Will 49ers rigorously scout XFL over the course of 2020?

The San Francisco 49ers took a close look at the now-defunct AAF in 2019, leading to the idea they’ll closely monitor the action in the up-and-coming XFL in 2020.

The San Francisco 49ers benefited from the quick rise and fall of the Alliance of American Football, which lived a short life from its founding in March of 2018 until it’s collapse in April of 2019 after financial problems.

San Francisco ended up netting two key players from the now-defunct league, defensive lineman Damontre Moore and offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill once the league folded. While Moore bounced off and then back on the Niners roster, Brunskill would eventually be an integral piece along the team’s run up to Super Bowl LIV.

Brunskill, originally a 2017 undrafted free-agent signing of the Atlanta Falcons, ended up seeing action in 14 regular-season games for the 49ers, starting seven of them following injuries to the Niners’ two starting tackles, Joe Staley and Mike McGlinchey.

Pro Football Focus eventually awarded Brunskill with a respectable 73.0 overall grade for his efforts in 2019.

Now, the XFL is attempting to pick up where the AAF left off. There has long since been an argument the NFL could use a minor league, of sorts, for players who would otherwise find themselves on the fringes of an NFL roster. For the most part, this is how many of the XFL rosters are built. Former Niners offensive tackle Willie Beavers, who spent 2019 training camp in Santa Clara before being waived in August, signed with the Dallas Renegades.

The base pay for XFL players is $2,080 every two weeks, according to Yahoo! Sports. They can earn in-game bonuses for each week of the 10-game regular-season schedule, and quarterbacks can earn substantially more.

Nevertheless, the sheer contractual differences between the XFL and NFL mean players would have zero problems signing with the upper-echelon league.

Especially considering the XFL takes place during the NFL’s offseason.

The XFL will block NFL teams’ attempts to sign players until April, which plays right into the hands of the latter league’s schedule. The 2020 NFL Draft ends on April 25, and all 32 teams will round out their 90-man offseason rosters in the days following the draft’s conclusion.

With training camps kicking off in July, the gap in time should afford teams like the 49ers to effectively scout the XFL for some unheralded talent. The kind of contracts XFL players would sign with NFL teams would be beneficial, too. Case in point, Brunskill inked a one-year, $495,000 deal following the collapse of the AAF. He’ll be an exclusive-rights free agent this offseason, meaning he can only negotiate with San Francisco.

Not a bad cap hit for a player who contributed exceptionally well during the regular season and could be a vital piece for the Niners moving forward.

As a developmental league for fringe NFL talent, the XFL provides an additional proving ground and some practical, on-tape evaluation of players who could end up being a good fit. The 49ers took full advantage of this amid the abbreviated AAF days, and one would be shocked if they took an alternate approach during the XFL’s 2020 campaign.

If San Francisco lands another key player like Brunskill, this time from the XFL, it’ll have to be constituted as a major win.