2020 NFL free agency: 3 low-profile players 49ers need to bring back

The San Francisco 49ers have some big-name players hitting the NFL free agency market in 2020, but there are a number of low-profile ones the Niners must retain.

2020 proved a lot of things to the San Francisco 49ers, and one of those was just how important the team’s depth was over the course of the season and up to the Super Bowl.

Unlike previous years, the Niners didn’t suffer the same catastrophic fall from grace after dealing yet again with a rash of serious injuries. Instead, that depth helped San Francisco absorb some key injury setbacks over the course of the year, which was a big reason why head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad finished 13-3 and secured the top seed in the NFC.

But teams ultimately change on a year-to-year basis, and 2020 figures to be one of the more difficult offseasons for Shanahan and general manager John Lynch. For the first time since taking the front office over in 2017, this tandem isn’t in a position where the two can merely make a swarm of upgrades with seemingly limitless amounts of cap space and early picks in the NFL Draft.

Instead, the 49ers are currently armed with just over $13 million in available cap space and have just one selection, No. 31 overall, in the first four rounds of the 2020 draft.

Needless to say, the team’s big-name pending free agents commanded most of the attention. Defensive end Arik Armstead, safety Jimmie Ward and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders were and are players to watch in this category, of course.

Yet there are plenty of less-heralded pending free agents who were also vital to San Francisco’s Super Bowl run.

Here are three such players whom the Niners would be wise to retain this offseason.