Have the 49ers Gotten Better or Worse in Free Agency So Far?

The 49ers clearly improved at cornerback with the addition of Charvarius Ward

Let's take stock of the 49ers through the first week of free agency.

But before we do, let's acknowledge that free agency isn't done and the 49ers almost certainly will add more players. This exercise merely is an attempt to assess what the 49ers have accomplished so far.

THE GAINS

Cornerback Charvarius Ward

Wide receiver/return specialist Ray-Ray McCloud

Linebacker/special teams specialist Oren Burks

Safety/special teams specialist George Odum

Nose tackle Hassan Ridgeway

THE LOSSES

Guard Laken Tomlinson (New York Jets)

Nose tackle D.J. Jones (Denver Broncos)

Offensive tackle Tom Compton (Denver Broncos)

Running back/special teams specialist Raheem Mostert (Miami Dolphins)

Running back/special teams specialist Trenton Cannon (Tennessee Titans)

Wide receiver/special teams specialist Trent Sherfield (Miami Dolphins)

THE GOOD

The 49ers clearly improved at cornerback with the addition of Charvarius Ward, as he was one of the top cornerbacks on the market and he's only 25-years old. Now, the 49ers have three starting-caliber outside cornerbacks in Ward, Emmanuel Moseley and Ambry Thomas, and depth is key for the 49ers, because Moseley misses lots of games.

The 49ers also made three big additions to their special teams (McCloud, Burks and Odum), and they should offset the 49ers' three big losses on special teams (Sherfield, Cannon and Mostert).

THE NOT SO GOOD

D.J. Jones is a big loss -- he was by far the 49ers' best interior run defender.

And the offensive line is worse than it was a week ago. Laken Tomlinson is gone and the 49ers haven't signed a replacement, which means they probably will sign a backup in a few weeks and have him compete with last year's second round pick Aaron Banks, who didn't play in 2021. He would be a big, big downgrade from Tomlinson. 

The 49ers also lost right tackle Tom Compton, and most likely will replace him with another downgrade (Colton McKivitz?) unless Mike McGlinchey makes a dramatic and speedy recovery from tearing his quadricep muscle off the bone. There's no guarantee he ever will play again.

You would think the 49ers would want to improve their offensive line to give Trey Lance the best chance possible to succeed. Strange.

Until the 49ers sign some starting-caliber offensive linemen, they haven't improved their team. In fact, they've gotten slightly worse, although they're still quite good.