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Why the 49ers Were Wise to Avoid These 5 Free Agents

By Akash Anavarathan

Feb 9, 2017; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and chief executive officer Jed York during a press conference at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 9, 2017; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and chief executive officer Jed York during a press conference at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 9, 2017; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and chief executive officer Jed York during a press conference at Levi’s Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 9, 2017; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and chief executive officer Jed York during a press conference at Levi’s Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

In the NFL, there are teams that go out and overpay for certain free agents every year. As anticipated, these players typically never live up to the hype of their contracts. The San Francisco 49ers were wise to steer clear of these five free agents.

The 49ers came into NFL Free Agency with over $100 million in cap space to spend on free agents.

Nine days after the new league year began, the 49ers lead the league in cap space, with $73.9 million, even after signing 13 free agents.

Many people, including NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal, claimed that “agents smelled blood in the water with new general manager John Lynch and knocked him around at the negotiating table.”

But in actuality, Lynch and the 49ers did a fantastic job of avoiding free agents that will hurt the long term future of the team.

If you breakdown all the contracts that the 49ers dished out last week, most are front-loaded and incentive based. The 49ers also hold team options on a lot of the players in the latter years of their contracts.

After taking a look at the contracts that some players received around the league, Lynch and Co., were wise to avoid these five free agents.