D-lineman needed to support Nick Bosa
It’s become an annual task for the 49ers: Find a defensive end to line up on the flank opposite Nick Bosa.
Fortifying the interior spots also is a must this offseason. Overall, the 49ers’ defensive line rotation needs to be restocked, either by re-signing their own players or ushering in a younger group, all of which could be done in the upcoming free agency or next month’s draft.
Before Bosa arrived as a 2019 rookie, the 49ers made a pricey move to trade for and sign Dee Ford as their other starting defensive end, and that tandem helped them reach the Super Bowl. But Ford’s career was derailed by a back issue, and the 49ers have forged ahead by deploying flash-in-the-pan edge rushers opposite Bosa, who won NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors last season for leading the 49ers’ defense within a win of the Super Bowl.
While that also positioned Bosa for a contract extension this year, the 49ers must now debate how much more they’ll invest to hire other defensive ends in free agency, in which outside negotiations can begin March 13 before deals can become official March 15. Free agency comes with perils, and the 49ers haven’t thrived in signing defensive ends with this regime, such as Jeremiah Attaochu (2018), Ford (2019), Kerry Hyder Jr. (2020, ’22), Samson Ebukam (2021), Arden Key (2021) and Kemoko Turay (2022).
WHO’S HERE
Defensive ends: Bosa, Drake Jackson, Alex Barrett
Defensive tackles: Arik Armstead, Javon Kinlaw, Kalia Davis
Bosa, in only his third full season, set career highs with a league-leading 18 1/2 sacks and 48 quarterback hits, all of which should add up to an extension worth more than $30 million annually, otherwise they’ll beg him to play on a fifth-year option at $18 million. Jackson, a second-round selection last year with the 49ers’ top draft pick, is being asked to add power and stamina after ending his rookie year as a healthy scratch.
Armstead had no sacks in a nine-game, injury-marred regular season, but he had two in the playoffs, so that plus his captainship and versatility could keep him aboard with a high salary ($16 million). Kinlaw’s career is again at a crossroads because of knee issues, and Davis is looking to start his career after spending his rookie year recovering from knee reconstruction.
PENDING FREE AGENTS:
Defensive ends: Samson Ebukam, Charles Omenihu, Jordan Willis, Kerry Hyder Jr.
Defensive tackles: Hassan Ridgeway, Maurice Hurst,
T.Y. Mcgill, Kevin Givens (restricted)
Ebukam produced 4 1/2 and five sacks in his two seasons since fleeing the Rams. That is not ideal production but it didn’t get him benched in favor
exclusive franchise tag, projected to cost about $45 million, to keep Jackson off the market entirely. He instead opted for the roughly $32.4 million nonexclusive tag, a decision he said he had weighed every day for months.
The move does not preclude the Ravens from signing Jackson to an extension before the 2023 season and seems to indicate they are confident they could match any offer he receives from another team.
After more than a year of stalled negotiations, the issue could come to a head quickly if a team meets Jackson’s asking price. The Ravens could be forced to pay more guaranteed money than they had hoped to keep Jackson, or they could say goodbye to the player who was supposed to be central to their plans for years to come. Or perhaps Jackson, who represents himself, will not find the deal he wants on the open market and will return to his financial standoff with the Ravens.
Most teams that use the franchise tag go the exclusive route; Decosta is gambling that his decision will prompt a long-term deal with Jackson and/or leave the Ravens in a stronger financial position to build their team for next season.
When he spoke with reporters last week at the NFL scouting combine, the Ravens general manager acknowledged the difficulty of building for the 2023 season with so much uncertainty hovering around Jackson.
“It is a wrench,” he said “We don’t know, and so, yeah, it slows you up a little bit. It does kind of create a little bit of a haze as to what the future’s going to look like with your roster.”
At their season-ending news conference in January, Decosta and Ravens coach John Harbaugh acknowledged the complexity of ongoing negotiations with Jackson but said they remain determined to build the franchise’s future around the 2019 NFL Most Valuable Player.
“Everything we’ve done in terms of building our offense and building our team, how we think in terms of [bringing in] people and putting people around him is based on this incredible young man, his talent, his ability and his competitiveness,” Harbaugh said. “I’ll have my fingers crossed, and my toes crossed, and
I’ll be saying prayers. I have every faith that it’s going to get done, and we have the best people in the world doing it. Eric Decosta, there’s nobody better. Eric wants him here, I want him here, [Ravens owner] Steve [Bisciotti] wants him here, and Lamar wants to be here. So, it’s going to work out.”
Decosta said in
January that the choice between an exclusive or nonexclusive franchise tag would not be easy, adding, “I’ve thought about it every day.”
He has maintained all along that the Ravens can afford to fit the price of Jackson’s tag into their salary cap if it’s their best option. But they could be forced to cut key players such as defensive end Calais Campbell or running back Gus Edwards to make the math work.
“Any deal with Lamar is going to affect the salary cap, whether we get a long-term deal done or we do an exclusive franchise [tag] or the traditional franchise
[tag], it’s going to affect the cap,” Decosta said. “Those are big, big numbers. We’re fortunate I think that we have a better salary cap [situation] than most. We have a lot more room than most teams do, which was by design three or four years ago.”
At the same time, he said the Ravens would have to be “really creative” to add quality players at positions such as wide receiver and cornerback while paying a hefty sum to keep Jackson in place.
Jackson is the eighth player in Ravens history to be franchise tagged, and several of his predecessors, most recently outside linebacker Matthew
Judon in 2020, have played full seasons under the tag. But the Ravens have never been in this position with a quarterback.
Teammates have been clear about what they want.
“You can’t let a guy like him go,” veteran defensive end Calais Campbell said. “I know it’s football and there’s always some new exciting toy, a new exciting kid that has potential to go out there and be great, but this is a for sure, a known. You know Lamar Jackson is an incredible player. I think it’s in the best interest of the Ravens organization to give him a long-term contract and make him our guy.”
Tight end Mark
Andrews joked at the
Pro Bowl that he would donate his paycheck to keep Jackson in town.
The one key party who has said little is Jackson, who has not spoken to reporters since the Friday before he suffered a season-ending knee injury on the first weekend of December. The Ravens made the playoffs and pushed the Cincinnati Bengals to the limit in the wildcard round with Tyler Huntley at quarterback. But the uncertainty around Jackson’s next step loomed over every game he did not play.
He last addressed his contract situation in September, when he and the Ravens did not reach an extension agreement before the season opener.
“I don’t know,” he said when asked if a deal was close. “I don’t know.”
If an extension remains elusive — four of the eight players tagged last season reached long-term deals — the superstar quarterback will have decisions to make. He could hold out at the start of training camp, as other players have done under similar circumstances. Or he could take the more extreme step of refusing to sign the tag and sitting out the season, as running back Le’veon Bell did in a standoff with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018.
The Ravens answered one question by placing the franchise tag on Jackson but opened the door to many more.