The 49ers haven’t had a slow offseason, but they’ve not been been exceptionally active either. They’ve steadily retained their free agents, and made one splash trade that sent defensive lineman DeForest Buckner to the Colts in exchange for the No. 13 overall pick.
San Francisco’s even approach to their offseason coming off a Super Bowl loss earned them a B in the Touchdown Wire free agency grades given out by Mark Schofield and Doug Farrar. Via Touchdown Wire:
Not that the 49ers needed a lot of roster help in this free-agency period– John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan have put together one of the more stacked lineups in the NFL. Re-signing safety Jimmie Ward to a three-year, $28.5 million contract extension is a decent move if Ward can stay healthy. The 49ers will likely lose receiver Emmanuel Sanders in free agency, which amplifies one of San Francisco’s few positional shortfalls, but after trading DeForest Buckner to the Colts for the 13th overall pick, the brain trust can avail itself of one of the best wideouts in a draft class chock-full of talent if it chooses to do so.
The 49ers went into the offseason with three key players hitting unrestricted free agency: Arik Armstead, Jimmie Ward and Emmanuel Sanders. They signed the first two to long-term deals, and likely won’t be able to retain Sanders.
Another important aspect of the 49ers’ offseason has been their ability to retain some unheralded depth pieces. Defensive end Ronald Blair has been a productive rotational defensive end all four years he’s been in the league. He signed a one-year deal. So did reserve offensive lineman Ben Garland who can fill in at all three interior spots. Offensive tackle Shon Coleman will return on a one-year deal as well after missing all of last season with a dislocated ankle and fractured fibula. He was in line for the swing tackle job before his injury.
These aren’t splashy moves, but they’re the key deals that fill out a Super Bowl quality roster. Depth played an essential role in the 49ers’ playoff run last year, and they’ve taken the steps to ensure they continue with that depth while adding a mid-first round pick.
A ‘B’ grade makes sense considering the big-ticket moves other teams have made to put themselves into the contender conversation or take themselves out of the “worst team in the league” conversation.
If the 49ers can replace Sanders with a top receiver in the draft, and add another couple of depth pieces in free agency, it’s hard to imagine they’ll exit the offseason with anything less than an ‘A’ grade.