49ers roster: 5 moves John Lynch must execute without question in 2022
By Peter Panacy
No. 4: 49ers have to pick up Azeez Al-Shaair’s RFA tender
Nowhere near as financially challenging a decision as that for Nick Bosa, John Lynch nevertheless has an under-the-radar decision on his hands.
Financially speaking, should he commit to third-year linebacker Dre Greenlaw or divert cap resources to keeping fellow third-year linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair around for another season?
Al-Shaair, a former undrafted free agent, is going to be a restricted free agent in 2022. The 49ers could feasibly avoid that by offering an extension for, let’s say, two years for $6.5 million or so. Probably not a bad route to take.
Or they could look to use a second-round RFA tender on Al-Shaair, which Over the Cap projects to be at $3.927 million for one year.
A little more costly than a two-year deal, of course. But it would open up pure competition in 2022 between Greenlaw and Al-Shaair for the primary No. 2 linebacker job behind the All-Pro, Fred Warner.
Al-Shaair, who has 96 tackles through 13 games this year, eight of which are for a loss, has quietly emerged as one of the Niners’ best defensive players.
Lynch needs to ensure he doesn’t depart.