Breaking down the 49ers offseason’s under John Lynch, & Kyle Shanahan

I was given a great idea from a good friend of mine, to look at the trend for the current 49ers’ regime, from 2017-2022, to see how they’ve changed what they’ve done, free agent wise, & draft wise, so let’s begin.

First off, we’ll begin with 2017, when the 49ers hired Kyle Shanahan as head coach, & John Lynch as general manager.

The 49ers began the 2017 offseason off by signing a bunch of free agents, with the more notable signees listed below, from first to last signee.

NT Earl Mitchell – 4-year, $16 million

CB K’Waun Williams – 1-year, $750,000

QB Brian Hoyer – 2-year, $18.5 million, $9.85 million fully guaranteed

FB Kyle Juszczyk – 4-year, $21 million, $7 million fully guaranteed

WR Pierre Garcon – 5-year, $47.5 million, $17 million fully guaranteed

WR Marquise Goodwin – 2-year, $6 million, $4.45 million fully guaranteed

TE Logan Paulsen – 1-year, $1 million

LB Malcolm Smith – 5-year, $26.5 million, $12 million guaranteed

PK Robbie Gould – 2-year, $4 million

QB Matt Barkley – 2-year, $4 million

WR Aldrick Robinson – 2-year, $4 million

LB Brock Coyle – 2-year deal

DB Don Jones – 2-year, $2.2 million

LB Dekoda Watson – 3-year deal

RB Tim Hightower – 1-year deal

OT Garry Gilliam – 1-year, $2.2 million, $1.25 million guaranteed

DE Elvis Dumervil – 2-year, $8 million, $1.5 million guaranteed

As you can see the 49ers went very free agent happy in 2017, John Lynch even said that they signed more free agents in 2017 than Trent Baalke did in his entire tenure as the 49ers GM.

Also, you can see that the 49ers gave out some really questionable contracts, both at the time, and in the long run, but thanks to Paraag Marathe’s structuring of the contracts, these deals had little to no effect on the 49ers salary cap moving forward.

The best pickups in my eye were Juice, Dumvervil, Garcon, & Goodwin, while they whiffed on Malcolm Smith, Brian Hoyer, but that’s really the only bad signings from 2017.

Next up is the draft class, which consisted of the following 10 players.

1^st-Round: DL Solomon Thomas

1^st-Round: LB Reuben Foster

3^rd-Round: CB Ahkello Witherspoon

3^rd-Round: QB C.J. Beathard

4^th-Round: RB Joe Williams

5^th-Round: TE George Kittle

5^th-Round: WR Trent Taylor

6^th-Round: NT D.J. Jones

6^th-Round: LB Pita Taumoepenu

7^th-Round: DB Adrian Colbert

Well, this draft class wasn’t the best, as Thomas has since moved on, proving he was the wrong pick as #3 overall, Foster completely went idiot with his off the field issues, the Joe Williams pick was horrendous, a pick that Lynch was against, and only was made due to Kyle Shanahan pounding the table for him, but they had some good picks, as Witherspoon played well, & is now a starter with the Steelers, George Kittle is, well, the best all-around TE in the NFL, D.J. Jones just got a nice payday from the Broncos, while Trent Taylor, & C.J. Beathard played well, and are still in the NFL.

2017 Offseason Verdict: Very Aggressive

Next up of course is 2018.

We’ll begin with the free agents that the 49ers signed that year.

CB Richard Sherman – 3-year, $27.15 million

OG Jonathan Cooper – 1-year deal

EDGE Jerry Attaochu – 1-year, $5.125 million, $2.5 million fully guaranteed

RB Jerick McKinnon – 4-year, $30 million

C Weston Richburg – 5-year, $47.5 million

The 49ers didn’t sign as many free agents as the previous year, but they did manage to get Richard Sherman on a very team friendly deal, that worked out, helping the 49ers get to the 2020 Super Bowl, the Richburg signing was a good signing, his career ending injury wasn’t avoidable, but the Cooper, Attaochu, & McKinnon signings were bad deals, as Cooper, & Attaochu were released at final cuts, costing the 49ers some significant cap room, while McKinnon suffered a torn ACL before the season, thus missing the first 2 years of his 49ers career.

Next up is the 49ers 2018 draft class.

1^st-Round: RT Mike McGlinchey

2^nd-Round: WR Dante Pettis

3^rd-Round: MLB Fred Warner

4^th-Round: DT Kentavius Street

5^th-Round: CB D.J. Reed Jr.

6^th-Round: SS Marcell Harris

7^th-Round: NT Jullian Taylor

7^th-Round: WR Richie James Jr.

Now this was a productive draft class for the most part, as the 49ers got their RT at the time, who is now coming off a serious injury, while Warner has become one of the top 2 pure linebackers in the NFL, and Moore has a chance to be the teams’ starting strong safety, but, Dante Pettis proved to be a bust, Street was a bad pick, coming off a Torn ACL during pre-draft workouts, they let D.J. Reed go, who got a nice payday from the Jets, and Taylor(Vikings), & James(Giants) are still in the league.

2018 Offseason Verdict: Aggressive

Next up is the 2019 offseason.

The 49ers signed the following free agents in 2019.

RB Tevin Coleman – 2-year, $10 million

LB Kwon Alexander – 4-year, $54 million, $27 million guaranteed

DE Dee Ford(via trade) – 5-year, $85 million

The 49ers were aggressive on day 1 when it came to getting Kwon Alexander, but thew drafting of Greenlaw, and his play, made Alexander expendable, which is what happened, as the 49ers traded him to the Saints in 2020, and we all know how the Dee Ford sign/trade went, badly, plus this is the year the 49ers extended Jimmy Garoppolo on a 5-year, $137.5 million deal, which wasn’t bad, as it didn’t hurt the teams’ cap long term.

Next up is the 49ers 2018 draft class.

1^st-Round: EDGE Nick Bosa

2^nd-Round: WR Deebo Samuel

3^rd-Round: WR Jalen Hurd

4^th-Round: P Mitch Wishnowsky

5^th-Round: LB Dre Greenlaw

6^th-Round: TE Kaden Smith

6^th-Round: RT Justin Skule

6^th-Round: CB Tim Harris Jr.

This has probably been the 49ers most productive draft class as a whole, as Bosa has become a beast, with 2 great years, he did suffer a torn ACL in year 2, but he’s clearly back, Deebo, as well, had an injury in year 2, but he’s had 2 very good-great years, & he will be a 49er for a long time, Wishnowsky isn’t the best, but he surely isn’t the worst punter, & Dre Greenlaw has become a mainstay at the weakside linebacker spot, while Smith was waived due to them needing to sign a RB, hoping he’d clear, but he didn’t, getting claimed off waiver by the Giants, Skule is still with the 49ers, but not for much longer, and I really don’t know where Harris is.

2019 Offseason Verdict: Mildly Aggressive

Next, we have the 2020 offseason.

First up are the free agent signings.

OG Tom Compton – 1-year, $3 million

DE Kerry Hyder Jr. – 1-year, $1.5 million

As you can see the 49ers didn’t really participate in free agency, just signing really 2 key free agents in Compton, & Hyder, who both helped the 49ers, with Hyder now back on a similar 1-year deal, but this was the offseason where the 49ers re-signed the likes of Jimmie Ward to a 3-year deal, averaging $9.5 million, Arik Armstead to a 5-year deal, averaging $17 million a year, and extended Fred Warner to a deal worth $19.045 million a year on average, so while they weren’t aggressive as far as outside free agents like in past years, they still gave out some good money, with all 3 of these deals being very good-great re-signings, but we have to mention the trade of DeForest Buckner to the Colts, which wasn’t received well by 49ers fans, and most still hate it till this day, but understand that it was a business decision, but they did make a huge draft day trade to get former Washington left tackle Trent Williams for a 5^th in 2020, & a 3^rd in 2021.

Next up is the 49ers 2020 draft class.

1^st-Round: DT Javon Kinlaw

1^st-Round: WR Brandon Aiyuk

5^th-Round: OL Colton McKivitz

6^th-Round: TE Charlie Woerner

7^th-Round: WR Jauan Jennings

So far this draft class has been a good one for the most part, Aiyuk has had two good seasons to begin his career, McKivitz & Woerner have gotten better, still with the team, & Jauan Jennings has looked great, becoming a guy you can rely on for clutch 3^rd down catches, while Kinlaw still needs to stay healthy, & be dominant, or else the trade of Buckner for the 13^th-pick will end up being a bad one.

2020 Offseason Verdict: Conservative-Ish

Next up is the 2021 offseason.

First up are the 49ers free agent signings.

C Alex Mack – 3-year, $14.85 million

DE Samson Ebukam – 2-year, $12 million

Now, the 49ers didn’t add many players via free agency, with Mack, & Ebukam being the two big ones, if you can call them big, but, they did make their splash by re-signing Trent Williams to a 6-year deal, averaging $23.01 million a year, Kyle Juszcyzk to a 5-year deal, averaging $5.4 million a year, they brough Jason Verrett, D.J. Jones, K’Waun Williams, & Jaquiski Tartt all back for the chance to run it back, they also re-signed Emmanuel Moseley to a 2-year deal, & extended George Kittle on a 5-year deal, averaging $15 million a year, so all in all, they were aggressive in free agency, namely when it came to retaining their own.

Next is the draft, and we can’t talk the offseason without the big trade up from 12 to 3, giving up a 2022 1^st-rounder, a 2023 1^st-rounder, & a 2022 compensatory 3^rd-rounder, all to the Dolphins, to get the right to choose Trey Lance, who I believe will be a very good to great player in the NFL in due time.

1^st-Round: QB Trey Lance

2^nd-Round: LG Aaron Banks

3^rd-Round: RB Trey Sermon

3^rd-Round: CB Ambry Thomas

5^th-Round: RG Jaylon Moore

5^th-Round: CB Deommodore Lenoir

5^th-Round: SS Talanoa Hufanga

6^th-Round: RB Elijah Mitchell

Man, this draft has been good in my opinion, yes it’s been 1 year, but Mitchell became a steal of the 6^th round, maybe of the entire draft, we saw contributions from Ambry Thomas, Deommodore Lenoir, & Talanoa Hufanga, while Aaron Banks, & Jaylon Moore are my favorites to be the teams’ new LG & RG, respecitively.

2021 Offseason Verdict: Aggressive

Lastly we have the 2022 offseason, and we begin with the free agent signings.

CB Charvarius Ward – 3-year, $40.5 million, $26.62 million guaranteed

NT Hassan Ridgeway – 1-year, $1.8 million, $1 million guaranteed

SS George Odum – 3-year, $5.7 million, $3.035 million guaranteed

WR/KR/PR Ray-Ray McCloud III – 2-year, $4 million

MLB Oren Burks – 2-year, $5 million, $1.365 million guaranteed

DE Kerry Hyder Jr. – 1-year, $1.5 million, $750,000 guaranteed

DE Kemoko Turay – 1-year, $1.7 million, $1 million guaranteed

WR Malik Turner – 1-year, $1.11 million, $300,000 guaranteed

WR Marcus Johnson – 1-year, $1.035 million, $250,000 guaranteed.

As you can see the 49ers made a splash with Charvarius Ward, they added great special teams’ pieces with McCloud, Odum, & Burks, they added a good NT in Ridgeway, so I’d say they did a good job with such little cap room that they had/have.

Next, we have the teams’ draft picks.

2^nd-Round: DE Drake Jackson

3^rd-Round: RB Tyrion Davis-Price

3^rd-Round: WR Danny Gray

4^th-Round: RT Spencer Burford

5^th-Round: CB Samuel Womack

6^th-Round: LG Nick Zakelj

6^th-Round: NT Kalia Davis

6^th-Round: CB Tariq Castro-Fields

7^th-Round: QB Brock Purdy

Now, of course we really can’t grade this class, as they haven’t even hit the field yet, but I have confidence that the 49ers found Nick Bosa’s long term partner in Drake Jackson, and I love them adding so many OL, & CBs.

2022 Offseason Verdict: A bit conservative

Ok, so as you can see, yes the 49ers under John Lynch as GM, & Kyle Shanahan as HC, have become more conservative, but this is due to them having built up such a deep roster, so much that there aren’t many holes on the team, yes the safety spot, & interior OL are weak points, but this team has a chance to be there at the end.

As always, thanks for reading, leave a comment, or follow me on Twitter @49erscap.

About Author

Jason Hurley

Die Hard 49ers fan from New York, been covering the 49ers salary cap since 2005, with several different websites, including NinersNation.com, & the now defunct NinerCapHell, I have a track record of being as accurate as possible, & I try to be as thorough as possible.

See author's posts