As unpalatable as it could be to followers, there are occasions when NFL groups should rejig their roster to solid off contracts which might get in the best way of future success. The San Francisco 49ers, who’ve 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 attempting to make themselves higher in free company when the league yr started final week, the 49ers had been having fairly the fireplace sale. That they had already traded receiver Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders for a future fifth-round choose, however that was only the start.
In free company, normal 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 staff circled and re-signed Juszczyk, a nine-time Professional Bowler, to an simply escapable two-year, $8m contract. However everybody else on the record was gone, and the staff additionally misplaced vital role-players like offensive deal with Jaylon Moore and defensive deal with 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 mission as franchise-definers.
Why did this drastic transform occur? Why did a staff 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 loads of 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 loss of life 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 type means 2021 is the one time he has performed a full season.
The Lynch/Shanahan duo has finished this type of factor earlier than. The 49ers completed the 2020 season with a 6-10 document after placing a league-high 18 completely different gamers on injured reserve. Within the 2021 free company house, San Francisco jettisoned a ton of gamers, and outdoors of the six-year, $138m contract given to future Corridor of Fame left deal with Trent Williams, there was little of beginning consequence when it got here to additions.
A a lot more healthy 49ers staff completed 10-7 in 2021, and narrowly misplaced to the eventual Tremendous Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams within the NFC Championship recreation.
There’s additionally the matter of Brock Purdy’s impending second contract. The quarterback, as you’ll have been reminded a number of dozen occasions, was the final choose within the 2022 draft and has defied all expectations to turn out to be a stable NFL starter. 2025 marks the ultimate yr of Purdy’s low-cost rookie contract, and sooner or later within the close to future, the 49ers should re-sign him at a fee that can in all probability exceed $35-40m per yr total, together with assured cash that can have an effect on the staff’s wage cap drastically, 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 consider, the No 2 cash-spending staff,” Lynch stated. “Within the final 4 years going into the fifth yr, I believe we’re the fourth-highest cash-spending staff. In some unspecified time in the future, it’s a must to reset a bit of bit, or not less than recalibrate. You’ll be able to’t simply maintain urgent the pedal. I believe there may be some good that may come out of it. We have to get youthful.”
This, by the best way, was a response to a reporter’s query about the potential for buying and selling Brandon Aiyuk – the staff’s greatest remaining huge 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 relating to the Aiyuk scenario. “I bear 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 quick 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 obtainable money to spend – however bear in mind, that is earlier than no matter contract Purdy receives elements in. They’ll even have giant 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 one’s getting any youthful right here.
A minimum of 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 may choose Lance, the North Dakota State quarterback. Lance did nothing of word 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 partly 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 staff since 2017. Homeowners’ and followers’ endurance is brief within the NFL, and Lynch and Shanahan made errors alongside the best way. This iteration of the 49ers is operating out of highway, and it’s time to construct a brand new freeway.
