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Why the 49ers Didn't Sign Edge Rusher Azeez Ojulari

The 49ers need an edge rusher much more desperately than the Eagles do.
Grant Cohn|
New York Giants linebacker Azeez Ojulari smiles during a win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Jan. 7, 2024.
New York Giants linebacker Azeez Ojulari smiles during a win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Jan. 7, 2024. | Kevin R. Wexler / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The Eagles just signed veteran edge rusher Azeez Ojulari to a one-year, $4 million deal. Which begs the question: Why didn't the 49ers sign him?

The 49ers need an edge rusher much more desperately than the Eagles do. The Eagles already have Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, Bryce Huff and Joshua Uche. They're loaded.

Meanwhile, the 49ers have Nick Bosa and that's about it. They're extremely thin at defensive end. That's because they recently released Leonard Floyd who started 17 games and record 8.5 sacks last season.

Obviously, the 49ers intend to draft lots of plug-and-play defensive linemen next month, but why not sign a cheap veteran as well? Especially one with as much talent as Ojulari.

Like Floyd, Ojulari went to the University of Georgia. Unlike Floyd, Ojulari had the misfortune of being drafted by the New York Giants, which is where he played from 2021 to 2024. And he still recorded 22 sacks in 46 games. Don't be surprised if his production spikes now that he's surrounded by quality players for the first time since college.

You'd think the 49ers could have called Ojulari's agent and made him a slightly better offer, which still would have been affordable. Maybe the 49ers simply weren't interested in signing a defensive lineman, no matter the price.

Or, mabye Ojulari wasn't interested in the 49ers. They're slashing their budget and taking on more than $80 million in dead cap penalties this season so they can be hopefully be Super Bowl contenders once again in 2026. As opposed to the Eagles, who just won the Super Bowl and will be contenders again next season.

Tough to attract quality players when you essentially are punting the season.

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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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