49ers try to keep gang together in free agency
Coach Kyle Shanahan’s wish of retaining last season’s NFC-winning roster is coming to fruition, aside from Monday’s surprise trade of DeForest Buckner for the Indianapolis Colts’ first-round pick.
Tuesday’s moves, on the eve of full-blown free agency, saw the 49ers commit to the returns of running backs Jerick McKinnon and Matt Breida, wide receiver Kendrick Bourne and defensive end Ronald Blair.
Bourne and Breida received one-year tenders ($3.3 million; second-round level) as restricted free agents, a league source confirmed.
And what would a 49ers offseason be without charting the progress of a player’s reconstructed knee? Or multiple players’ comebacks? Tuesday also brought confirmation, from a league source, that McKinnon and Blair will stick around in their comebacks from anterior cruciate ligament injuries.
McKinnon is restructuring a contract that’s netted him over $16 million already and had called for him to make $6.5 million salary this season, NBC Sports’ Matt Maiocco first reported. McKinnon has yet to suit up for an official game since tearing an anterior cruciate ligament before the 2018 season and then requiring follow-up procedure last September to cost him another season.
The 49ers still posted the NFL’s second-best rushing attack last season behind Raheem Mostert, Tevin
Coleman, Breida and Jeff Wilson. Breida was their leading rusher in 2017-18 but fell out of favor down the stretch last season.
Blair re-signed on a oneyear deal, NFL Network first reported. He was enjoying a solid, under-the-radar season last year before tearing his ACL while stopping the Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson for a 1-yard loss late in a Nov. 11 loss.
Blair’s return further solidifies a defense that has all of last season’s starters under contract, Buckner excluded. Monday’s moves saw the 49ers re-sign defensive tackle Arik Armstead (five years, $85 million) and free safety Jimmie Ward (three years, $28.5 million).
The 49ers are hoping Blair’s ACL comeback goes as well as Jimmy Garoppolo’s last season rather than a delayed route such as those of McKinnon, defensive lineman Kentavius Street or the handful of ACL-torn draft picks from years past under former general manager Trent Baalke.
Adding depth to their defensive line became paramount when the 49ers agreed Monday to trade Blair’s good friend, Buckner, to the Colts. Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh championed Blair’s approach last season, often saying: “If you like winning, you like Ronnie Blair.”
A fifth-round pick in 2016, Blair had three sacks last season to raise his career total to 13 1/2.
Blair was one of a dozen unrestricted free agents that could have signed elsewhere starting today. Linebacker Elijah Lee was not tendered a contract as a restricted free agent.