49ers have no need to sign recently released WR Kelvin Benjamin

The Buffalo Bills elected to part ways with wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin, and the San Francisco 49ers shouldn’t be interested in the big-bodied target, neither now nor later.

On Tuesday, the Buffalo Bills decided 27-year-old wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin simply wasn’t worth their time, releasing him along with fellow wideout Andre Holmes.

News of the transaction was first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Benjamin, 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, has the traits the San Francisco 49ers are seeking at the position. On paper, anyway.

Considering his size and San Francisco’s red-zone woes this season, one would think it would be a perfect match. After all, 10 of his 20 career touchdowns have come within the red zone. And with head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense ranking next to last in red-zone touchdown efficiency (44.7 percent), it’s not impossible to draw the connection between a possible Benjamin-to-Niners scenario.

That doesn’t mean San Francisco should be interested, though.

Benjamin entered the league as a late first-round pick of the Carolina Panthers in the 2014 NFL Draft. His rookie season was awesome, culminating in 1,008 receiving yards and nine touchdowns, suggesting the Panthers found their big-bodied mismatch to wreak havoc on opponents’ secondaries for seasons.

A torn ACL kept him out of 2015. And while 2016 looked promising enough, he showed up to training camp the following year overweight and was limited to a mere 692 yards that season.

The Panthers elected to trade Benjamin to the Bills at the 2017 NFL trade deadline.

And when the Bills played the Panthers this year, there was the now-infamous “brush off” Benjamin gave to his former teammate, Carolina quarterback Cam Newton.

After 354 yards and a touchdown off 23 catches over 10 games, Buffalo had enough too.

There are a number of reasons the Niners should have zero interest. For starters, general manager John Lynch has indicated repeatedly about the kind of players he wants in the locker room. While the talent level in San Francisco is pretty bad, bringing in a player like Benjamin, whose lack of work ethic is already established, would be problematic.

On top of that, Shanahan prefers speed over size. It’s why the 49ers brought aboard former Bills wideout Marquise Goodwin in 2017.

Benjamin doesn’t have that speed, nor is he capable of separating from defensive backs with excellent route-running skills.

Plus, there’s the proverbial “elephant in the room.” The Panthers elected to part ways with their first-round draft pick not four full seasons into his rookie deal. Benjamin lasted the equivalent of a full 16-game season in Buffalo.

When looking at players, one has to consider the reasons why their prior teams elected not to retain them just as much as any skill sets they offer. Imagining Benjamin being toxic in Carolina isn’t hard to do. And it looks as if the Bills weren’t overly appreciative of his efforts either.

At this point, where the Niners are in their own rebuild, adding Benjamin would merely be a headache not worth taking.