Should the 49ers Still Look to Sign a Tight End?

Signing Brock Wright from the Lions failed for the 49ers, so perhaps they turn their attention to the free agency pool again.

Oct 29, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch on the | Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Swing and a miss for the San Francisco 49ers on signing tight end Brock Wright.

The Detroit Lions ended up matching the 49ers' offer to Wright thanks to him being a restricted free agent. It's a bummer considering they were one day away from the offer turning into a finalized deal. Now, the 49ers must look for an alternative with Wright no longer a reality.

General manager John Lynch cited back at the NFL combine that a second tight end to compliment George Kittle is an interest of theirs. Basically he admitted that they are not believers in their second-year players Brayden Willis and Cam Latu.

The 49ers already attempted once to reel in a free agent tight end, so should they try it again and still look to sign one?

I'm confident they have already vetted every available free agent tight end and came to a conclusion that it is a mediocre pool. No tight end is worth signing right now. None at all. That is why the 49ers took their chance with a restricted free agent in Wright and gave him a decent deal.

As it stands, the headlining free agent tight ends are Logan Thomas and... that's it. Thomas is the only player who had more than 20 catches last season with nearly 500 yards receiving. But he has been injury prone for quite some time and up there in age. Blocking is also not a great strength of his.

So, no. The 49ers will not find an alternative in free agency. They would've already signed that player instead of essentially doing an auction with the Lions for one. The draft in a few weeks is where the 49ers will and should find their tight end.

You just have to wonder if the 49ers know what they're doing when it comes to scouting them since it has failed all the time aside from Kittle.