San Francisco 49ers picked as a favorite to appear on “Hard Knocks”
By Erik Lambert
The HBO series “Hard Knocks” is among the most popular for NFL fans, but not actual teams and now the San Francisco 49ers may be in its sights.
For those who aren’t aware of what the show is, it’s a series that chronicles the training camp and preseason runs for a team during a given year. It has been around since way back in 2001 and become a fixture of helping to hype up the approaching season. The problem is always finding a team willing to be the one that gets featured, something most organizations resist as best they can.
The reasoning is simple enough. It’s hard to win the Super Bowl as it is in this league. Adding a bunch of cameras following every move of your players and coaches as they’re trying to get ready for the season is an unwanted distraction. They have an argument for it too. No team that has ever appeared on Hard Knocks ever won a championship. In fact, only five of the 13 teams even made the playoffs with three of that five being one-and-done.
So try to imagine how the 49ers might feel hearing they’re a big favorite to get chosen for this “honor” for 2019.
Educated guess says NFL will pick 49ers as “Hard Knocks” representative
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Dan Hanzus of NFL.com laid out his five teams that are the most likely to represent on the show this summer. The 49ers came in at #3 behind the New York Giants and Oakland Raiders. That’s good news though right? It means the odds are those other two teams get picked. Not so fast. Hanzus’ list was more in terms of watchability. He predicted at the end of the article that HBO would try to covet those teams but ultimately would go with San Francisco.
"“A year ago in this same look-ahead exercise, the Niners were my preferred choice for “Hard Knocks.” I, like most of the football-following public, was swept up in the dreamy brown eyes of Jimmy Garoppolo and the accompanying hype train that rolled into the 2018 season with no awareness of the cliff just around the bend. Yes, it was a humbling season for all parties involved by the Bay, and there is a compelling redemptive arc to track here……We should find out in April or May who will step into the “Hard Knocks” spotlight. My feeling is that HBO and NFL Films will kick the tires on the Giants and Raiders, but will eventually settle for the 49ers.”"
There’s certainly some intrigue around this team. Garoppolo is returning from a torn ACL. The roster is set to undergo a lot of turnover with GM John Lynch trying to fix what went wrong last year. San Francisco has a ton of money to spend, so they’re in a position to likely bring in some notable free agents. There’s even a strong buzz they could trade for Antonio Brown. Imagine that subplot added to the list. Either way, this is something that could definitely happen.