Inside: Linebacker Kwon Alexander is traded to the Saints.
SANTA CLARA >> Nick Bosa went so far as to call Kwon Alexander “probably the MVP” of the 49ers prior to last season’s playoffs.
Truth is, Alexander’s play tailed off since a pectoral tear on Halloween 2019 at Arizona. More injuries and missed tackles mounted as he became unreliable, overpaid and replaceable. His 11/2-season tenure with the 49ers is done.
The 49ers traded Alexander to the New Orleans Saints on Monday, a day before the NFL’s trade deadline and less than two weeks before the NFC rivals meet at the Superdome with potential playoff ramifications.
In return, the 49ers are acquiring Los Gatos native Kiko Alonso ( an injur y- prone lineba cker, himself) and a conditional fifth-round draft pick. Both linebackers must clear COVID-19 protocol and physical exams before the trade can be ratified next week.
“Kwon’s time with our team might not have been long but it was very impactful,” general manager John
Lynch said in a statement. “A tremendous teammate, his non- stop motor, ferocious play and selfless nature helped establish a standard for our locker room that will carry on.”
Alexander’s 49ers career will go down as an expensive misfire from 2019 free agency. The 49ers, however, can spin it with positivity in terms of salary cap savings, and they can anoint Dre Greenlaw as the long-term sidekick for Fred Warner as this decade’s version of Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman.
“I wouldn’t be half the player I am without 56,” Warner said in an Instagram post invoking Alexander by jersey number. “I’m forever in debt. When it’s all said an done, you really a legend. That’s my brother 4L. I already know how you comin.”
Plus, Alexander’s influence on a young locker room last year will be hailed in retrospect. “Legendary,” Alexander always responded when asked how he was. And he made enough plays early in his 49ers’ term that it stoked his credibility.
Bosa said before the playoffs that Alexander was “probably the MVP of our
team. He’s the energy, all the time.”
Alexander missed the past three games with an ankle injury, although he returned to practice last week. He sustained a pectoral tear one year ago in a Halloween win at Arizona and missed the final eight games of the regular
season. He returned for the 49ers’ playoff games, although as the strong-side linebacker while Greenlaw remained the weak- side linebacker.
Alonso, a Los Gatos native, is coming off an anterior cruciate ligament tear from last season’s playoffs, and although he hasn’t played this season, the Saints activated his playoff window two weeks ago.
Alonso, 30, has overcome multiple knee injuries in a career that’s taken him to now five teams, starting with the Buffalo Bills (2014-15), Philadelphia Eagles (2016), Miami Dolphins (2017-18) and Saints (201920). He is making $1.7 million in base salary this year and is slated to become a free agent next spring.
Alonso was traded to every team he’s gone since the Bills drafted him with a second-round pick out of Oregon. He attended Los Gatos High.
The 49ers signed Alexander as a free agent last year, luring him with a massive contract (four years, $54 million) as he came off a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his fourth and final season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The 49ers will save some $2.5 million of Alexander’s salary off this year’s books, although Alonso will count for about $900,000 of that. Alexander’s exit means the 49ers will endure a $6.9 million hit on next year’s salary cap, according to overthecap.com.
Alexander restructured that contract last November, and although he’s making $5 million in base salary this year, he likely would have been cut after the season rather than get paid $12.6 million in salary each of the next two seasons.
His biggest impact with the 49ers came as a vocal leader, and he hawked Tshirts last season celebrating the linebacker crew’s “Hot Boyzz” nickname.
Ejected from his 49ers debut for a hit on thenTampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston in last season’s opener, Alexander went on to total 1 1/2 sacks, one interception and two forced fumbles in 13 regularseason games. He had just three tackles in three playoff games last season, and he had biceps surgery afterward.
His tackling efficiency and assignment execution weren’t the same since his early 2019 games.
With the Saints, Alexander reunites with wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, the 49ers’ big get ahead of last year’s trade deadline. Sanders welcomed Aleander via an Instagram story post, captioned: “It’z up!! Let’s ride!”