Former GM Trent Baalke’s whiffs in free agency helped kill the 49ers in 2015, 2016 too
By Peter Panacy
Former San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke made a plethora of mistakes in the NFL Draft. But his whiffs in free agency doomed the team between 2015 and 2016 as well.
One of the main reasons why the San Francisco 49ers were able to sign quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a lucrative five-year deal, while still having the third-most salary cap space in the NFL this season, is because former general manager Trent Baalke refused to dive deep into free agency.
Oh, and the Niners always roll their cap space over from year to year. Thank you, CEO Jed York.
It’s easy to remember how poor Baalke was at identifying talent in the NFL Draft. Aside from his 2010 and 2011 draft classes, Baalke mostly missed and wound up landing only a handful of players still on San Francisco’s roster today.
But what’s often overlooked is how poorly he managed free agency during the troublesome years of 2015 and 2016.
San Francisco 49ers
At Least Trent Baalke Tried in 2015
Yeah, 2015 was bad.
That was the year in which, seemingly, over half the team left via retirement or free agency. Former head coach Jim Harbaugh too. It marked the end of an era.
The 49ers finished that year with just over $13 million in cap space, per Spotrac.com. It wasn’t as if Baalke and the Niners weren’t spending money. Rather it was the specific pickups Baalke made to address the flurry of losses that hurt.
Here was his list of offseason free-agent pickups for 2015, courtesy of Niners Nation:
"OL Ben Gottschalk signs 2-year dealOL Justin Renfrow signs 2-year dealLB Phillip Wheeler signs 1-year dealLB Nick Bellore signs 2-year dealRB Reggie Bush signs 1-year dealOL Erik Pears signs 2-year dealCB Shareece Wright signs 1-year dealWR Torrey Smith signs 5-year dealWR Jerome Simpson signs 2-year dealDT Darnell Dockett signs 2-year dealRB/Returner Jarryd Hayne signs 3-year deal"
Reggie Bush managed just eight carries over five games before landing on season-ending injured reserve. And once-star defensive tackle Darnell Dockett didn’t even make it out of training camp. Cornerback Shareece Wright never even saw the field before being released Oct. 13 that year.
The Jarryd Hayne deal proved to be all hype, little results.
San Francisco’s two big-ticket items, of course, were wide receivers Torrey Smith and Jerome Simpson.
Simpson had some moments, but Smith was the high-priced commodity, signing a five-year, $40 million deal. And yet he wasn’t the fit the Niners needed. Two measly years, amid poor offensive systems, and it’s understandable why the current 49ers regime wanted to move on:
| Game | Game | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Age | Tm | Pos | No. | G | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Y/R | TD | Lng | R/G | Y/G | Ctch% |
| 2015 | 26 | SFO | WR | 82 | 16 | 12 | 62 | 33 | 663 | 20.1 | 4 | 76 | 2.1 | 41.4 | 53.2% |
| 2016 | 27 | SFO | WR | 82 | 12 | 12 | 49 | 20 | 267 | 13.4 | 3 | 53 | 1.7 | 22.3 | 40.8% |
| Care | Care | 108 | 100 | 612 | 302 | 4951 | 16.4 | 39 | 76 | 2.8 | 45.8 | ||||
| 4 yr | 4 yr | BAL | 64 | 62 | 434 | 213 | 3591 | 16.9 | 30 | 74 | 3.3 | 56.1 | |||
| 2 yr | 2 yr | SFO | 28 | 24 | 111 | 53 | 930 | 17.5 | 7 | 76 | 1.9 | 33.2 | |||
| 1 yr | 1 yr | PHI | 16 | 14 | 67 | 36 | 430 | 11.9 | 2 | 59 | 2.3 | 26.9 |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/16/2018.
“The one thing that I’m convinced of is you can’t buy championships. You earn championships and there’s a process to it,” Baalke said, via 247sports.com following a 5-11 campaign in 2015. “You build through the draft. You supplement your roster with free agency. You take care of your own guys because that creates ownership on their part.”
Still, Baalke had some major misses at a time when the 49ers needed a massive influx of NFL-ready talent.
And 2016 was even worse.
Trent Baalke Didn’t Even Try in 2016
The Niners entered 2016 with nearly $50 million in cap space, per NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco. For a team an its fanbase coming off the worst season since 2007, one would have thought Baalke would have taken a very proactive and aggressive approach.
His big-ticket item that year? None other than offensive guard Zane Beadles.
Unless you count quarterback Thad Lewis on that list.
“As you know we’ve never been huge believers in the opening market of free agency,” Baalke told NinerFans.com’s Ryan Sakamoto. “Because let’s face it, no matter who you take on the open market you’re overpaying them.”
The 49ers finished 2016 with $42.6 million in cap space and a 2-14 record. Baalke was subsequently fired, as was one-and-done head coach Chip Kelly.
More from Niner Noise
- Predicting 49ers NFL Draft picks by looking at final mocks
- DraftKings NFL Draft Promo – Win $150 Guaranteed on Any $5 Bet
- 2023 NFL Draft: EDGE Byron Young could be impact player for 49ers
- 5 low-key NFL Draft options for 49ers who are flying under the radar
- Updated 49ers salary cap space ahead of 2023 NFL Draft
You see, the draft-develop-reward method only works if you’re developing a solid core through the NFL Draft. If that’s not happening, free agency can wind up being a useful tool.
Especially if the cap space is available, as it was in 2016.
But Baalke failed at both, and those failures in each category ultimately led to the 49ers’ demise from a Super Bowl run in 2012-13 to laughingstock four years later.
However, you can take the optimist’s viewpoint here. The unused cap space and subsequent rollovers led to current general manager John Lynch being aggressive on the market only weeks into his tenure in 2017. Now, with Garoppolo signed for the long run and over $74.5 million still available, Lynch has the ability to act aggressively this offseason.
Next: Rethinking 49ers' list of top 5 free-agent targets in 2018
So, thank you, Mr. Baalke… I guess.