill Barnwell also singled Lynch out for praise when talking about the NFL’s next top pass-rushers, saying “players like Lynch are a reason to be hopeful” the 49ers’ 2015 season won’t just be a write off. With Smith on the last year of his deal and Brooks’ cap hit ballooning over the next few years, Lynch is an heir apparent to plenty of pass-rushing opportunities.

Lynch has been slow this offseason. He recently came off of NFI following a hamstring injury he’s been nursing all offseason. That, plus Brooks’ apparent rejuvenation in camp, might limit his impact in 2015.  Don’t be surprised to see him rotated in frequently over the course of the season, however—at the moment, he looks like the best remaining player from the 2014 draft class.

Brandon Thomas

Before Brandon Thomas tore his ACL in pre-draft workouts a year ago, he was considered a borderline first-round pick. After the injury, the 49ers were able to grab Thomas at the end of the third round. If Thomas is fully recovered from that ACL, that could prove to be a tremendous value selection.

So far, Thomas has looked very much like the rookie he essentially is. He’s mostly been working with the second team at this point, occasionally rotating into the first team, according to Barrows. The 49ers are clearly taking it slow with him because of his injury and general inexperience. He’s also had some expected struggles for a new player—Grant Cohn of the Press Democrat talked about Tony Jerod-Eddie driving him back into the quarterback—but so far, none of the offensive line has really looked fantastic.

At this point, he’s been the least impressive of the three prospects on Football Outsiders’ list, but this is essentially his first year in the league—give him a bit of time to catch up to game speed before writing him off.

Dontae Johnson

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The 49ers’ young cornerbacks have been performing well enough for Chris Cook to be released, and a large part of that is Dontae Johnson. At the moment, he’s getting the nickel snaps as Jimmie Ward rehabs from injury, and don’t count out the possibility that he'll replace Shareece Wright as a starter.

By all draft reports, Johnson shouldn’t have been ready to play last season. Mike Mayock called him a “better athlete than football player” who needed time to develop but had potential. Apparently, “time to develop” was less than half a season. Johnson appeared in every game from Week 6 onward and saw his playtime gradually increase from dime to nickel to starting duties, based both on his play and the injury situation the team faced.

Johnson wasn’t a shutdown corner by any means, but he did a good job of keeping the play in front of him and limiting yardage, growing into the role as the season went along. He struggled as a starter but excelled as a nickelback—that was the extent of his development in 2014.

That’s light years ahead of what was expected of him before the season. After the draft, it was argued his “raw athleticism was worth developing” but that he was a “high-upside guy who needs some more developmental work."

If you slide his initial starting point to “solid nickel corner” and remember he still has a raw athleticism that’s developing, that raises his potential ceiling. If he continues to improve like he did during 2014, Johnson’s going to end up a very good starting cornerback in a year or two.

Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers.  Follow him @BryKno on Twitter.