Fullback Kyle Juszczyk says ‘there’s no better fit’ for him than the 49ers
SANTA CLARA — Many NFL players dream of hitting free agency. It’s a chance to test the open market and have multiple teams bid for your services. It can often drive up a player’s price, which is welcome news to the player and his bank account. Just ask left tackle Trent Williams, who early Wednesday morning landed a six-year, $138 million deal with the 49ers as multiple teams coveted him.
But San Francisco’s fullback Kyle Juszczyk didn’t need to hit the open market. The unrestricted free agent knew where he wanted to land from the outset. So he agreed to a new five-year deal with San Francisco on Sunday evening, hours before the league’s negotiating window opened Monday morning. It would have allowed Juszczyk to field offers from other teams like the New York Jets, who hired San Francisco’s former passing game specialist Mike LaFleur as offensive coordinator, and potentially drive up his asking price from the 49ers.
“Honestly, there’s no better fit in the league for me than San Francisco, just to be completely honest,” Juszczyk said on a Zoom call Wednesday. “Kyle (Shanahan) ... he puts together the perfect system for me to play in. And for me to go anywhere else, have to uproot my life, really, sell my house in California, find a new spot, have all new teammates, (and) begin the whole process over again ... this late in my career, there was a certain part of me that didn’t want to do that. And so if I could get that number I was happy with in San Francisco, I was just going to roll with it and just continue in a place that I’m so happy to be in.”
The number was a fiveyear contract worth up to $27 million with $10 million in guarantees. It made Juszczyk, who turns 30 in April, the highest paid fullback in history for the second time since 2017. If he plays out the life of his deal, the fivetime Pro Bowler will have made $50.5 million over his 13-year career.
Paying a fullback that kind of money is a complicated decision that not many agree with. A number of teams have axed the position altogether, and some would prefer only to have fullbacks signing minimal contracts and not getting eight figures guaranteed.
Shanahan, of course, is an exception. He made adding Juszczyk a priority when he first got hired in 2017 by making him a key member of the team’s first free agent class weeks after he was hired. Four years later, that belief hasn’t changed.
Juszczyk’s versatility makes him emblematic of Shanahan’s offense. He can line up outside, catch deep passes downfield, play in the slot, rove as an H-back and line up in the backfield as a traditional fullback. For a team that wants to run the ball effectively as the foundation of its scheme, to set up play action and make things easier on the quarterback, Shanahan has come to view Juszczyk as an essential piece.
“I don’t think it’s a secret. I think we use the fullback more than anyone in the league,” Shanahan said at the 2019 owners meetings in Phoenix. “I’m always going to use the fullback. I believe in it strongly.”
Shanahan is considered one of the game’s premier offensive minds. But he has zagged against the trend of a league becoming more pass happy. He had no problem calling just eight pass attempts, and 42 runs, during the 3720 thumping of the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game after the 2019 season. The 49ers went to the Super Bowl that year running the ball at the second-highest clip in the league, only behind the Baltimore Ravens, who ran quarterback Lamar Jackson 176 times.
For Shanahan, using a fullback is all about dictating things to the defense.
“If you put three receivers out there, then (the defense) can run certain blitzes and stunts where you cannot run the ball,” Shanahan said. “And they can force you to pass and they can force you to do things. When you have a fullback out there, it doesn’t matter how many guys they have in the box, which is nice because if they put a lot of guys in the box it makes it easier to throw.”
The agreement of Juszczyk’s new contract was finalized Sunday, but the parameters came together Saturday, when 49ers CEO Jed York was celebrating his 40th birthday with a party attended by general manager John Lynch and Shanahan, which led to a series of Tweets indicating alcohol might have been flowing.
FaceTime calls were made, of which Juszczyk wasn’t willing to share too many details from out of respect for his bosses. But he said the celebratory mood was emblematic of the reasons he wanted to stay with the 49ers.
“They were very stoked, I was stoked,” Juszczyk said. “They were at Jed York’s 40th birthday party, so the phone got passed around, a lot of congratulations, a lot of cheers, and all those sort of things.
“Honestly, it’s so cool to be a part of that, to get FaceTimes from your owner and your GM and your head coach, and speak with their families and be comfortable. It’s like I’m speaking to my own family, you know? It’s not one of those awkward conversations that’s just, ‘Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We’re going to do great.’ It’s just real conversations and real genuine joy. That’s why I feel so connected to this program.”
49ERS ROSTER MOVES — The 49ers on Wednesday released receiver Marquise Goodwin, according to the league’s transaction report.
Goodwin reverted back to San Francisco’s roster Tuesday. It was due to the language of the trade between the 49ers and Eagles during last year’s NFL draft that initially sent Goodwin to Philadelphia. A stipulation for the trade was not met and it caused the 49ers to lose a seventhround pick in this year’s draft, leaving them with nine total.