6 pending free agents 49ers shouldn’t bother re-signing
By Peter Panacy
The 49ers have nearly 40 pending players hitting NFL free agency, but they shouldn’t make an effort to re-sign these six names.
The San Francisco 49ers would have had a difficult time this offseason regardless of whether or not the global pandemic would have had a drastic effect on the league’s salary cap.
General manager John Lynch was going to face a flurry of players poised to hit NFL free agency entering 2021, forcing a significant turnover of the roster. And with the league’s salary cap now dropping around $183 million, per the latest reports, it’ll be even more challenging for Lynch and Co. to retain the players they want who are hitting the open market.
Particularly with the Niners having $23.5 million in cap space, according to the latest projections from Over the Cap.
This will likely mean San Francisco has to either focus its efforts towards just a handful of pending free agents, go after cheaper alternatives on the free-agent market or rely heavily on onboarding rookie players via the NFL Draft later this April.
Equally important to that strategy will be to simply let some of those pending free agents sign elsewhere in 2021, including these six players the 49ers shouldn’t bother re-signing this offseason.
No. 6: 49ers Quarterback C.J. Beathard
Some could legitimately argue the Niners should have parted ways with quarterback C.J. Beathard a while ago, particularly when he was less than effective enough during his fill-in stead during 2018 in relief of the injured starter, Jimmy Garoppolo.
Yet head coach Kyle Shanahan remained committed to Beathard throughout his rookie contract.
The problem, though, is Beathard hasn’t exactly progressed as a signal-caller. His pocket presence remains an issue, and the same accuracy problems that plagued him earlier in his career haven’t improved much at all either.
True, Beathard doubled his NFL win total in 2020. But considering his record as a starter is now a mere 2-10, that doesn’t exactly say much.
San Francisco needs a revamped quarterback room entering 2021 anyway even if Garoppolo stays under center. And while giving Beathard multiple chances was at least honorable on his behalf, it’s more than plainly obvious the 49ers would be better off exploring other options.