49ers Want To Extend Arik Armstead
The 49ers employed five first-round defensive linemen this past season and were able to do so because four of those were on rookie contracts. Arik Armstead‘s has expired, leading to uncertainty for San Francisco’s sack leader.
Armstead is open to the franchise tag, but the 49ers are hoping they can either bypass that arrangement or use it as a bridge to ensure he will be a part of their defensive line well into the 2020s.
“Arik is an excellent player,” 49ers GM John Lynch said, via NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco. “He had an excellent year. I think everything is on the table. We want to find a way to keep him and make him a part of the 49ers for a long time.”
This would be a promising development for the 49ers, but it won’t be easy. Even with releases of Jerick McKinnon and Marquise Goodwin saving them north of $8MM, the 49ers would still barely hold $20MM in cap space. They also have Jimmie Ward and Emmanuel Sanders as free agents at positions of greater need. San Francisco’s extension pecking order is also clear, with George Kittle and DeForest Buckner slotted ahead of Armstead in that figurative queue.
Armstead led the 49ers with 10 sacks in 2019 and accumulated two more in the playoffs. The versatile pass rusher only registered nine in four prior injury- and inconsistency-marred seasons, however. But another team will likely be willing to offer Armstead more than the 49ers will, should he reach free agency. A tag-and-negotiate scenario may be the team’s only chance to retain the 6-foot-7 talent, and said tag is expected to cost nearly $18MM.
This will not be an easy process for the NFC champions, but they are not resigned to losing the contract-year wonder just yet.
49ers’ Dee Ford Will Not Need Surgery
The 49ers acquired edge rusher Dee Ford from the Chiefs last offseason via tag-and-trade and then signed him to a five-year, $85MM contract. When healthy, Ford played reasonably well in 2019, but injuries limited him during his first season in the Bay Area.
The 28-year-old (29 in March) dealt with knee, quad, and hamstring injuries throughout the year, and he ultimately played in just 11 regular season contests. Even when he did suit up, San Francisco sometimes kept him on a pitch count, and he ultimately played in just 22% of the team’s defensive snaps.
Luckily, the 49ers had a great deal of depth along their defensive front, so they could withstand Ford’s absence. But the team doesn’t have a ton of cap space and needs to address the contract situations of defensive linemen DeForest Buckner and Arik Armstead, as well as tight end George Kittle. Armstead is reportedly open to playing out the 2020 season under the franchise tag, but San Francisco may need to cut ties with him, and if that happens, Ford will become much more important to the club’s pass rush.
And despite the list of ailments that Ford suffered through, he is not expected to need surgery this offseason, according to GM John Lynch (via Chris Biderman of the Sacramento Bee). “Not as we know right now,” Lynch said. “We’ll have those conversations. But, I think Dee is in good health right now.”
That could go a long way towards helping Lynch sort out his offseason priorities. If he can reasonably rely on a healthy offseason from Ford, that may allow him to save money on Armstead while addressing arguably more important free agents, like WR Emmanuel Sanders.
Latest On 49ers WR Trent Taylor
Despite Deebo Samuel‘s strong rookie season and the acquisition of veteran Emmanuel Sanders at the trade deadline, the 49ers have some question marks at wide receiver heading into next season. For instance, Sanders is ticketed for free agency, and while San Francisco will surely attempt to re-sign him, the club does have other key players with contract issues that need to be resolved and not a ton of cap space.
Plus, 2018 second-rounder Dante Pettis has failed to impress in his first two seasons in the league, 2019 third-rounder Jalen Hurd spent his entire rookie campaign on IR, and Marquise Goodwin will almost certainly be cut. So, in short, there is still an opportunity for Trent Taylor to have an impact on the team moving forward.
The Niners selected Taylor in the fifth round of the 2017 draft, HC Kyle Shanahan‘s and GM John Lynch‘s first in San Francisco. He showed promise as a receiver and as a punt returner in his rookie season, but he underwent back surgery prior to the 2018 campaign and said he never felt fully healthy that year.
He then missed all of 2019 due to a broken foot, so he is entering a critical moment in his career. He obviously needs to prove he can stay healthy and prove he can perform on the field, and that is especially important given that he will be eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2021.
Last week, Taylor underwent five different procedures on his foot, per Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com (Twitter link). He is currently in a walking boot, and while he is expected to be out of the boot soon, there is no set timetable on his return. At this point, we don’t know if he will be fully recovered in time for offseason workouts.
As such, the Niners can’t afford to rely on Taylor in 2020. If he should perform well, that will be an added bonus, but the team needs to retain Sanders and may add a receiver or two in a WR-rich draft.
Michigan State Requested To Interview 49ers DC Robert Saleh
Michigan State has a head coaching vacancy after Mark Dantonio abruptly resigned, and they reached out to one high profile NFL assistant to gauge his interest in the job. The Spartans requested to interview 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh for their job, sources told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). 
Unfortunately for Michigan State, Saleh turned them down, and he’ll be staying in San Francisco for at least one more season. Saleh rose to prominence this season as he coordinated the 49ers’ elite defense. Saleh is a Michigan native and he got his coaching start as a defensive assistant at Michigan State, so their interest makes a lot of sense. After several years in the college ranks, he made the jump to the NFL as an intern with the Texans in 2005.
He most recently served as linebackers coach in Jacksonville before Kyle Shanahan hired him away to be his DC. Saleh received a lot of head coaching buzz this NFL cycle, and he interviewed with the Browns for their job. He was reportedly one of two finalists before Cleveland ended up going with Kevin Stefanski. Not surprisingly, Pelissero’s NFL Network colleague Ian Rapoport tweets that “will be among the top head coaching candidates” in next year’s cycle.
Garrett Celek Retires From NFL
It looks like Garrett Celek is hanging up his cleats. The 49ers tight end announced his retirement from the NFL in an Instagram post Friday afternoon.
Celek entered the league back in 2012, and spent all eight years of his career with San Francisco. One of the longest-tenured members of the organization, he became a fan favorite and was a leader in the locker room. He inked a four-year deal worth $10.20MM back in 2016, which just expired after the Super Bowl. An undrafted free agent from Michigan State, he made the 53-man roster as a fourth tight end his rookie year and steadily earned more playing time. He never had a massive role as a receiver but was always a key contributor as a blocker, and he did have some decent pass-catching years.
In 2016 and 2017 he had at least 336 yards. His best season as a receiver was in 2016, when he reeled in 29 passes for 350 yards and three touchdowns. He missed some significant time due to injuries throughout the course of his career, and was placed on injured reserve after appearing in only five games this season. The younger brother of former Eagles tight end Brent Celek, he carved out a heck of a career for an UDFA. All of us here at PFR wish him the best in retirement.
Minor NFL Transactions: 2/7/20
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: P Sam Irwin-Hill
San Francisco 49ers
- Re-signed: C Jake Brendel
49ers Sign DL Willie Henry, Four Others To Futures Deals
After passing along the names of seven players that signed futures deals with the 49ers yesterday, including CB Teez Tabor, we have five more to report today. One of those players is DL Willie Henry, a former fourth-round pick of the Ravens.
Baltimore selected Henry, a Michigan product, in the 2016 draft. After sitting out his entire rookie campaign, he was a key piece of the club’s D-line rotation in 2017, appearing in 14 games (three starts) and compiling 33 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and five passes defensed. But an umbilical hernia limited him to just three games in 2018, and the Ravens cut him prior to the 2019 season.
His past performance made him a very popular man on the workout circuit in 2019, but he did not sign with anyone. Perhaps he can carve out a role for himself as a member of the 49ers’ stout defensive front.
Here are the other players who signed futures deals with San Francisco today:
Latest On 49ers, Jimmie Ward
The 49ers have a number of critical decisions to make this offseason, and one of them concerns safety Jimmie Ward, a pending free agent. San Francisco selected Ward in the first round of the 2014 draft, and he has spent his entire six-year career with the club.
He was also eligible for unrestricted free agency last offseason, but he had to settle for a fairly modest one-year pact, largely as a result of his injury history and his relatively uneven tenure with the Niners to that point. But he turned in his best season to date in 2019, starting all 13 regular season games in which he appeared (plus three more in the playoffs), and he finally settled in at the free safety position after playing various roles in the defensive backfield in previous years.
Advanced metrics were fond of his work, and he was a key component of San Francisco’s suffocating secondary, which was No. 2 in the league in defensive DVOA. As such, he could be in for a lucrative multiyear pact, and he hopes he gets one from the 49ers. “This is where I would like to be,” Ward said (via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area). “I like to continue playing for this great organization.”
Ward acknowledges that the club has a number of other players it needs to take care of, so he does not know if he fits into the long-term plans. That is especially true given that the Niners are near the bottom of the league in projected cap space in 2020. “The 49ers have the upper hand right now,” Ward said.
But regardless of where he signs, Ward wants to stay at safety. “Yes, it’s amazing I can do other things, too,” he said. “But leave me at safety. That’s what I love to do. That’s what I’m most passionate about. Basically, if it don’t work out with the 49ers, I’m going to look at any possibilities with teams that want me to play safety.”
RB Jerick McKinnon Wants To Remain With 49ers
The 49ers haven’t exactly gotten a return on their investment when it comes to RB Jerick McKinnon. The club gave the former Viking a four-year, $30MM contract in March 2018, but a torn ACL cost him all of the 2018 season, and a separate knee ailment kept off the field for the entirety of the 2019 campaign, so he may never play a single snap for San Francisco.
However, we heard in December that the Niners are open to bringing the 27-year-old back in 2020, provided that he accepts a pay cut. He is due a $6.5MM salary next year, but the club could save $4.5MM against the cap by releasing him, and given the depth of its RB corps and the need to extend star players, a release would be quite tempting.
McKinnon fully appreciates the reality of his situation and is willing to work with the 49ers if it means he gets to return to the Bay Area next season. “I’m willing to do whatever,” McKinnon said (Twitter link via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com). “The organization knows I want to be a part of this team, so when that time comes there will be a talk between both parties.”
McKinnon also said that the Niners have not yet informed him of their plans for him, but that will probably happen soon. Fellow RB Raheem Mostert was a revelation in 2019, racking up 5.6 yards per carry and eight TDs in the regular season, and he was even better in the playoffs. Restricted free agent Matt Breida was pretty effective as well, and the club will likely retain him via a multiyear pact or an RFA tender.
Tevin Coleman was decent in his first year with San Francisco, but the team could part ways with him and save $4.55MM against the cap while absorbing no dead money. Speculatively, if the 49ers feel good enough about McKinnon’s health, they could cut Coleman and return McKinnon — who is easily the best pass catcher of the bunch and who would therefore offer a nice complement to Mostert and Breida — at a reduced rate.
49ers’ Arik Armstead Open To Tag
Players often bristle at the notion of the franchise tag, but defensive lineman Arik Armstead isn’t necessarily opposed to it. The former-first round pick says he’s intent on staying with the 49ers and his comments suggest that he wouldn’t hold out if he’s tagged.
“I would love being here,” Armstead said (Twitter link via Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com) “Trying to go back to the Super Bowl, so however that is seen or has to get done, it’s not really my decision what they want to do with me.”
Armstead didn’t really produce early on in his career and injuries robbed him of 18 games between 2016 and 2017. In his first four seasons, Armstead tallied just nine sacks in total, but everything clicked for him in 2019. The Oregon product notched ten sacks in his walk year and bottled up opposing running backs with equal glee. The Niners’ attack featuring Armstead, Nick Bosa, and Dee Ford was the most ferocious in the NFL, and San Francisco would do well to keep the core in tact.
Still, the Niners will have to keep their budget in mind. Armstead played more snaps at defensive end than defensive tackle in 2019, meaning that his franchise tag will cost around $19.3MM, instead of $15.5MM. A long-term deal could make sense for both sides, but the Niners have to leave enough room to extend key players like DeForest Buckner and George Kittle.
Speaking of Kittle – it’s expected that he’ll land at least $13MM/year on a new contract. That would make him the highest-paid tight end in the league by a healthy margin and slot him far ahead of Super Bowl foe Travis Kelce.