While NFL free agency is a long way away, Niner Noise takes a look at five players the San Francisco 49ers should target to help boost the team in 2018.
There’s a lot that could happen between now and the start of NFL free agency in 2018, but we have a pretty good idea what the San Francisco 49ers’ needs will be five weeks into this season.
The winless Niners have shortages on both sides of the ball, and no amount of effort from first-year general manager John Lynch could have turned around a 2-14 franchise in 2016 to a possible playoff contender in one offseason.
But there’s good news for San Francisco. According to Over the Cap, the Niners have an NFL-leading $63,075,288 in available cap space this season. Expiring contracts in 2018 project Lynch to have an additional $49,043,544 available next year.
The Niners roll over their cap space every year, so the combined amount would be somewhere near $112 million against a projected $178 million cap.
That’s a lot of money.
Unlike his predecessor, Trent Baalke, Lynch has shown his willingness to use free agency as a tool to beef up various parts of the roster.
And he’ll have some potential free agents worth looking at this upcoming offseason.
Here are five of them he should consider.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers have some serious issues at cornerback this season.
No. 1 cornerback Rashard Robinson has been a disappointment his second year at the pro level, ranking 96th among all corners, per Pro Football Focus. Meanwhile, fellow starting cornerback Dontae Johnson isn’t much further behind, ranked No. 99 overall.
And with rookie corner Ahkello Witherspoon active in just one of the Niners’ five games this season, it’s unclear what the future might hold for San Francisco’s third-round NFL Draft pickup from 2017.
Pending free-agent, Los Angeles Rams corner Trumaine Johnson, might be the more sought-after player on the open market. But a franchise tag in 2017 could easily point to him cashing in on a massive deal.
In reality, though, New England Patriots corner Malcolm Butler might be the more reasonable option.
The Patriots are pressed up a bit higher towards the salary cap, meaning Butler could easily be a commodity not re-signed by New England this offseason.
And with a PFF grade of 77.1 this season, the 27-year-old Butler would certainly be an upgrade over what the 49ers have already.
Let’s figure he’d be in the market for roughly $6 million a season. Reasonable.
Another one of the areas in which San Francisco needs help is along the interior of the offensive line.
Second-year guard Joshua Garnett (knee) is on injured reserve for the season. His replacement, Brandon Fusco, hasn’t held his own in pass protection this season, responsible for a whopping 10 quarterback pressures through Week 5.
Recently acquired guard Laken Tomlinson, a former first-round pick, could develop into something worthwhile, but it’s pretty clear the Niners will want to invest in their O-line this offseason.
A relatively easy option would be to target a player like Tampa Bay Buccaneers guard Evan Smith.
Smith, 31 years old, isn’t exactly a long-term option. But he’d help alleviate the need for O-line upgrades until other options presented themselves. The fact he doubles as a center would provide much-needed insurance for an oft-injured Daniel Kilgore, also a pending free agent, should the Niners elect to re-sign him.
Smith also has a Pro Football Focus grade of 72.3 — comparable to Fusco’s 73.2 mark but more equally distributed in both run support and pass protection, unlike Fusco.
Something in the range of $4.5 million per year might sound right.
One would probably expect the Detroit Lions to apply the franchise tag on 28-year-old edge rusher Ezekiel Ansah if they can’t reach a long-term deal between now and NFL free agency.
For now, though, he remains a pending free agent still in the prime of his career.
Ansah’s 36 career sacks are enough to get any defensive coordinator salivating, which is why the pass-rush-struggling 49ers should have a vested interest. Despite a deep crop of pass-rushers in the 2017 NFL Draft, general manager John Lynch didn’t take this route to solve the team’s pass rushing needs.
With 49ers EDGE Aaron Lynch hitting free agency this season, Elvis Dumervil (33 years old) aging and Arik Armstead adjusting to a position switch, pouncing on Ansah would immediately upgrade this all-too-important unit.
Ansah isn’t going to come cheap, though. Considering his base salary is already above $12 million this season, Ansah’s 2018 base salary could be somewhere in the range of $18 million per year.
But elite pass-rushers are like franchise-type quarterbacks — hard to find and extremely valuable.
The 49ers could afford it.
The Tennessee Titans brought in 30-year-old veteran wide receiver Eric Decker this year after he was released by the New York Jets, who were clearing house.
Decker was thought to be a substantial upgrade to an initially less-than-talented Titans wide receiver corps — an added weapon for budding quarterback Marcus Mariota. The thing is, through five weeks, Decker hasn’t exactly been a major factor in Tennessee’s offense. He has just 16 receptions for 138 yards.
It doesn’t seem likely the Titans will retain him after this season, which makes him a likable target for the 49ers.
Usually, one might not think another veteran, paired with No. 1 wideout Pierre Garçon, would be the right kind of addition. But Decker offers something the vast majority of Niners receivers don’t — size.
In fact, San Francisco’s wideouts, entering 2017, were the NFL’s shortest by average.
With the likelihood the Niners draft a rookie quarterback in 2018, adding a veteran presence along with Garçon should give any first-year signal-caller a bit more comfort operating under center.
If the numbers for Decker stay low, a reasonable one-year, $3 million deal wouldn’t be too hard to swallow.
This is for purely sentimental reasons. But there are others as well.
And if you’re wondering why the 49ers would want to bring back the franchise’s all-time leading rusher, Frank Gore, the bigger question would be, “why not?”.
Gore, who will be 35 years old next season, has defied Father Time long enough. And while his numbers since leaving San Francisco in 2015 have certainly declined, there is enough reasonable evidence to support the idea he’d have something to offer the Niners offense on a limited basis in 2018.
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A featured tailback? No. That’s out of the question. But he remains one of the best pass-blocking running backs in the NFL, which lends some value. Especially with a questionable 49ers offensive line.
And just think, would you rather have a No. 3 tailback like Raheem Mostert on the roster? Or would it be worth signing Gore to a one-year deal to bring him back where it all started?
Let’s go with the latter, especially if he can be part of the team’s road back to playoff contention.
Next: 49ers' uber-hypothetical 2018 free agency
We just miss you, Frank.