The 49ers just lost a Super Bowl in devastating fashion, and now they have to shrug it off and turn their attention to the offseason. San Francisco is in a bit of a cap bind, so they’ll have to get resourceful this spring. They made a big splash last cycle by doling out big contracts to guys like Kwon Alexander, Dee Ford, and Tevin Coleman, and general manager John Lynch recently signaled they won’t be nearly as aggressive this time around. “Those days aren’t happening anymore,” Lynch said, via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports. “We can’t go to the grocery store and say, ‘I’ll have that, I’ll have that, I’ll have that.’ It is more like, ‘I’ll have that, but I might have to put that back.’ There are tradeoffs.”
Lynch and Kyle Shanahan probably have a trick or two up their sleeve and won’t stand completely pat, but don’t expect them to be big spenders. The 49ers currently have 22 guys set to be free agents, including some high profile ones like Emmanuel Sanders, Arik Armstead, Matt Breida, and Jimmie Ward. It’s likely they won’t be able to re-sign everybody. They’ll mostly be running it back with the same group of guys, and will be counting on Jimmy Garoppolo to guide them back to another Super Bowl.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Antonio Brown has already been dropped by his agent, and now he’s being dropped by an attorney. Brown’s counsel defending him against the rape allegations in Florida has filed a motion to withdraw as his lawyer, according to Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic (Twitter link). So far Brown is only facing a civil suit and not any criminal charges over the alleged sexual assault, and this is hardly a surprising development given Brown’s propensity to cycle through those around him. The embattled receiver is currently out on bail from burglary and battery charges.
- Scott Linehan is resurfacing in the college ranks. The former NFL offensive coordinator is being hired as LSU’s next passing game coordinator, according to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic (Twitter link). Linehan had served as the Cowboys’ OC for four seasons before getting canned after the 2018 campaign. He spent this past year out of football, and is now latching on with the defending national champions. Interestingly, he’ll be replacing Joe Brady at LSU, the 30-year-old whizkid who recently became the Panthers’ offensive coordinator. Linehan, who caught a lot of flak during his last couple of years in Dallas, has also served as the OC for the Vikings, Dolphins, and Lions. He was the Rams’ head coach from 2006-08.