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A Super Bowl rematch 4 years later that includes players from 2020’s Super Bowl
The 2019 NFL season saw the San Francisco 49ers represent the NFC in Super Bowl LIV while the Kansas City Chiefs did the same for the AFC. Four years and nine days later, the two teams will meet again in Super Bowl LVIII.
In 2020, the Chiefs knocked off the Niners with a huge 21-point fourth quarter with RB Damien Williams scoring the final two touchdowns that gave us the final score of 31-20. Of the nine players involved in scoring plays in Miami, Florida, that night, four will see the field in Las Vegas, Nevada this year:
QB Patrick Mahomes
TE Travis Kelce
K Harrison Butker
FB Kyle Juszcyk
San Francisco’s offense was led by veteran QB Jimmy Garoppolo with RB Raheem Mostert, WR Deebo Samuel and TE George Kittle his primary weapons. Kansas City’s offense looked quite different outside of Mahomes and Kelce with Williams getting a majority of the carries and WRs Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins combining for 22 of Mahomes’ 42 targets.
Trades, free agency, age, the salary cap and the NFL draft create loads of turnover for NFL rosters. That is true for both of these highly successful franchises in the span of just four years. In fact, there are just 17 players remaining between both teams who took snaps in the 2020 Super Bowl:
Kansas City’s Roster
QB Patrick Mahomes
TE Travis Kelce
TE Blake Bell
CB Charvarius Ward
DT Chris Jones
K Harrison Butker
LS James Winchester
OL Nick Allegretti
WR Mecole Hardman was designated for return from injured reserve but is not expected to be added back to the roster this week. If he is, Hardman will join the list of players who played in 2020 and are on the roster for this year’s game
The five offensive linemen who played 100% of the Chiefs snaps are no longer on the roster. Allegretti played five snaps in the previous Super Bowl matchup but they were all on special teams.
San Francisco’s Roster
TE George Kittle
WR Deebo Samuel
FB Kyle Juszczyk
LB Fred Warner
LB Dre Greenlaw
DE Nick Bosa
DL Arik Armstead
P Mitch Wishnowsky
As was true with Kansas City, none of the Niners offensive linemen are still with the team four years later.
In addition to the eight players on each roster returning, WR Richie James was on the 49ers roster four years ago but joined the Chiefs this offseason.
That just 17 players, of a potential 96, will match up once again four years later says a lot about the turnover in the NFL. “Not For Long” is clearly evident when you look at these rosters. On the other hand, the 2024 Super Bowl outcome is most likely to be greatly impacted by players who were around back in 2020.
Are you surprised by just how few players are still on the rosters just four years later?
