Steve Young was the definition of a leader. He won three Super Bowls during his time with the 49ers and was under center for seven Pro Bowl seasons with the Red and Gold.
Today’s 49ers are a far cry from where the franchise was when he was the leader of the 49ers offense. With veteran Navarro Bowman out for the rest of the season, Young told the Tolbert and Lund show on Wednesday that this 49er team is desperately looking for leaders and seeking direction.
“When Navarro got hurt, there’s really nobody in the locker room that is a catalyst; that can say something and everyone else goes, ‘oh yeah,’” Young said.
“There’s no one coming out of the locker room warming up that you say ‘okay that’s the guy we’re going to follow’. That’s the guy who’s going to lead us out of this mess. That’s a group of guys that all of the sudden probably has one of the worst locker rooms in football. That’s when it gets really hard.”
Clearly, the danger for the 49ers now is the 1-5 record taking away an opportunity of any type of player development. With the 49ers in rebuilding mode, and the playoffs a pipe dream, management will want to get a clear picture on the state of the roster. With NFL careers always on the line, Young believes that players will remain focused.
“Where the 49ers right now, is a tremendous opportunity for young players. Who are hard-working, who can be pros for a long time. They can start to show themselves, even quietly, with how they practice and how they get it done,” Young said.
49ers fans will have to hope that the incentive of staying in the league will keep the team focused and playing hard. At this point, that’s all fans can be optimistic about.