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The 49ers Could Release Leonard Floyd this Offseason

Floyd's base salary for 2025 is $7.9 million and it's not guaranteed. I doubt the 49ers will pay him all that money to be a mediocre pass rusher and poor run defender.
Grant Cohn|
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Leonard Floyd (56) watches the video replay in the second quarter against the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images
Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Leonard Floyd (56) watches the video replay in the second quarter against the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images | David Gonzales-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Robert Saleh could shake up the 49ers' defensive personnel significantly this offseason.

Last offseason, the 49ers signed lots of journeymen veterans on defense including edge rusher Leonard Floyd, who had previously played for 49ers assistant head coach Brandon Staley. Staley was the one who pushed the 49ers to sign Floyd. Now Staley is unlikely to return to the 49ers next season because Saleh is back and Staley isn't needed anymore.

Which means Saleh could cut some of Staley's players, Floyd in particular.

Floyd probably doesn't fit what Saleh is looking for in an edge rusher opposite Nick Bosa. Floyd will be 33 next season -- he's not explosive anymore. Saleh wants someone like Dee Ford who had the quickest first step in the NFL when he was in his prime.

In addition, Floyd struggles against the run. He's not big enough to play defensive end in the 49ers' 4-3 Wide 9 scheme and was a big reason the 49ers' run defense was so poor this season. And Saleh's first job as the 49ers' defensive coordinator will be to sure up the run defense as he did immediately during his first stint as the 49ers defensive coordinator from 2017 to 2020.

Floyd's base salary for 2025 is $7.9 million and it's not guaranteed. I doubt the 49ers will pay him all that money to be a mediocre pass rusher and poor run defender. I expect they'll release him when free agency starts and replace him in the draft, possibly with their first-round pick.

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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.

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