Free agency is underway in the NFL. At 9:00 a.m. this morning teams were able to begin negotiations with free agents. While agreements may be reached, nothing will become official until the start of the new league year on Wednesday afternoon at 1:00.
The morning started off with Mitchell Trubisky and Pittsburgh agreeing to a two-year deal. This move makes sense for Pittsburgh.
According to reports, Pittsburgh has shown interest in drafting Liberty quarterback Malik Willis. By signing Trubisky, the Steelers get a veteran quarterback through free agency who can win games now while Willis develops.
This takes Pittsburgh out of the running for Jimmy Garoppolo. The focus in recent days has been Indianapolis, but don’t rule out New Orleans, Houston, or Philadelphia as potential Jimmy Garoppolo landing spots. Cleveland may also be in the mix.
According to overthecap.com, the 49ers are currently $9.595 million over the 2022 salary cap. This means San Francisco must trade Garoppolo by the start of the new league year at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday or re-work existing contracts.
11:00 – Ian Rapoport is reporting 49ers left guard Laken Tomlinson intends to sign with the New York Jets. Tomlinson receives a three-year deal worth $40 million, $27 million guaranteed and a max value of $41.2 million.
Expect Aaron Banks to slide into the spot left open by Tomlinson’s departure. The 49ers selected Banks 48th overall in the 2021 draft. He injured his shoulder in the preseason opener. Already facing a steep learning curve due to transitioning to right guard after playing at Notre Dame on the left side, the injury limited Banks to only five offensive snaps.
12:00 – The 49ers most pressing needs include the following: a deep threat wide receiver, cornerback, safety, and an edge rusher.
San Francisco is rumored to be interested in Green Bay wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
During his four seasons with the Packers, Valdes-Scantling averaged 17.5 yards per reception with 13 going for touchdowns.
In addition, the 49ers have been linked to Jakeem Grant, Ray Ray McCloud, and Kaliff Raymond. All three have tremendous speed and can also help out San Francisco’s special teams as kick returners.
12:19 – The Jacksonville Jaguars are signing Christian Kirk away from the Arizona Cardinals. According to Ian Rapoport the deal is four-years, $72 million with a max value of $84 million.
Expect a new deal for 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel to be in the $23 million to $26 million range.
1:55 – At the beginning of the day the 49ers were reported to be interested in the top free agent cornerbacks.
You can take J.C. Jackson off the list. According to Ian Rapoport, the former New England Patriot is set to sign a big money deal with the Los Angeles Chargers.
2:15 Carlton Davis is set to re-sign with Tampa Bay. Another top cornerback off the market.
Are the 49ers targeting Stephon Gilmore?
6:50 – The 49ers lose their second player of the day. D.J. Jones has agreed to terms with the Denver Broncos on a three-year, $30 million deal with $20 million fully guaranteed.
Jones had a career season in 2021. He was a stalwart along the 49ers defensive line, especially against the run, finishing sixth with 56 tackles and second in tackles for loss with 10, all career highs.
An average of $10 million per year is a massive amount for a player who played only 51 percent of the snaps (550) last season and has played a full season only once.
San Francisco will turn to 2020 first-round pick Javon Kinlaw to fill the hole created by the loss of Jones. In addition, the 49ers retained Kevin Givens and Maurice Hurst earlier this month.
If Kinlaw gets healthy and can make more plays like this, losing DJ Jones won't be so bad. #49ers pic.twitter.com/pRxwCTxdJH
— ScottWilkinson (@NonstopNiners) March 15, 2022
Kinlaw is a better pass rusher than Jones, however, he has not been nearly as strong against the run. The 49ers will need to see improvement in that area to offset the lost production.
9:00 – San Franciso finally has a deal. According to Adam Schefter the 49ers will sign former Chiefs’ cornerback Charvarius Ward to a three-year deal worth up to $42 million including $26.7 million guaranteed.
This is a name that had been linked to San Francisco over the past week.
Ward entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2018, signing with the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas traded Ward to Kansas City during training camp.
In 2019, Ward started every game for the Chiefs including their Super Bowl victory over San Francisco.
Ward is coming off one of the best seasons of his career. This past season he allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete only 51% of their passes into his coverage and a passer rating of 79.4.
This signing provides an upgrade to the 49ers secondary. The primary concern with Ward is health. He has missed seven games over the last two seasons.
Expect Aaron Banks to slide into the spot left open by Tomlinson’s departure.
I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
Really, what do you know about Banks? Nothing that’s what. He got mothballed last year
because he was a straight line blocker, who played LEFT guard. He needed to lean up for speed,
get his natural Left side spot back, and learn Kyles complex run blocking scheme. He was also injured
at the beginning of the season. Give the kid a chance before jumping to conclusions.
What we need to draft is a Right Guard / Center with a NASTY disposition!
I know in watching Banks play at Notre Dame he was stiff and couldn’t move well. Space eater but no mobility. Here’s the PFF pre-draft writeup on Banks:
“Banks broke into the starting lineup for the Irish midway through the 2018 season and was a mainstay at left guard ever since. He’s a big boy who’s going to be a guard only at the NFL level despite being Notre Dame’s emergency tackle. While he has three years of quality pass protection under his belt, he doesn’t have the foot speed or anchor to think that will continue at the NFL level. Even at his size, you rarely see him moving guys off the line of scrimmage. I struggle to call anyone capped out, but with as technically sound as Banks is already, I’m not sure where he goes from here.
Bottom Line: 7th Rounder/UDFA”
Of course, I’ll give the guy a chance if the coaches think he’s a good player. All evidence points to him not being a good player though. Banks couldn’t beat out Daniel Brunskill who was ranked out of the top 60 among Guards last year.
Why is Deep Threat WR a most pressing need?
Seriously, has anyone looked at the glaring holes/weaknesses at LG, C, RG, and perhaps RT?
Deep Treat WR as a specialist has to be the most overrated role on any team. Deebo and Aiyuk are perfectly capable of presenting an occasional deep threat, and that’s all you need with a QB who can actually throw it that far. Plus look for Jennings to come along at the slot position and in red zone situations.
I agree with the O-line issues. If Trey is the franchise’s future, the 49ers must not go into next year with Aaron Banks, Daniel Brunskil, or Tom Compton starters on the O-line.
Yes, yes… Don’t overlook the O-line
Baalke strikes again….
Christian Kirk for $18M-$24M per year is just a horrible signing for a #3, at best #2 guy. Has never had 1000 yards or come close to 100 catches in a season. And with 17 games in the season is 1000 yards even the bar for a good WR anymore?
The reset in the market makes it even more difficult to sign Deebo to a decent contract. Baalke can’t stop fleecing the 49ers.
..the O line is the most pressing need..they re planning on starting a guy, who is pretty much a rookie, at QB next season…if he ain’t protected, and ain’t comfortable because of poor protection, in the pocket, then all the hype, speculation, potential and banter is just BS…the games are won on the line of scrimmage..(as evidenced by the NFC Championship game this past season)….this offensive line minus LT, is average at best…let’s hope they don’t screw this up, and sign some 2nd or 3rd rate FA’s out of desperation, or because they wanna show the fan base that they’re actually working on improving the roster
Grant Cohn is in a big snit over Paraag M and inability of 49ers to get things done
in free agency. Jack essentially raising same question in a tweet. Does make
me wonder about this front office. Maybe it’s just the Yorks.
Grant Cohn is a moron. Not even worth talking about things he says.
The 49ers were smart to stay out of the early craziness and not overpay for their own or outside FAs. The big splash signings are entertaining but rarely work out to the level expected. It will be interesting to see the breakdown of the Ward deal.
Rarely?
Just last season Trey Hendrickson 4/$60M got 14 sacks & helped the Bengals go from one of the worst D’s in the NFL to one capable of going to the SB. Matthew Judon 4/$56M put up 12.5 sacks to help the Pats get back to the playoffs. Ngakoue 10 sacks, Clowney 9 sacks, Reddick 11 sacks. I think the only pass rusher that failed to work out was Bud Dupree. And Carl Lawson (injury).
OL Corey Linsley helped the Chargers go from the worst OL to 11th in pass block win rate. Thuney elevated the Chiefs. Trent Williams had his best yr.
Out of the 3 CBs who saw $13M/yr, 2 out of 3 (Adoree Jackson & Shaq Griffin) had years similar to their previous years. William Jackson fell off a cliff.
WR Golladay was a fail. TE Jonnu Smith was a fail.
A lot of the players you mentioned were signed to short fair value prove it deals. The problems arise when you overpay and give term to FA’s early on in the process when things are frenzied. Most of the guys you listed are also pass rushers which is a premium position so they are going to get prioritized. What I’m talking about is overpaying your own or outside FA’s because there is a lot of desperate teams early on in the process who are driving prices up. It’s far better to wait it out a couple of days until the market stabilizes and you have a number of players available for better value. No way the 49ers should have been in on paying Tomlinson 13+ million a year or Jones 10+ million a year. Those are major overpays for good not great players. I like the fact they gave a similar contract in value to what Tomlinson received to Ward instead. Premium position that was a huge need for the same amount as the Guard you let go received. That’s a better use of money imo.
I sent on twitter:
@grantcohn Your former employer, Press Democrat, still has your byline on the Inside the 49ers blog/page. Can you please get them to cease and desist? Accurate reporting is being mis-attributed to you.
hahahahaha. that gave me a good laugh.
Very good. This Paraag thing is even more stupid than usual.
I like what John Lynch and his staff are doing. Ward looks solid. Maybe add MVS and another burner to spell Mitchell. Use the draft and UDFAs to fill the rest.
Laken Tomlinson will look just as good next to Mekhi Becton as he did Trent Williams. The scheme is virtually the same.
It seems to me teams in lower cost of living states have a structural advantage to teams in high cost of living states. For example, if you look at the deal Charvarius Ward just signed he would save millions of dollars to play in Jacksonville vs San Francisco. Housing is 86% less expensive in Jacksonville. State and local taxes alone for Wards contract is $1.2M per year higher for Ward in CA. Maybe the taxes on out of town games needs to come into the calculation but the fact remains it costs a lot more to live in the Bay Area than other cities. I wonder if that comes into play for teams like the Rams and 49ers. I would certainly be willing to pay extra for the weather and lifestyle but these guys have such short careers I would think their financial advisors would feel a responsibility to direct them to situations where they can maximize their income.
The SF Giants have had some trouble getting high profile players to come here for that reason. Bryce Harper comes to mind and there was one other player, a pitcher who last minute opted for the Chicago Cubs. Trying to remember the name.
There were rumblings back in 2009ish that Kurt Warner re-signed with Arizona and resisted Jed York’s overtures (he flew him in on his private jet, took him to dinner at a high end restaurant, then flew him back) because it came down to the state income tax rate.
However, in terms of housing it’s likely any house bought in the Bay Area will appreciate beyond inflation when sold due to the shortage of housing out here, so not sure that will weigh too much in the decision.
I think a larger disparity exists when Canadian teams try to sign high profile players (Baseball/Hockey/NBA).
In the end with Harper it came down to just the $9M or so extra he would have made elsewhere than here, and even though we’re talking a 9 figure guaranteed contract, that little bit extra still matters to the person earning it. Everyone’s different, and given my line of work, if my earning potential was the same everywhere, I’d move also. Due to the pandemic, working remotely has become much more acceptable; so that might indeed happen. I would miss the weather and hiking year round, though.
That’s probably why the Jags have been a model franchise for almost 50 years and the 49ers continue to be the laughing stock of the league.
Lol all jokes aside, it is frustrating but I don’t really see it making that much of an impact. I am sure there are ways around it.
Also have to consider how property appreciation in the Bay Area.
Got to thank Jack for keeping this blog so timely and up to date.
He posted news and analysis on Ward signing soon after it was
announced while his predecessor had nothing to say until this
morning. Good going Jack. Look forward to further FA updates,
including Jimmy’s, in coming days.