49ers see rare chance to get pass rushers in free agency
In 2018, a year after his rookie season in the front office, 49ers general manager John Lynch said he’d come to a realization about the modernday NFL: The men who sack quarterbacks are almost as coveted as quarterbacks.
In 2017, the 49ers discussed plenty of pass rushers with whom they never had a chance to speak. Lynch quickly found highend pass rushers, like QBs, rarely get to the freeagent market. Instead, teams open their wallets to keep them by using the franchise tag or by signing them to longterm extensions.
“We spent a lot of time (last year), and it’s franchise, franchise, franchise,” Lynch said. “It’s like ‘God dang, that sucks. We don’t even get a chance.’ That’s when the realization hit me that they don’t come along that often.”
Until now.
Thanks partly to the NFL’s falling salary cap — a result of lost revenue from the 2020 season — an inordinate amount of accomplished edge rushers won’t be retained by cashstrapped teams before free agency begins next Wednesday. Of the 10 players who were given the franchise tag before Tuesday’s deadline, none was a pass rusher.
That means the pass rushers set to hit the market include New Orleans’ Trey Hendrickson, Arizona’s Haason Reddick, the Rams’ Leonard Floyd and Detroit’s Romeo Okwara, all of whom ranked in the top 10 in sacks last season. Others not under contract for 2021 include Tampa Bay’s Shaquil Barrett, Pittsburgh’s Bud Dupree, Seattle’s Carlos Dunlap and Baltimore’s Matt Judon and Yannick Ngakoue, all of whom have had at least eight sacks in a season since 2019. Finally, Cincinnati’s Carl Lawson, who ranked fourth in the NFL with 44 QB pressures in 2020, also is poised to test free agency.
This is good timing for the 49ers, whose Super Bowl run in 2019 included key contributions from edge rushers they acquired that year in the draft (Nick Bosa) and via trade (Dee Ford). Now, however, the injuryriddled Ford can’t be counted on in 2021 after missing the final 15 games last season with a back injury that has clouded his NFL future. Bosa will return after missing the final 14 games with a knee injury.
Without those two for most of 2020, edge rusher Kerry Hyder, 29, led the 49ers with a careerbest 8.5 sacks. An obvious question with Hyder, who is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent: Can he do that again?
Free agency might be the best way for the 49ers to fill Ford’s role. They have the No. 12 pick in a draft that lacks elite passrushing prospects. In the past two drafts, Bosa and Washington’s Chase Young, respectively, were No. 2 picks who became the Defensive Rookie of the Year. This year, it’s likely that no pass rusher will be selected in the top 10.
This week, ESPN’s Mel Kiper said he viewed Miami’s Jaelan Phillips as the draft’s top pass rusher. And Kiper has Phillips, who didn’t play in 2019 after sustaining his third concussion the previous season, not being selected until the Titans pick at No. 22 in his latest mock draft.
The 49ers have invested heavily in their front four under Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan. They have used three top15 picks on defensive linemen and signed Ford to a fiveyear, $85 million deal after acquiring him.
However, their pass rush probably isn’t the top item on their freeagent todo list. Rather, it’s likely to retain Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams, 32, who has said he’s eager to test the market and figures to command a contract that averages around $20 million annually. If Williams gets away, it’s possible the 49ers would turn to the draft to address the position. Kiper thinks at least eight offensive tackles could be selected in the first two rounds.
In such a scenario, the 49ers likely would use a chunk of the money they would have spent on Williams to invest in their pass rush. And even if they keep Williams, they could land an accomplished, lowercost pass rusher who could serve as a potential shortterm solution.
That group includes Indianapolis’ Justin Houston, 32, a fourtime Pro Bowl selection who is one of eight players with at least eight sacks in each of the past three seasons. The Chargers’ Melvin Ingram, 31, a threetime Pro Bowl pick, had 43 sacks from 2015 through 2019, but is coming off a zerosack season in which a knee injury limited him to seven games.
There is also Dunlap, 32, a twotime Pro Bowl selection who awakened the Seahawks’ slumbering pass rush when he was acquired in a trade last season. Dunlap had five sacks and 14 QB hits in eight games, but was released Monday in a salarycap move.
In a typical offseason, Dunlap still would be with Seattle.
This offseason, however, pass rushers, usually at a premium, will be plentiful.