Are the 49ers Doing Enough to be Super Bowl Contenders?
Snooze fest free agency.
That’s the best way to describe the free agency period of the San Francisco 49ers.
Outside of signing Charvarius Ward, every signing the team has made is either to revamp the special teams or re-signing players. Yawn! This is the time the 49ers should be splurging on free agents. Why? Because they have Trey Lance on a rookie contract that puts them in a position to be aggressive in free agency.
Yet, the 49ers are refusing to do so and are even keeping Jimmy Garoppolo with the delusional hope of receiving adequate draft capital for him. The 49ers are essentially denying themselves an avenue to get better and spoil themselves despite having one of the best advantages with Lance’s contract.
It begs the question to ask: are the 49ers doing enough to be Super Bowl contenders?
Not at all.
Had Garoppolo been off the books during the negotiation period in free agency, the 49ers could have shown Chandler Jones more money than what the Raiders were offering.
And yes, it takes two to tango, so maybe Jones still goes with the Raiders. But we’ll never know now if they could’ve swayed his mind. One thing is for sure: Garoppolo’s contract is a detracting factor for free agents as players are going to look at the 49ers and see that they can’t afford them immediately thanks to the lack of salary cap space.
Revamping the special teams is great and all as it did factor in to the 49ers losing some games this past season. But what about the offensive line, secondary, and additional edge rushing help? The 49ers could certainly have tapped into free agency to sure up those loose ends. I guess even with the luxury of a rookie starting quarterbacks' contract, it isn’t enough to push the 49ers forward to cash in on the opportunity.
As much as I’m harping on the 49ers with missing this chance to spoil themselves, it’s really not the end all be all. The 49ers may have gotten weaker, but so did the rest of the NFC. Plenty of other contending teams didn’t make moves to improve the themselves.
Ultimately, if Lance is a solid quarterback in 2022, returning to the NFC title game is realistic. So the 49ers are still playoff contenders who are knocking on the door at being Super Bowl contenders. It just looks like that they’ll be using the draft as a means to resupply and strengthen the team.
