49ers mailbag: Is Tom Brady a real possibility?

There is no offseason in the NFL, especially with the 49ers. Whether it’s questions about if an all-time great should be brought in, how the team will re-sign top free agents, or deal with players returning from injury there’s always something to talk about.

In this week’s mailbag, there were questions about each of these. Let’s start opening the mail.

@KurtWalker21 – Is Tom Brady to the 49ers a real possibility or is this just a clickbait rumor?

Tom Brady coming out of retirement to join the 49ers, or any other team is pure speculation at this point. It’s highly unlikely that Brady ends up in San Francisco, but as the quarterback said recently, “never say never.”

There are several questions to answer before this could become a reality.

For starters, why would Tampa Bay be willing to send Brady to San Francisco? The 49ers and Buccaneers both play in the NFC. San Francisco has shown they can play with anyone when their starting quarterback is healthy, and Brady is a clear upgrade over Jimmy Garoppolo. Potentially blocking their path to the Super Bowl would seem to make this a nonstarter for Tampa Bay.

How does Brady fit into the 49ers salary cap picture? Should they pull off a trade for Brady, he would take up only $10.395 million in cap space. That’s only if he is willing to play under the contract he negotiated with Tampa Bay. With Deebo Samuel and Nick Bosa looking to sign lucrative extensions and needing to fill out a competitive roster, giving Brady a new contract isn’t likely to happen.

How would Brady impact Trey Lance? San Francisco used three first round picks and a third rounder to make Lance their quarterback. On the positive side, the addition of Brady could help with Lance’s development. The negative is the 49ers have Lance under a cost-controlled contract for only a short period of time. That becomes even shorter if Brady is added to the roster.

@NyleneTheo – Who will the 49ers re-sign?

San Francisco has five players who are designated as exclusive rights free agents (EFRA) including, Jauan Jennings, Kevin Givens, Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, JaMycal Hasty and Colton McKivitz. Expect each to be tendered contracts by the 49ers to remain with the team.

Same goes for Azeez Al-Shaair, Daniel Brunskill, Kentavius Street and Jake Brendel who make up San Francisco’s four restricted free agents.

The prediction for unrestricted free agent signings includes Trent Sherfield, Jordan Willis, Jake Brendel, Tom Compton, and Dontae Johnson.

I believe the 2021 draft class was geared towards 2022 and beyond. This will lead to several of the higher valued free agents signing elsewhere.

@PDXFaithful – Who is the bigger priority to re-sign; Laken Tomlinson or D.J. Jones?

That would be Laken Tomlinson. Tomlinson on the other hand has played nearly every offensive snap over the last three seasons. That type of consistency is important.

D.J. Jones has been a terrific player along the 49ers defensive line, but he played only 51% of the snaps in 2021. Throw in the job Kris Kocurek has done developing defensive linemen and the team may look at this as a situation in which they can plug a cheaper player in.

In the end, I don’t think either player is back with San Francisco in 2022. Both are likely to find suitors who are willing to go above what the 49ers are willing to offer.

@Giants_Niners – Agree or Disagree? The 49ers should trade Javon Kinlaw because they have other defensive linemen that play as well and make less money.

Disagree.

The frustration regarding Javon Kinlaw expressed by 49ers fans is understandable. San Francisco traded away an All-Pro defensive tackle in DeForest Buckner and the player they tried to replace him with has come nowhere close to fulfilling expectations.

There were concerns regarding Kinlaw’s right knee dating back to the 2020 NFL scouting combine. Those concerns have manifested into two injury plagued seasons to start his 49ers career.  

Kinlaw underwent successful surgery on the knee this past season. The team is hopeful the ACL reconstruction will allow Kinlaw to return to the lineup this season and finally be healthy.

With his injury history, it’s unlikely the 49ers could receive anything of value for Kinlaw and there is no financial benefit now as a pre-June 1 trade would create more dead cap space than his contract calls for.

Should Kinlaw look good enough for someone to inquire about a trade after June 1, the 49ers could save roughly $2 million in cap space.

Expect Kinlaw and his $4.22 million cap hit to be a part of the 49ers plans for 2022, especially if D.J. Jones ends up elsewhere.

@SwanSongNC – What are the 49ers choices if Mike McGlinchey is behind schedule on returning from his torn quadriceps?

San Francisco is coming off a season during which they went 9-3 with Tom Compton filling in for McGlinchey at right tackle. While McGlinchey is a better player than Compton, Kyle Shanahan has shown the ability to scheme around weaknesses along the offensive line.

The 49ers are likely to re-sign Compton this offseason and they’d have a host of other candidates to choose from including Jaylon Moore, Justin Skule, and Colton McKivitz. Moore is among the 2021 draft picks that appears to be a move for the future along with fellow offensive lineman Aaron Banks.

Should the 49ers look outside the organization look for a lower cost alternative such as Morgan Moses or Riley Reiff.