49ers CEO Jed York made one good point about the team’s inactive offseason
Not everything 49ers CEO Jed York said to reporters at the NFL owners’ meetings is worthy of disdain.
The NFL has structured its offseason in a media sense to make sure the league creates plenty of buzz from the end of the Super Bowl in February until the opening of training camps in mid-July.
Over five months, there’s the combine, free agency, the owner’s meetings, the draft and required media access during offseason programs leading to training camp. It keeps the league humming in terms of publicity and exposure in the absence of actual games. It invites and encourages speculation from legitimate to ridiculous and beyond.
So when the 49ers use free agency to do some spring cleaning instead of adding new names, their fans and segments of the media get restless. York spoke to reporters in Florida — on April Fool’s Day, no less — and his word salad wasn’t well received.
Certainly not locally when the Buster bandwagon is rolling with the Giants and the Jimmy Butler trade has given the Warriors hope approaching the playoffs.
Basically, York laid everything at the feet of Brock Purdy and his impending contract extension now that the 49ers will be faced with paying him at a rate commensurate with being one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL. That should be somewhere between $50 million and $60 million per season. It’s one of those classic offseason stories — a national obsession with how much money someone is going to make since there’s no actual football on the field.
It’s nonsense. Teams have manipulated the salary cap for years to keep players they want to keep and used it as an excuse to jettison those who have outlived their usefulness. The 49ers can still lower their cap number with extensions to George Kittle and/or Fred Warner or any other player they’re sure will be on the roster this year and probably next season as well.
If the 49ers wanted to trade for Cincinnati edge rusher Trey Hendrickson it would take only a few strokes of the pen.
Where York spoke the truth was his take on how the 49ers’ approach failed to fill the free agency vacuum. The signings and non-signings are dissected and parsed ad nauseam on contemporary and social media.
“Fans care. You want to win, and when you’re in a world where everyone is watching the NFL the first week of free agency, the first three days, it’s a frenzy,” York said. “There’s a huge spike in social following because it’s something to get engaged in. And when you’re not overly active, it’s easy to say, ‘Aw, you don’t want to win.’”
The two noteworthy defections were linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga, who both signed with the Denver Broncos. Coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch publicly lamented their departures. Left unsaid was the very real possibility Denver may not get 10 games out of each player.
Hufanga was a first-team All-Pro in 2022, an honor built on a few big games early in the season. In truth, he hasn’t been that player since as he’s battled various injuries and hasn’t looked the part of a game-changer when he did get on the field. The choice between Hufanga and second-year safety Malik Mustapha was really no choice at all.
The same cannot be said for Greenlaw, whose spectacular half of football after returning from a torn Achilles was probably the highlight of the season. But Greenlaw quickly shut it down and it’s an open question as to whether his body will hold up given his heart and desire to play.
Aside from that, did anyone really see defensive linemen Leonard Floyd or Maliek Collins as the difference between winning and losing? How about defensive tackle Javon Hargrave or guard Aaron Banks? Tackle Jaylon Moore got starter’s money in Kansas City when he’s best suited to be a backup swing tackle.
They were all contributors . . . to a 6-11 season, whether it be from injuries or quality of play.
Deebo Samuel did the 49ers a favor by requesting a trade and having it granted. The fact that the 49ers did nothing to get Samuel back on board tells you all you need to know about what they thought about his 2024 season, and it’s that another one just like it may be coming in 2025.
Cornerback Charvarius Ward served the 49ers well, but the 49ers instead properly identified Deommodore Lenoir as their CB1 and signed an in-season extension that could turn out to be a bargain. They have second-year corner Renardo Green ready to step in and start.
Free agency is the NFL’s garage sale, a place to find a second tight end (Luke Farrell) and a backup quarterback (Mac Jones) who might be of some help. There may be a bargain or two but there’s also the possibility of buying someone else’s junk and then burying it in your own garage where it goes unnoticed.
The 49ers still may add a few names of current free agents or those who become available. But the most important currency is their 11 draft picks, which give them maneuverability within the draft as well as wherewithal to swing a deal for someone like Hendrickson if they so choose.
The 49ers have done little to move the needle in the offseason other than the negative perception that comes from losing their own players. But those players were available for a reason, and it will be interesting to see how much buyer’s remorse exists with the teams that signed them when the 2025 season plays out.
This isn’t 2024, when the end game was a Super Bowl, a dream they took all the way to overtime the previous year. Instead, it’s a business plan designed to improve upon a 6-11 season.
There are few things more boring than a sound business plan with the siren call of the NFL’s overhyped offseason in the background, even if it’s the right thing to do.