Any chance the 49ers had of landing wide receiver AJ Green in free agency was dashed by an ESPN report Sunday that the Bengals planned on using the franchise tag on Green.
Rather than let Green explore the free agent market, Cincinnati will pay him $18.4 million for one season if they’re unable to work out a long-term deal.
The 49ers’ odds of scooping up Green were always slim given their financial constraints and the competition for his services. The only way San Francisco was going to sign him was if the market for him never developed and the 49ers were able to get him on a relatively cheap one-year deal.
They could conceivably still acquire him in the same kind of tag-and-trade scenario they used to get defensive end Dee Ford last offseason after he’d been tagged by the Chiefs. Some financial issues crop up there as well since trading for him would likely mean parting with a high 2021 draft pick, then paying him big money over a multi-year contract. That’s probably not something the 49ers will be able to do while inking DeForest Buckner and George Kittle to long-term deals.
While the 49ers do need to address some flaws in their receiving corps, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to do so in free agency. Even free agent Emmanuel Sanders could easily get priced out of the 49ers’ budget. Getting a player like Green was always a long-shot, dream scenario. Now it’s something less than that.