SF 49ers free agency: Jets could easily purge Kyle Juszczyk

In many ways, the NY Jets are in a similar situation in 2021 as the SF 49ers were back in 2017.

Both teams were coming off two-win seasons and fired their former head coaches, Adam Gase and Chip Kelly, respectively. Both Gang Green and the Niners brought in hot names on the head-coaching market, former San Francisco defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and former Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, respectively.

Back in 2017, the SF 49ers were hyper-aggressive in NFL free agency in a swarm of moves that turned over roughly 70 percent of the team’s roster from the prior season.

One of those moves was to ink fullback Kyle Juszczyk to a four-year, $21 million deal.

It was quite the contract outlier. But the Niners, who had more cap space then than they knew hat to do with, could afford it. Entering 2021 with just under $11 million in cap space, however, affording Juszczyk again is going to be awfully tricky.

Meanwhile, the Jets are sitting happy under Saleh and his new offensive coordinator, Mike LaFleur, who served as San Francisco’s pass-game coordinator the last four years. New York has a whopping $63.4 million in available cap space, per Over the Cap, which ranks third only behind the Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts. Simply put, the Jets can easily outbid the SF 49ers if Saleh and LaFleur look at Juszczyk as an integral part of what looks to be a long rebuild at MetLife Stadium.

There’s substantial thinking it’s more than just a possibility, too.

One might assume LaFleur will run an offense similar to what Shanahan operates, currently. While many teams across the league look at fullbacks as a dying position, Shanahan considers it an essential piece, and there’s no reason to think LaFleur will do anything differently.

Plus, given the complex nature of the system, LaFleur and Saleh could do something Shanahan did a lot back in 2017: bring in players via NFL free agency who are previously familiar with the offense. In turn, those players can act as mentors to others joining the squad. While Juszczyk never served under Shanahan prior to joining the SF 49ers in 2017, he quickly became a natural fit and acted as both an elite-level lead blocker and mismatch receiving weapon in the passing game.

While there isn’t exactly a lot of competition at the position, Juszczyk’s four Pro Bowls during his Niners tenure speak measures. And that kind of pedigree might do a lot of good for a Jets team needing an influx of talent at all levels.

But the biggest caveat of all here is the fact the Jets can simply outspend San Francisco. True, New York can’t exactly sell Juszczyk on the idea of being able to win a Super Bowl now, whereas the SF 49ers’ window to do so is still currently open. Still, Juszczyk already has familiarity with both Saleh and LaFleur, and the chance to return to the East Coast might be something the 29-year-old fullback would entertain doing.

Either way, if Juszczyk does end up departing the Niners in free agency this offseason, look for the Jets to be a primary player in landing his services for 2021 and beyond.