San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Free offseason tips for 49ers’ leadership
Full disclosure: Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch have yet to reach out for counsel from The Chronicle on how to navigate their tricky offseason.
But that’s understandable. The 49ers head coach and general manager probably are still unpacking from Arizona, planning Robert Saleh’s farewell Zoom party and sifting through that comically big binder with the catchy title: “The San Francisco 49ers’ 2020 Injury Report: Weeks 15.”
However, “get beatwriter advice,” is no doubt on their todo list. And we’re happy to surprise the guys by getting this to them ahead of schedule.
Free of charge — assuming they have a Chronicle subscription — we’ve outlined the 49ers’ top offseason priorities and made them realistic. That means they won’t be advised to do the impossible, like acquire Deshaun Watson
from Houston for a few midround picks and a lifetime supply of TexMex.
Keep QB Jimmy Garoppolo and bolster the backups
Garoppolo’s injuries are the biggest reason for the disasters in 2018 (412) and 2020 (610).
That means the 49ers simply can’t bring back freeagent backups Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard in 2021 and fervently pray Garoppolo doesn’t suffer a seasonaltering injury for the third time in four years.
The solution: Sign a veteran freeagent QB such as Jacoby Brissett, Andy Dalton or Ryan Fitzpatrick to a modest oneyear deal and use a draft pick on the position after the second round.
The veteran will upgrade the backup spot in 2021, a role the midround rookie could be ready to assume in 2022. And — who knows — perhaps that draft pick develops sooner, or even becomes Dak Prescott (fourth round, 2016), Russell Wilson (third round, 2012) or Kirk Cousins (fourth round, 2012).
Now, let’s get to the question you’ve been politely waiting to ask: Why keep Garoppolo, you idiot?!
For starters, who would realistically be an obvious upgrade to replace him this offseason? The 49ers, with the No. 12 pick, aren’t in position to grab one of the draft’s Big Three (Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Ohio State’s Justin Fields, BYU’s Zach Wilson) and it’s possible at least one more QB could go in the top 10.
Are you ready to hand the franchise over to Florida’s Kyle Trask or North Dakota State’s Trey Lance? (Side note: If the 49ers are convinced Trask or Lance will be like Watson — the No. 12 pick in 2017 — they should disregard every word written in this section).
As far as the veteran QBs who were the talk of 49ers’ Twitter during the regular season — Detroit’s Matthew Stafford and Atlanta’s Matt Ryan — a strong case can be made that a healthy Garoppolo, who has been in Shanahan’s offense for more than three years and is 248 as a starter, is a better option.
Garoppolo, who played five of six games on a bum ankle, was terrible in 2020, right? Well, he had a 92.4 passer rating, just below that of Ryan (93.3) and Stafford (96.3). The point: Be careful what you wish for, the grass isn’t always greener.
Finally, the 49ers, once they commit to Garoppolo, can restructure his contract to free up significant salary cap space. And that will help them realize this next goal, which will also increase the odds Garoppolo stays healthy in 2021.
Retain left tackle Trent Williams
Yes. We know. Easier said than done.
The 49ers reportedly tried to sign Williams to a contract extension near the end of the regular season. And the eighttime Pro Bowl selection then told reporters it would be “interesting” to see what his “value” is on the freeagent market in March.
This probably means the 49ers will have to reach deeper into their wallet than they would have liked. How deep? Well, cornerback Richard Sherman wasn’t wrong when he said it would cost “over $20 million” to keep Williams.
A guess: Williams’ agent would like to top the recently signed fouryear, $92 million extension that made Green Bay’s David Bakhtiari the NFL’s highestpaid left tackle on an average annual basis ($23 million).
How about $23 million and one cent, Trent?
Williams, 32, is worth it. A team captain, he’s an elite and durable player at a premium position who could remain dominant deep into this decade, if Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth, 39, is any indication.
Williams didn’t play in the NFL in 2019 and he indicated last month his time off caused him to reconsider how long he wanted to play.
“I might be 40 trying to get down in a stance,” Williams said. “Somebody’s going to have to tell me (to stop). I’m going to need some good friends because, at this point, I’m thinking they’ll probably have to scrape me off the field.”
Lower the injury risk
Free agent cornerback Richard Sherman will turn 33 in the offseason and missed 11 games in 2020 with a chronic calf injury.
Free agent safety Jaquiski Tartt missed nine games last season and has missed 28 games due to injury since 2017.
The 49ers can’t bring such players back: They need to reduce their number of starters with bulging medical files after making an NFLhigh 32 injuredreserve transactions in 2020.
The donotbringback list should also include center Weston Richburg and pass rusher Dee Ford, who are likely salarycap casualties after combining for 39 missed games and three surgeries over the past two seasons.
This should also apply to players not currently on their roster: They need to resist the urge to sign free agents rehabbing a torn Achilles (Sherman, 2018) or torn ACL (Kwon Alexander, 2019), trading for players who have had multiple major back surgeries (Ford, 2019) and using firstround picks on prospects who were medically flagged by multiple teams at the combine ( Javon Kinlaw, 2020).
The 49ers would correctly point out that risks can’t be completely avoided in a sport with a near100% injury rate. And, without a notable cornerback under contract for 2021, they can be excused for resigning injuryprone Jason Verrett and hoping this season wasn’t an aberration.
Still, if this season’s attrition doesn’t cause the 49ers to place more emphasis on durability in player evaluations, nothing will.
Draft defense
The 49ers will have at least 10 draft picks.
And, assuming they won’t be too active in free agency, at least seven picks should be spent on players who could help fill the holes of a defense with a firstyear coordinator who could be without Sherman, Tartt, Ford and three other key free agents: cornerback K’Waun Williams, nose tackle D.J. Jones and sack leader Kerry Hyder.
Last year, the 49ers used their first two picks on replacements for AllPro defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and Pro Bowl wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders. This year, they should prioritize drafting replacements for Ford and Sherman.
What about the offense? The 49ers should address their interior line, but they still have Shanahan calling the plays for a unit that has enough returning pieces to be explosive: tight end George Kittle, running back Raheem Mostert and wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel.
Sign linebacker Fred Warner to an extension
From an X’sandO’s perspective, Saleh was clearly the biggest reason the 49ers allowed the NFL’s fifthfewest yards last season despite their injury issues.
From a player perspective, Saleh said Warner was the glue that kept everything from falling apart.
Warner is a team captain and firstteam AllPro who has not missed a game in three seasons. In other words, he’s the type of leader and elite, durable player the 49ers had in Buckner, a firstteam AllPro with the Colts in 2020 who was traded in March after he and the 49ers couldn’t come to terms on an extension.
The 49ers can’t have that history repeat itself. The finances might mean they can’t keep a stalwart such as Pro Bowl freeagent fullback Kyle Juszczyk, but they should work out a deal for Warner that tops that of Seattle’s Bobby Wagner ($18 million annual average), the league’s highestpaid inside linebacker.