The 49ers Won't Pick up Javon Kinlaw's 5th Year Option
It's official.
The 49ers won't pick up Javon Kinlaw's fifth-year option, but they will be picking up Brandon Aiyuk's.
“I talked to both of them. Brandon, we’re going to exercise that fifth-year option. We won’t with Javon. I talked to Javon, still looking for great things from Javon. Javon is having an outstanding offseason. He’s in a great place. He’s excited about what’s to come, as are we for him.” said John Lynch.
At his pre-draft press conference, Lynch had said that he wanted to wait to get through the draft before making a decision on the options of Aiyuk and Kinlaw. That was always bogus as Lynch has announced the 49ers' decisions on fifth-year options before the draft previously. The difference is that Aiyuk was being considered for a trade for a first-round pick, and once that didn't come to fruition, they ended up picking up his option after Day 1 of the draft.
Kinlaw was always going to be an absolute no on his option. There was absolutely no way the 49ers were picking it up even if someone tried to force them. Game play aside, which obviously has plenty to nitpick, Kinlaw can never stay healthy. He is never there for enough games and the 49ers cannot commit a large sum of money for another year of that. It is bad business to do so.
Maybe the 49ers sign Kinlaw to a new deal should he finally last for a season and look solid, but the trends so far would say that is highly unlikely. Had Kinlaw been healthy for most of his tenure so far and been good, then Javon Hargrave never gets signed. Hargrave only got signed because Kinlaw cannot hold it down at the interior with Arik Armstead.
2023 is a make-it-or-break-it year for Kinlaw with not just the 49ers, but for his NFL career.
