All 49ers

Commanders Signing Former 49ers DT Javon Kinlaw for 3 Years, $45 Mil

This is a shocking amount for a player who was considered a bust on the 49ers just a year ago.
Grant Cohn|
Oct 31, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw (54) reacts during the first half of their game against the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images
Oct 31, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw (54) reacts during the first half of their game against the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images | Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

This is surprising.

The Washington Commanders are signing former 49ers defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw to a three-year, $45 million deal according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Commanders general manager Adam Peters was the 49ers assistant general manager when they drafted Kinlaw, so they know each other.

Still, $15 million per season is a shocking amount for a player who was considered a bust on the 49ers just a year ago.

The 49ers originally took Kinlaw with the 14th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. They took him with the pick they received for trading DeForest Buckner, and they drafted Kinlaw to replace him. Even gave him Buckner's number 99.

And Kinlaw never lived up to the expectations the 49ers placed on him, mostly because he was injured. Kinlaw's knee was flagged as an issue at the NFL Scouting Combine before the 49ers even drafted him. And for the first three seasons of his career, he couldn't stay healthy.

But in 2023, Kinlaw played all 17 games for the 49ers. Then in 2024, he played all 17 games for the New York Jets. So he hasn't missed a game since 2022. And now he and his family are set for life financially. What a great ending to a rocky story.

The 49ers are now in the market for a defensive tackle because they still haven't found a replacement for Kinlaw. Expect them to draft one with their first-round pick.

Read more

Subscribe to Grant Cohn's YouTube Channel

Download and follow The Cohn Zohn Podcast

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

Share on XFollow grantcohn
Home/News