As unpalatable as it might be to followers, there are occasions when NFL groups should rejig their roster to solid off contracts which may get in the way in which of future success. The San Francisco 49ers, who have appeared in 4 of the final six NFC Championship video games, and two of the final six Tremendous Bowls, seem like doing precisely that.
Whereas most different groups had been making an attempt to make themselves higher in free company when the league yr started final week, the 49ers had been having fairly the hearth sale. That they had already traded receiver Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders for a future fifth-round choose, however that was just the start.
In free company, basic supervisor John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan watched calmly as the next starters walked out the door: fullback Kyle Juszczyk, offensive guard Aaron Banks, edge-rusher Leonard Floyd, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, cornerback Charvarius Ward, and security Talanoa Hufanga.
The crew rotated and re-signed Juszczyk, a nine-time Professional Bowler, to an simply escapable two-year, $8m contract. However everybody else on the listing was gone, and the crew additionally misplaced vital role-players like offensive sort out Jaylon Moore and defensive sort out Maliek Collins.
The 49ers additionally traded operating again Jordan Mason, who carried out fairly admirably throughout Christian McCaffrey’s absence via damage final season, to the Minnesota Vikings for a sixth-round draft choose in 2026.
There have been no incoming saviors, because the 49ers had been spending little or no on this free company cycle – no shock there. Former Jacksonville Jaguars tight finish Luke Farrell, journeyman receiver Demarcus Robinson, and former New England Patriots quarterback bust Mac Jones had been the first names, and none of these guys venture as franchise-definers.
Why did this drastic rework occur? Why did a crew that completed 6-11 in 2024 in any case these latest successes appear to throw 2025 within the tank too?
First, there’s the truth that numerous the castoffs had been injured in 2024. Greenlaw performed in simply two video games final season as he recovered from the torn achilles tendon he suffered in San Francisco’s Tremendous Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs. Hufanga (who signed with the Denver Broncos alongside Greenlaw) was restricted to seven video games, and Ward performed simply 12 video games final season, as he was affected not solely by knee and hamstring accidents, but additionally by the demise of his one-year-old daughter Amani Pleasure final October. Ward understandably wished a change of surroundings, and each Greenlaw and Hufanga had been going to get more cash within the Mile Excessive Metropolis. And Samuel’s extremely bodily fashion means 2021 is the one time he has performed a full season.
The Lynch/Shanahan duo has performed this sort of factor earlier than. The 49ers completed the 2020 season with a 6-10 report after placing a league-high 18 totally different gamers on injured reserve. Within the 2021 free company area, San Francisco jettisoned a ton of gamers, and outdoors of the six-year, $138m contract given to future Corridor of Fame left sort out Trent Williams, there was little of beginning consequence when it got here to additions.
A a lot more healthy 49ers crew completed 10-7 in 2021, and narrowly misplaced to the eventual Tremendous Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams within the NFC Championship sport.
There’s additionally the matter of Brock Purdy’s impending second contract. The quarterback, as you will have been reminded just a few dozen instances, was the final choose within the 2022 draft and has defied all expectations to turn out to be a strong NFL starter. 2025 marks the ultimate yr of Purdy’s low cost rookie contract, and in some unspecified time in the future within the close to future, the 49ers must re-sign him at a price that may in all probability exceed $35-40m per yr total, together with assured cash that may have an effect on the crew’s wage cap vastly, regardless of the way it’s structured.
In late February on the scouting mix, Lynch defined why the teardown was coming.
“I believe since Kyle and I’ve been right here, we’ve definitely been a top-five … I imagine, the No 2 cash-spending crew,” Lynch stated. “Within the final 4 years going into the fifth yr, I believe we’re the fourth-highest cash-spending crew. Sooner or later, you need to reset somewhat bit, or at the very least recalibrate. You may’t simply hold urgent the pedal. I believe there may be some good that may come out of it. We have to get youthful.”
This, by the way in which, was a response to a reporter’s query about the opportunity of buying and selling Brandon Aiyuk – the crew’s greatest remaining extensive receiver – who signed a four-year, $120m contract extension with $45m assured simply final yr. Aiyuk additionally missed 10 video games in 2024 with a torn ACL and MCL in his proper knee.
“That sometimes occurs with actually good gamers,” Lynch stated concerning the Aiyuk scenario. “I keep in mind two years in the past, having comparable conversations. You get calls, and also you all the time take heed to calls.”
The 49ers will unquestionably get youthful, however will they get higher as they did in 2021? Pushing all that money out the window within the brief time period leaves the franchise with no room to maneuver – they’ve $86m in lifeless cap cash in 2025 and $21.5m in 2026.
Subsequent yr isn’t that rather more expansive, as a result of it’s fairly costly. Per OverTheCap.com, with these lifeless wage cap liabilities in 2026, the 49ers could have almost $65m in out there money to spend – however keep in mind, that is earlier than no matter contract Purdy receives components in. They’ll even have massive wage cap liabilities with Williams at age 37, McCaffrey at age 29, Aiyuk at age 28, George Kittle at age 32, Fred Warner at age 29 and Nick Bosa at age 28. That’s to not say that all or any of these gamers might be gasping for air in knowledgeable sense, however no person’s getting any youthful right here.
No less than the Trey Lance albatross is out of the constructing, as nicely. In 2021, the 49ers traded their first-round picks in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and a 2022 third-round choose to the Miami Dolphins to maneuver up from twelfth to 3rd within the draft in order that they might choose Lance, the North Dakota State quarterback. Lance did nothing of be aware for San Francisco, and after a brief stint as Dak Prescott’s backup with the Dallas Cowboys, he’s a free agent. The 49ers’ drafts in these three seasons from 2021 to 2023 didn’t do rather a lot to bolster the roster, which is partially why the franchise is the place it’s now.
So, this can be an extended rebuild than both Lynch or Shanahan has skilled earlier than, and each males have been operating the crew since 2017. House owners’ and followers’ persistence is brief within the NFL, and Lynch and Shanahan made errors alongside the way in which. This iteration of the 49ers is operating out of street, and it’s time to construct a brand new freeway.
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