As unpalatable as it may be to fans, there are times when NFL teams must rejig their roster to cast off contracts which could get in the way of future success. The San Francisco 49ers, who have appeared in four of the last six NFC Championship games, and two of the last six Super Bowls, appear to be doing exactly that.
While most other teams were trying to make themselves better in free agency when the league year began last week, the 49ers were having quite the fire sale. They had already traded receiver Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders for a future fifth-round pick, but that was just the beginning.
In free agency, general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan watched calmly as the following starters walked out the door: fullback Kyle Juszczyk, offensive guard Aaron Banks, edge-rusher Leonard Floyd, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, cornerback Charvarius Ward, and safety Talanoa Hufanga.
The team turned around and re-signed Juszczyk, a nine-time Pro Bowler, to an easily escapable two-year, $8m contract. But everyone else on the list was gone, and the team also lost important role-players like offensive tackle Jaylon Moore and defensive tackle Maliek Collins.
The 49ers also traded running back Jordan Mason, who performed quite admirably during Christian McCaffrey’s absence through injury last season, to the Minnesota Vikings for a sixth-round draft pick in 2026.
There were no incoming saviors, as the 49ers were spending very little in this free agency cycle – no surprise there. Former Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Luke Farrell, journeyman receiver Demarcus Robinson, and former New England Patriots quarterback bust Mac Jones were the primary names, and none of those guys project as franchise-definers.
Why did this drastic remodel happen? Why did a team that finished 6-11 in 2024 after all those recent successes seem to throw 2025 in the tank too?
First, there’s the fact that a lot of the castoffs were injured in 2024. Greenlaw played in just two games last season as he recovered from the torn achilles tendon he suffered in San Francisco’s Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Hufanga (who signed with the Denver Broncos alongside Greenlaw) was limited to seven games, and Ward played just 12 games last season, as he was affected not only by knee and hamstring injuries, but also by the death of his one-year-old daughter Amani Joy last October. Ward understandably wanted a change of scenery, and both Greenlaw and Hufanga were going to get more money in the Mile High City. And Samuel’s highly physical style means 2021 is the only time he has played a full season.
The Lynch/Shanahan duo has done this kind of thing before. The 49ers finished the 2020 season with a 6-10 record after putting a league-high 18 different players on injured reserve. In the 2021 free agency space, San Francisco jettisoned a ton of players, and outside of the six-year, $138m contract given to future Hall of Fame left tackle Trent Williams, there was little of starting consequence when it came to additions.
A much healthier 49ers team finished 10-7 in 2021, and narrowly lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship game.
There’s also the matter of Brock Purdy’s impending second contract. The quarterback, as you may have been reminded a few dozen times, was the last pick in the 2022 draft and has defied all expectations to become a solid NFL starter. 2025 marks the final year of Purdy’s cheap rookie contract, and at some point in the near future, the 49ers will have to re-sign him at a rate that will probably exceed $35-40m per year overall, including guaranteed money that will affect the team’s salary cap greatly, no matter how it’s structured.
In late February at the scouting combine, Lynch explained why the teardown was coming.
“I think since Kyle and I have been here, we’ve certainly been a top-five … I believe, the No 2 cash-spending team,” Lynch said. “In the last four years going into the fifth year, I think we’re the fourth-highest cash-spending team. At some point, you have to reset a little bit, or at least recalibrate. You can’t just keep pressing the pedal. I think there is some good that can come out of it. We need to get younger.”
This, by the way, was a response to a reporter’s question about the possibility of trading Brandon Aiyuk – the team’s best remaining wide receiver – who signed a four-year, $120m contract extension with $45m guaranteed just last year. Aiyuk also missed 10 games in 2024 with a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee.
“That typically happens with really good players,” Lynch said regarding the Aiyuk situation. “I remember two years ago, having similar conversations. You get calls, and you always listen to calls.”
The 49ers will unquestionably get younger, but will they get better as they did in 2021? Pushing all that cash out the window in the short term leaves the franchise with no room to move – they have $86m in dead cap money in 2025 and $21.5m in 2026.
Next year isn’t that much more expansive, because it’s pretty expensive. Per OverTheCap.com, with those dead salary cap liabilities in 2026, the 49ers will have nearly $65m in available cash to spend – but remember, this is before whatever contract Purdy receives factors in. They’ll also have large salary 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 not to say that any or all of those players will be gasping for air in a professional sense, but nobody’s getting any younger here.
At least the Trey Lance albatross is out of the building, as well. In 2021, the 49ers traded their first-round picks in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and a 2022 third-round pick to the Miami Dolphins to move up from 12th to third in the draft so that they could select Lance, the North Dakota State quarterback. Lance did nothing of note for San Francisco, and after a short stint as Dak Prescott’s backup with the Dallas Cowboys, he is a free agent. The 49ers’ drafts in those three seasons from 2021 to 2023 didn’t do a lot to reinforce the roster, which is in part why the franchise is where it is now.
So, this may be a longer rebuild than either Lynch or Shanahan has experienced before, and both men have been running the team since 2017. Owners’ and fans’ patience is short in the NFL, and Lynch and Shanahan made mistakes along the way. This iteration of the 49ers is running out of road, and it’s time to build a new highway.
