Lynch says team still mulling over potential safety additions
ORLANDO — General manager John Lynch said this week that the San Francisco 49ers are done making significant freeagent moves. Maybe.
Lynch left open the possibility that the 49ers could add a starting-caliber safety to a position headlined by Talanoa Hufanga, a starter the past two seasons, and Ji’Ayir Brown, last year’s third-round pick. Last week, former Indianapolis safety Julian Blackmon, 25, visited the 49ers after he had a careerhigh four interceptions while making 15 starts last season.
Blackmon is among a host of accomplished safeties who remain on the open market. That group includes Justin Simmons, 30, a four-time second-team All-Pro who was released by the Broncos in a cost-cutting move.
“The safety market kind of took a beating,” said Lynch, who played the position throughout his 15-year NFL career. “I feel bad for those guys. It took years to get the guys to where they were being compensated. A bunch of them got cut. That’s why some really good players are out here. You’d be foolish not to take a look.”
Lynch said the 49ers haven’t determined how they will proceed.
“We’re going to spend some more time discussing that,” Lynch said. “Whether we make an add or just go with what we have right now, we feel good about the position.”
Hufanga is recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in November and is expected to return during training camp, head coach Kyle Shanahan said Tuesday. Hufanga was a first-team All-Pro selection in 2022, but he wasn’t playing at the same level before he was injured last year and isn’t guaranteed to keep his starting spot, the Chronicle’s Michael Silver has reported.
The lack of certainty on the back end would seem to explain why Blackmon was prompted to visit the 49ers. The 2020 third-round pick has made 46 career starts and presumably isn’t seeking a backup role.
“We didn’t bring Blackmon in talking about him for sure starting,” Shanahan said. “We talked about him coming to compete. It was a visit he took. And we’ll see how it works out.”
Aiyuk optimism: Shanahan sounded confident about the 49ers’ ability to sign All-Pro wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk to a contract extension, a day after Lynch suggested there was a possibility that an agreement couldn’t be reached.
In fact, Shanahan expressed hope that a deal could be struck well before training camp, which often is around the time the 49ers have agreed to bigmoney extensions with players in recent years.
“Hopefully,” Shanahan said, “we get this done sooner rather than later.”
Shanahan did acknowledge his desire for a speedy resolution might not be realized.
“Usually when you’re in a situation where you’ve got a really good player who wants to be here and we want the player to be here really bad, too, what I’ve found with us is it doesn’t happen right away,” Shanahan said. “But it’s a matter of time before it ends up working out.”
Odd injuries: Linebacker Dre Greenlaw wasn’t the only member of the 49ers to suffer a freak Achilles injury in last month’s loss to Kansas City in Super Bowl LVIII.
After Greenlaw tore his Achilles running on the field in the second quarter, defensive backs coach Daniel Bullocks suffered the same injury while celebrating an interception by Brown in the third.
“He just jumped up, cheered — very similar to Dre’s — and his Achilles went, too,” Shanahan said.
Bullocks continued coaching, but Shanahan said he could barely walk during the game’s latter stages.