The 49ers were major players in NFL free agency out of necessity during the first three years of the John Lynch/Kyle Shanahan regime, needing to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars on the open market to bring in established veteran talent to both prop up a dilapidated roster and start building a foundation for the enduring contender they envisioned their team becoming in the future.
That vision and future are now reality after San Francisco’s stunning 2019 surge back to NFL prominence, leaving the team with an entirely different outlook and approach entering 2020 free agency.
With 19 regular starters from a team that reached Super Bowl LIV under contract for 2020, and the roster behind them teeming with quality depth, the 49ers no longer are a team in need looking to fill numerous holes on the open market.
In fact, any significant holes San Francisco might potentially have in its lineup this year could be filled by the very same individuals that played prominent roles at those positions in 2019 to help get the franchise to its seventh Super Bowl appearance.
But those players have earned big paydays, and they won’t come cheaply.
And that’s the quandary for the 49ers as they take their next foray into free agency, because unlike the previous three years, they don’t have money to throw around without constraint on the open market this time.
At the end of February, the 49ers were approximately $18 million under the NFL’s adjusted salary cap for 2020, a figure that ranked 27th in the league. That leaves the team with a lot of decisions to make and a lot of maneuvering to accomplish between then and the March 18 opening of free agency for San Francisco to clear more cap space in hope of keeping its Super Bowl lineup intact — or bring in outside free agents, for that matter.
Bu hikaye Niner Report dergisinin March/April 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Niner Report dergisinin March/April 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
EIGHT IS ENOUGH
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THE BACK LIST
STOCK UP STOCK DOWN
DEOMMODORE LENOIR | AMBRY THOMAS
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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
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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.