San Francisco 49ers News & Rumors

Wilson, who has signed low-cost 49ers deals in each of the past two offseasons, was better in 2020 — when he averaged 4.8 yards per carry and posted a 183-yard Week 16 outing in Arizona — but missed half of last season due to a foot injury. After a smoother offseason, Wilson should be back as a quality reserve behind the oft-injured Elijah Mitchell.

The two seasons in which Verrett has logged heavy participation — 2015 and ’20 — have ended with a Pro Bowl (2015) and a top-10 Pro Football Focus grade (2020). In every other season, injuries have wrecked the former first-round corner’s years. Verrett has torn both ACLs and an Achilles during his pro career, but the 49ers continue to value the former Chargers draftee. Verrett, 31, is finishing up rehab from his second ACL tear and has made it past one game in just one of the past five seasons. 2022 likely profiles as the veteran cover man’s last chance.

Anything the TCU alum contributes this year should be considered a bonus, but Verrett as a backup option behind Ward and Emmanuel Moseley gives the 49ers quality — albeit unreliable — depth. Both Verrett and starting safety Jimmie Ward are out of the mix to start the year. The elder of the 49ers’ two DB Wards will miss at least four games due to a hamstring injury sending him to IR.

Notable losses:

• Tom Compton, OL
• Darqueze Dennard, CB (released)
• Dee Ford, DE (released)
• Jamycal Hasty, RB (waived)
• D.J. Jones, DT
• Arden Key, DE
• Alex Mack, C (retired)
• Raheem Mostert, RB
• Josh Norman, CB
• Mohamed Sanu, WR
• Trey Sermon, RB (waived)
• Nate Sudfeld, QB (released)
• Jaquiski Tartt, S
• Laken Tomlinson, G
• K’Waun Williams, CB

A host of talent departed the Bay Area this year. The most notable changes came up front. Three of the 49ers’ five O-line starters from last season’s stretch run are gone, leaving an unusual plan in place — for a contending team, at least.

The 49ers generated great value from their 2017 trade with the Lions, which sent Tomlinson to San Francisco for a 2019 fifth-round pick. A former first-round pick, Tomlinson, turned his career around with the 49ers. He started 80 games for the 49ers from 2017-21, missing just one contest. Tomlinson, who had signed an extension to stay in San Francisco during the 2018 offseason. His Jets deal (three years, $40MM) to reunite with ex-49ers assistant Mike LaFleur is far more lucrative.

Preparing for the possibility Tomlinson would leave, the 49ers used a second-round pick on Aaron Banks last year. Banks essentially redshirted as a rookie, playing just five offensive snaps. The 49ers had seen enough Banks growth to declare him ready to start late last season, but the Notre Dame product is ready to go now. Banks received almost all the first-team left guard reps this offseason but submitted an up-and-down preseason.

McGlinchey’s 2021 replacement — Compton — signed with the Broncos. While the fifth-year starter returned from his season-ending quadriceps tear to play in San Francisco’s first preseason game, he experienced knee pain in the August opener and missed multiple weeks. The interior-line inexperience means the 49ers probably need McGlinchey to stay on the field more than they did last season. A healthy season would behoove McGlinchey as well; he is in a contract year. Considering how light the 49ers’ expenses are in the middle of their line, their right tackle profiles as an extension candidate.

The 49ers pursued O-line trades before cutdown day and have been proactive here under Shanahan (as the additions of Tomlinson, Mack and Trent Williams showed). But waiver claim Blake Hance (eight Browns starts in 2021, at both left and right tackle) looks to be the only reinforcement coming — for now.

Mack’s reunion with Shanahan, his 2016 OC in Atlanta, went well. The decorated center started all 20 49ers games, graded as PFF’s No. 12 center and helped Mitchell break through despite his status as a sixth-round rookie. The 49ers restructured the 13-year veteran’s contract this summer, as retirement loomed. The move created some cap space and offered Mack a parting gift.

Jones joins Compton in Denver, signing a three-year, $30MM deal. The former fifth-round pick had emerged as one of the NFL’s ascending defensive tackles during his contract year in San Francisco. He became a handful for interior O-linemen down the stretch, helping the Javon Kinlaw-less 49ers front wreak havoc at points as they made a belated playoff push. Kinlaw has not justified his first-round draft status yet, but he is healthy again and ready to team with Armstead.

Williams served as the 49ers’ slot corner for five seasons; he also trekked to Denver. Williams, 31, had been the 49ers’ most consistent corner presence during his midcareer stay. Tartt’s dropped INT gimme proved an NFC championship turning point, but the former second-rounder still signed three 49ers contracts and gave the team 64 starts.

A rumor indicating conversations about a Mostert extension surfaced before free agency, but the injury-prone speedster followed Mike McDaniel to Miami. The Shanahan-era 49ers tried veteran deals for Jerick McKinnon and Tevin Coleman, but this offense hummed loudest when Mostert was healthy. The 220 yards Mostert amassed during his 2019 NFC title game demolition of the Packers remain a championship-round record — by a cool 26-yard margin. Only Eric Dickerson has rushed for more yards in a playoff game. But Mostert, 30, ran into rampant injury trouble in the two seasons since; he missed 24 games since 2020. Mostert rising from special-teamer to valuable back may well have nudged the 49ers further against paying for backfield help. It has been all draft picks since Coleman and McKinnon came off the books.

Regarding payments, Ford might be the biggest Lynch-era misfire. The 49ers sent a second-round pick to the Chiefs for a player who already had injury concerns. After authorizing a five-year, $85.5MM contract that protected the 49ers initially, the team restructured it to make Ford tougher to cut. Ford encountered a few major maladies — most notably a concerning neck issue — and missed 31 games as a 49er. Despite being released three years after the trade occurred, the former first-round pick will count more than $14MM in dead-money charges in 2022 and ’23 combined.

Draft:

• 2-61: Drake Jackson, DE (USC)
• 3-93: Tyrion Davis-Price, RB (LSU)
• 3-105: Danny Gray, WR (SMU)
• 4-134: Spencer Burford, OL (Texas-San Antonio)
• 5-172: Samuel Womack, CB (Toledo)
• 6-187: Nick Zakelj, T (Fordham)
• 6-220: Kalia Davis, DT (Central Florida)
• 6-221: Tariq Castro-Fields, CB (Penn State)
• 7-262: Brock Purdy, QB (Iowa State)

The Lance trade cost the 49ers their 2022 and ’23 first-rounders, placing added importance on the team’s Day 2 and Day 3 picks. Going into Week 1, San Francisco’s Day 3 lot this year has beaten its Day 2 choices to the punch for regular roles.

Burford seized the right guard job during camp. Considering Brunskill’s durability (33 straight starts at right guard), this offensive line’s lack of seasoning and Burford being the No. 134 overall pick out of a non-Power 5 program, this makes for one of the bigger surprises for any team’s O-line to start the season. Burford spent his final two years at the Conference USA school, where he was the program’s first four-star recruit, mostly playing left tackle. But he was the Roadrunners’ primary left guard as a sophomore. While Brunskill reclaiming his role would not surprise, it is Burford’s to start the season.

Womack’s emergence, which crested with a two-interception preseason debut, led to Dennard’s release. The 49ers will replace Williams, their five-year slot defender, with a fifth-rounder from the Mid-American Conference. While Womack goes 5-foot-9, the 49ers eyed the Toledo alum for hits reach (32-inch arm length) and ball skills (21 pass breakups as a senior).

The path appears clear for Jackson (25 tackles for loss in three USC years) to be Bosa’s long-term complement, but for now, the 49ers have depth they can afford to break him in slowly. Bolstered by position coach Kris Kocurek, the 49ers have produced excellent D-line play. Evaluation-wise, this regime has not been as good. Misses on Ford, No. 3 overall pick Solomon Thomas and, thus far, Kinlaw have hurt. Bosa would fly in the face of this stance, and he has helped cover for these mistakes. But Bosa was closer to an open-and-shut No. 2 pick. Like Thomas and Armstead, Jackson worked at both D-end and inside during camp.

Gray’s 4.33-second 40 speed enthralled the 49ers, who now have an interesting weapon behind Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings, while Davis-Price helped bump Trey Sermon off the roster. The 49ers had hoped to keep Sermon on their practice squad, but the 2021 third-rounder is now an Eagle. Davis-Price, the latest in a recent run of LSU-developed backs, totaled 1,003 rushing yards as a junior. He is the team’s third-string back for now, though an offseason report indicated this pick was a bit of an olive branch to Samuel, who saw backfield injuries lead him to more time at the most punishing skill position.

Other:

• Picked up DE Nick Bosa‘s $17.86MM fifth-year option; Prepared to table extension to 2023
• GM John Lynch turned down lucrative Amazon offer
• OC Mike McDaniel became Dolphins’ HC; 49ers received two third-round picks
• Hired ESPN’s Brian Griese as quarterbacks coach, replacing Rich Scangarello 
• Hired Anthony Lynn as assistant head coach
• Connection to Tom Brady formed during Bucs QB’s retirement
• DC DeMeco Ryans declined second Vikings HC interview
• Jaguars hired VP of player personnel Ethan Waugh as assistant GM
• Signed 14 UDFAs

Some notable near-misses emerged during the winter. Amazon’s offer would have dwarfed Lynch’s GM salary and returned the Hall of Famer to a career field in which he has spent more time. Lynch worked for FOX for nearly a decade, but he has paired well with Shanahan, overseeing much of the team’s defensive moves as the play-calling HC oversees the offense.

Months before Garoppolo’s 2017 San Francisco arrival, Lynch famously asked Bill Belichick if he would be open to trading Brady to the 49ers. While Derek Carr looks to have indeed been “that mother******,” Brady had the 49ers on his radar in 2020. And it looks like the all-time great was interested in his hometown team again this year. The 49ers were not even Brady’s top 2022 what-if. The Dolphins — as a stiff penalty confirmed — made an aggressive (and impermissible) pursuit for the then-retired QB. Then-Buccaneers HC Bruce Arians said Tampa Bay would not trade Brady’s rights if he wanted to come out of retirement and play elsewhere. Brady, then, returned to the team that held his rights, clearing the road for Lance. With Garoppolo a 2023 free agent, does Brady resurface on the 49ers’ radar as a soon-to-be 46-year-old next year?

Both Griese and Lynn played for Mike Shanahan in Denver, but while Lynn has risen to a head-coaching position and been a coordinator with two teams, this will be Griese’s first coaching gig. ESPN’s continued tinkering with its Monday Night Football booth led Griese, whose playing career also overlapped with Kyle Shanahan‘s time as a Buccaneers quality control staffer, back to the league. Entering the summer, as Garoppolo was on the trade block, he and Griese had not spoken. This new hire, then, represents an interesting wrinkle as Garoppolo returns. The Lions made Lynn an OC one-and-done this year; Dan Campbell stripped the ex-Chargers HC of play-calling duties midseason.

Lynch has confirmed Bosa will be a 49er for as long as he is (probably longer), but with Samuel’s rookie contract not having a fifth-year option, the 2019 second-rounder took priority over a player with two years of control remaining. Bosa bounced back from his 2020 ACL tear with a second Pro Bowl season. Health-permitting, the former No. 2 overall pick looks like the player with the best chance of joining Aaron Donald in the $30MM-per-year defender club come 2023.

Top 10 cap charges for 2022:

1. Trent Williams, T: $14.03MM
2. Jimmy Garoppolo, QB: $13.99MM
3. Jimmie Ward, S: $12.94MM
4. Mike McGlinchey, T: $10.88MM
5. Nick Bosa, DE: $10.81MM
6. Arik Armstead, DT: $9.58MM
7. Samson Ebukam, DE: $8.25MM
8. Fred Warner, LB: $8.13MM
9. Trey Lance, QB: $7.75MM
10. George Kittle, TE: $7.39MM

Unless Lance silences his skeptics with a strong start to his QB1 career, quarterback questions will surround the 49ers. San Francisco’s green interior O-line also figures to come up often. But the team has a strong infrastructure, backed by a top-tier play caller and one of the league’s deepest collections of All-Pros (Samuel, Kittle, Williams, Bosa and Warner).

Although more experienced 49ers teams have tried and failed to push Shanahan’s operation to a championship, the NFC is not as deep as the AFC. It will be tough to keep San Francisco out of the playoffs. Who will be the quarterback when that time comes?