General manager John Lynch outlined the 49ers’ offseason strategy two weeks before the new league year opened on Wednesday.
Still, this week has been jarring for the number of established veterans who have exited Santa Clara, coupled with the absence of players with any name recognition who are coming to replace them.
The 49ers spent more money than any NFL team a year ago, a fact that Lynch highlighted when he recently spoke of the team’s offseason plan. He also noted San Francisco had the league's oldest team, and it was in the team’s best interest to get younger.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Everyone was warned.
But still . . .
This week left a mark on the team's impatient fan base.
Almost all of the goings were easy to anticipate. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel requested a trade and was sent to Washington for a fifth-round draft pick. The 49ers asked fullback Kyle Juszczyk to take a pay cut a year ago, so it was obvious they would ask him again. He declined and was released.
San Francisco 49ers
Find the latest San Francisco 49ers news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
It was obvious the 49ers weren't going to re-sign guard Aaron Banks or cornerback Charvarius Ward. Their odds of bringing back safety Talanoa Hufanga seemed slim, too.
Linebacker Dre Greenlaw was the top priority. But after seeing injuries decimate their 2024 season, they also had to be wise about the financial commitment made to a player with his unsettling history.
The Denver Broncos stepped forward to sign Greenlaw to a reported three-year, $35 million contract. If the 49ers had signed him to the same contract, would that have been viewed as a wise decision?
Everybody wants a label for what the 49ers are doing through the first week of the new league year.
They are tearing it down.
Slash and burn.
They are in full rebuilding mode.
"Our thought has always been to grow the core and you supplement around that,” Lynch said two weeks ago at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “That’s probably what we have to do a little more of this year.”
The “core” that Lynch talked about is not bad, beginning with Brock Purdy. A lot of the 49ers’ determination in thinning out their roster is with an eye toward clearing cap space for the future. Purdy is expected to sign a new contract that will bring his salary in line with the top prices other teams pay their quarterbacks. The cap hit will be felt in future seasons, so the 49ers have decided to take a deep breath and absorb nearly $80 million in dead money on this year's cap.
Dead money is the term for when a player no longer on the team accounts for space on the salary cap. In essence, it's money that has already been paid to the player but, through the structure of the contract, has not yet counted against the cap. Case in point, through bonus money and contract restructures, Samuel will count $31 million against this year's cap.
Vegas still places the 49ers as the favorites to win the NFC West. Their odds are fourth in the NFC and seventh to win the Super Bowl.
Those optimistic odds seem ridiculous until you look at the players who remain with the 49ers.
There are 18 players in the NFC West whose contracts call for them to make $15 million or more per season. The 49ers have seven of those players. The Rams and Cardinals are next with four apiece.
The 49ers’ core includes running back Christian McCaffrey, wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, tight end George Kittle, left tackle Trent Williams, edge Nick Bosa, linebacker Fred Warner and cornerback Deommodore Lenoir.
Of course, some of those players come with concerns about injuries and/or age. But that is the group Lynch has decided the 49ers must build around.
The 49ers’ offseason strategy is obvious, but it does not mean it should not be questioned or doubted.
Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and special-teams coordinator Brant Boyer are new to Kyle Shanahan’s staff. Their voices are involved in the process, too.
The area of the team that needs the most attention is the defensive line. The club cut ties with three starters: Leonard Floyd, Javon Hargrave and Maliek Collins. Each immediately signed lucrative contracts elsewhere.
The only proven defensive linemen who remain with the 49ers are Bosa, Yetur-Gross Matos, Jordan Elliott and Kevin Givens. The group also includes Evan Anderson, Robert Beal, Kalia Davis, Sam Okuayinonu and Alex Barrett.
Perhaps the 49ers will add a veteran or two to the depth chart in the second wave of free agency.
They can also be expected to take advantage of a deep class of defensive linemen in the 2025 NFL Draft. The 49ers have four picks within the top 100 selections and seven within the top 150.
The strategy is obvious.
The judgment is not.