49ers Offseason Priorities Before Free Agency Starts

By Scooter_McG 

With the 2021 season now over for the 49ers, it is time to set sights towards the 2022 season and beyond. This offseason is going to be particularly interesting as it marks (or at least is widely expected to mark) a key inflection point for the Kyle Shanahan led 49ers - the transition to their QBOTF in Trey Lance. 

Of course there is some possibility the team chooses to go with a veteran QB for another season, whether it be rolling with JG for another year or bringing in a veteran starter from elsewhere (e.g., if Tom Brady decides he really wants to have a farewell season with his boyhood team). But I think those possibilities are highly remote. Assuming they don't go down that path, here is how I see the 49ers offseason priorities.

1. Replenish and future proof the coaching staff. This is already underway, but is a vital component to the team's success not only in 2022, but also future years. Losing McDaniel is a big blow given his importance to devising the run game (in particular) over the past five years. He has already taken Wes Welker with him to Miami. The well respected TEs coach and Assistant HC Jon Embree has also departed, along with STs coach Richard Hightower and two assistant OL coaches. There has also been speculation that long time Shanahan RBs coach Bobby Turner is weighing his options on retirement or coming back for another year. 

Last year the team lost 10 of their coaching staff, including high profile coaches in DC Robert Saleh, passing game coordinator Mike LaFleur and secondary coach Tony Oden. The team has seen a lot of turnover in the coaching staff two straight years. It likely won't get any better next year, with DC DeMeco Ryans widely tipped to be a HC in waiting.     

It is imperative then that the team bring in some quality coaching staff to replenish the stocks, while also providing long term options should key staff leave next year. This process has gotten off to a good start with the 49ers bringing former Chargers HC and Bobby Turner disciple Anthony Lynn on board as Assistant HC. The 49ers are also rumoured to be in discussions with Vic Fangio for a return to the 49ers in a consulting role, which would be another home run hire that would not only help the development of Ryans as a DC, but also provide a ready made replacement for Ryans should he be offered a HC role next year. 

But it would behoove the 49ers to also find some fresh blood - up and coming coaches that can bring fresh ideas and energy. Shanahan and Lynn (as well as Fangio, if he comes on board) have a strong network throughout the league so finding quality coaches to bring in shouldn't be an issue. And there are also some young faces already on the coaching staff that may be promoted, such as offensive quality control coach Leonard Hankerson (would seem an ideal candidate for taking over the WR coaching role from Wes Welker given his familiarity playing WR for Shanahan) and defensive quality control coach Klay Kubiak, whose father Gary was instrumental in the success of Mike Shanahan, and also mentored Kyle.  

2. Get under the cap. The 49ers are currently sitting over the 2022 cap, so it will be imperative the 49ers find ways to reduce 2022 cap liabilities prior to the new year starting. The obvious answer here would seem to be trading Jimmy Garoppolo. However, such a trade can only be finalised until after the new football year starts, which means the 49ers need to be under the cap before they can trade JG. 

Complicating matters for the 49ers is that there are not a lot of obvious candidates on the roster for being cut to free up cap space. Cutting Dee Ford would seem like a smart move at first glance given his bloated contract and difficulty seeing the field, however, cutting Ford does not free up much cap space due to his dead cap hit. There are some players like Ebukam they could release, but then Ebukam came on strong towards the back end of last season and is a player the team would likely want to keep. 

So the most likely scenario is for the 49ers to restructure a few contracts to push cap hits to future years. Players like Armstead and Ward would make the most sense.

3. Find a trade partner for Jimmy G. Flat out releasing JG would actually solve offseason priority #2 above, however, it seems highly unlikely the 49ers would do that as the team should be able to find a trade market for him. Finding a trade partner should be something they aim to do prior to the new league year commencing, and should aggressively pursue, so they can get his salary off their books as soon as FA commences. This is a situation where it does the 49ers little good to prolong a deal. 

However, they also shouldn't just give JG away, so if it takes some time to get a trade market going the team may need to get creative with freeing up some cap space in order to be active in the FA market while carrying JG's contract for a while.  

4. Re-sign key free agents. This is an obvious offseason priority every year, so no need to belabour the point. But the team does have some high profile (and some lower profile) free agents that they would no doubt like to keep so long as the price is right. The ERFAs such as Jennings, Givens and Hasty are easy to keep, but the team will need to consider what round offer to give for RFAs such as Al-Shaair and Brunskill, who were both UDFAs (and thus the low RFA offer would require no compensation to the 49ers should another team sign them). 

In terms of UFAs, I expect the key guy the 49ers will most want to keep is DJ Jones, who has been excellent the past two seasons and is entering his prime years. I suspect they will try and lock him away prior to the start of free agency. Some other notable players the team will no doubt be keeping tabs on are Laken Tomlinson, Arden Key, K'Waun Williams, Jaquiski Tartt, Jason Verrett, Jordan Willis and Raheem Mostert. But I think the 49ers will wait and see how the market looks for all of those players and won't get into bidding wars.