DEFOREST BUCKNER
The 49ers had the right idea in 2020. Coming off the team’s most prodigious season of the 21st century, and with a roster stocked with rising talent, veteran leadership, and quality depth, San Francisco’s forthright strategy to stay the course that had been so shrewdly and meticulously mapped over the previous three years by general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan seemed the most logical approach to nurture a budding powerhouse. But even the most brilliant ideas and well-charted plans don’t always work out. Particularly when a worldwide pandemic gets in the way and many other things go wrong as well. It would have been difficult to foresee all the adversity the 49ers would ultimately face during the past season, and even if they knew what was coming, what else could they have done about it? Here, The Niner Report revisits the significant moves of the offseason — and other transactions the 49ers felt compelled to make while their season was falling apart — and examines how they worked out for the team during the NFL’s tumultuous 2020 season of COVID-19.
Casting away a centerpiece
The logic behind the stunning March 18 trade of defensive lineman DeForest Buckner to Indianapolis for the Colts’ No. 13 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft certainly was sound for a variety of reasons.
Buckner was about to land a massive contract extension that could considerably impact the team’s salary-cap flexibility and ability to retain other young stars in upcoming years. The 49ers needed to re-sign other key players from their 2019 Super Bowl team that were about to hit free agency, and with that high first-round pick received from the Colts, the 49ers could find a costeffective replacement for Buckner that would be tied to a rookie contract until the middle of this decade.
Denne historien er fra February/March 2021-utgaven av Niner Report.
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Denne historien er fra February/March 2021-utgaven av Niner Report.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
EIGHT IS ENOUGH
Set 49ers lineup still has several new starters
Calling all cornerbacks
Loss of Verrett exposes 49ers’ thin depth at CB
Always finding their way to run
49ers system accomplished at developing homegrown talent
ANOTHER COMEBACK?
Resilient veteran Verrett to miss rest of season
TOP 10 Rookie running backs
THE BACK LIST
STOCK UP STOCK DOWN
DEOMMODORE LENOIR | AMBRY THOMAS
Will Mostert run for 49ers again?
Raheem Mostert was primed this year to be the centerpiece of one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses, featured as the lead performer in San Francisco’s grinding rushing attack while making his climb among the league’s top running backs.
THE WONDER OF WARNER
49ers make All-Pro star highest-paid LB in NFL
Making the right choice at QB
In the weeks that follow after you read this — and perhaps sometime even sooner than that — Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers organization will make a titanic decision that will have present, future and perhaps even everlasting implications for the franchise. It will chart the course for the team’s pivotal 2021 season while determining whether San Francisco really does have the juice to return to powerhouse status and again be considered a legitimate contender to get back to the Super Bowl.
TOP 10 Linebacker seasons
Fred Warner vaulted to stardom with a spectacular 2020 season — and the 49ers rewarded him this summer with a $95.225 million deal that makes him the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history. By today’s standards, Warner’s performance last year was worth the money as he posted an Approximate Value of 19 — matching the highest score ever recorded by a San Francisco defender according to a Pro Football Reference formula that puts a single number on each player-season across all positions since 1960. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman (twice) also had seasons with an AV of 19 as they dominate this list of the greatest individual seasons by a linebacker in 49ers history.
