The new NFL offseason for the 49ers has the potential to go much differently than last year’s.
“We will have a little more flexibility this year and we’re excited about that,” president of football operations and general manager John Lynch told reporters Wednesday.
It’s not that the San Francisco front office was inactive last year at this juncture; the 49ers committed to making Brock Purdy their franchise quarterback with a lofty extension. It was the final big piece of locking down their core players.
But there were departures elsewhere on the roster last year, headlined by linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga leaving to join the Denver Broncos. There were no splashy signings in free agency. After multiple years of extension agreements, trades and other free agent signings, the 49ers kept relatively quiet ahead of the 2025 NFL season.
“Last year was a huge challenge. Salary cap-wise and what we’ve gone for, for numbers of years; you can’t do that every year,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan explained to reporters Wednesday. “That’s the way it’s set up. And we had done that too many years in a row, so we had to make a decision to cut on money last year.”
“That wasn’t us being cheap or anything. We actually spend more, almost as much, or more than everybody. That’s what you have to do in the cycle of how it’s all based.”
Going into the season, it was clear that the roster was not as strong as in years past. The lesser depth became glaring when star defensive players Nick Bosa and Fred Warner were lost for the season due to injuries.
“That was the hardest thing to overcome — is how many good players we had to let go out of this building that went and helped a lot of other teams,” Shanahan noted. “That’s why when we did have significant injuries to some very good players, yeah it was more daunting than it was in year’s past because some of the guys we would’ve hung on, when you lose a guy like Fred or you lose a guy like Nick, those guys we lost because of free agency and stuff that we had to do because of the previous year.”
Lynch echoed his coach’s view on notable players leaving San Francisco in free agency. It’s never easy to watch good players leave, but it’s a function of making good deals in the past.
“I think that spoke to how good our roster was, and people want what we’ve kind of created and we’ve built,” Lynch said. “What our players have built, what Kyle has built. And that’s tough to watch that…”
“… those are some kinds, the ebb and flows of this thing that you have to [have], and like Kyle said, we’ve been pedal to the metal for a while. There always is reckoning.”
It wasn’t going to be an easy season for the 49ers, even at full strength. Nevertheless, they finished the regular season with a 12-5 record and a playoff berth.
“If you would’ve told me that we lost those guys before the season with what we were going into, I wouldn’t have expected us to have the record and stuff that we did…” Shanahan said. “… We know some seasons are going to be harder than others, which we thought this would be. And I am proud, to a degree, of what we accomplished.”
The injuries naturally created a next-man-up mentality and gave young players plenty of opportunity to gain experience. Lynch is particularly hopeful for the growth of the rookie class.
“We really are excited about the impact that that class is going to have moving forward,” Lynch said. “A lot of guys, because of the injuries, had opportunities to play. Then we get guys back, we’ve got to keep them back.”
Despite playoff elimination, relative success provides a good sense of hope for Lynch and Shanahan. The young players who were thrown into the fray could provide a better basis of depth for years to come.
A successful season on the field building up young players, the return of injured stars and financial flexibility in the offseason is a good recipe for success – one that Lynch and Shanahan have every right to be excited about.
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