The 2024 season didn’t go well for the San Francisco 49ers, but it did give the club a clear picture of how it needs to adjust its roster moving into the 2025 season to re-open its Super Bowl window.
One of the issues they’ll need to address in the offseason is their pass rush. They may be able to take a massive swing at that position with a pair of the NFL’s best pass rushers both expressing some discontent with their situations as the 2024 campaign draws to a close.
First, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett was open about his desire to win and avoid the rebuild the Browns appear to be in line to undergo. He didn’t outright ask to be moved, but he did make it clear he’d prioritize winning.
“I want to stay loyal to a team that showed loyalty to me and faith in me by drafting me,” said Garrett. “But we have to do, at the end of the day, what’s best for us. So, if we have that alignment where this is something that is still possible in the near future — winning, going deep in the playoffs, putting a great defense out there … I think that would really keep my mind at rest and keep me settled.”
Garrett, a three-time All-Pro and the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year, has 12.0 sacks this season and has at least 10.0 in seven consecutive seasons.
He wasn’t the only star pass rusher to make noise about his situation though.
Maxx Crosby on The Rush podcast was less blatant about his potential exit, but he did commiserate with Garrett.
“It’s new coaches every other year, and this and this and that, and new teammates” Crosby said. “There’s been plenty of times where I’m like (expletive) this D-line is cold. And then I come back and every single one of them is gone, and it’s like what the (expletive). There’s a lot of things, and so it’s tough, bro. I feel for Myles because he’s in that same boat.”
Crosby also said he intends to have conversations with the Raiders in the offseason now that he has no guaranteed money left on his contract. He sounded further from the exit than Garrett, but it was clear there needs to be some changes with Las Vegas.
If the conversations between those two star edge rushers and their respective teams don’t go well, the 49ers should be first in line to offer up picks to acquire one of them. Their pass rush is too important to their defense to be as ineffective as it has been the last couple of years. Investing heavily at DE would be one quick fix to cure a lot of what ailed them in a dreary 2024 campaign.
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