It's been a strange offseason for the San Francisco 49ers, as they have mostly sat out free agency, traded one of the franchise's cornerstone players, and looked to shed payroll as they head into the heart of NFL Draft season.
For a team that's coming off a disappointing 6-11 season in 2024, this wasn't exactly what fans had in mind for this offseason, as the hope was the Niners would retool and bounce back in 2025.
It hasn't been a complete failure, though, as the 49ers have made moves, although many of them are on the periphery of the roster in places like special teams (a heavy need, to be fair) and adding a backup quarterback in Mac Jones.
The Niners have also missed out on bringing in some potential difference makers along their now-depleted defensive line and have often opted to take on dead money in 2025 in exchange for cap flexibility in future years.
With that in mind, there are obvious moves San Francisco has made -- or not made -- that could be regarded as either good, bad, or downright confusing.
Good: Improving special teams
New special teams coordinator Brant Boyer has certainly had his hand in the 49ers' early free-agency moves, as he looks to improve a unit that was among the worst in the NFL in 2024 by almost any metric.
He's overhauled the unit in many ways, and a lot of what the Niners have done so far as been focused on making sure the group is better, particularly when it comes to coverage.
In that regard, this is a good thing, as players like linebacker Luke Gifford (who played 77% of the special teams snaps in Tennessee last season) and safety Richie Grant (78% in Atlanta in 2024) show a newfound focus on that group for the upcoming campaign.
San Francisco also swapped out long-snapper Taybor Pepper for 39-year-old veteran Jon Weeks, a move that probably belongs more in the "confusing" category.
The question will be whether the kicking game will see any changes, but for now, it's good to see the 49ers making moves to improve on the margins so far this offseason.
Bad: Letting Dre Greenlaw get away
Much has been made of the impact Dre Greenlaw had on the defense during his Niners tenure, including how much they missed the linebacker's energy when he was out during most of the 2024 season.
And while early signs pointed to Greenlaw potentially being able to return with the increase in the salary cap and the 49ers' efforts to keep him in San Francisco, Greenlaw opted to sign a three-year, $31.5 million deal with the Denver Broncos, including $11.5 million fully guaranteed.
The number wasn't outrageous for a guy who has been a key cog in the defense since he arrived in 2019 as a fifth-round draft pick out of Arkansas, but it gets worse when you look at the breakdown of the contract, via Over The Cap.
Greenlaw's 2025 cap hit in Denver is just $5.8 million, and it includes no guaranteed money after year one, with cap hits of just $11.1 and $13.1 over the next two seasons. Not to mention that Denver can move on with relatively little cap impact ($4.3 million of dead money in 2026 and just $2.6 million in 2027) if Greenlaw's nagging injury history continues to bite him.
Reports suggest the 49ers were in on Greenlaw even after he agreed to the deal in Denver, leaving open the possibility of a reverse-Eric Kendricks situation for the Niners. But in the end, the pull of being the main man, and not fellow backer Fred Warner's running mate, likely enticed Greenlaw more than the money.
Still, it's going to be a big miss for San Francisco if Greenlaw is healthy in 2025, and it'll be up to players like Dee Winters, Tatum Bethune, Jalen Graham, and possibly even the aforementioned Gifford to fill the void.
A tough ask for anyone.
Confusing: Not hitting on reasonable deals with free agents at positions of need
This could cover a whole host of players, but the main areas of focus here are some of the more glaring needs the 49ers had (and in many ways still have) heading into free agency; namely, center, interior defensive line, and edge rushers.
In the case of center, former Falcon Drew Dalman hit the open market and got a reasonable but not outrageous contract (three years, $42 million with $28 million guaranteed) with the Chicago Bears, who were clearly looking to do what the Niners should have been doing: upgrading their offensive line.
Yes, Dalman's deal makes him the second-highest paid center in the league, but head coach Kyle Shanahan's offense is predicated on having a quality player at the position, so it would have made sense to upgrade there, especially with a player like Dalman who isn't even 27 years old until October.
Even adding an older guy like Ryan Kelly, who went to the Minnesota Vikings on a two-year deal worth $18 million, but essentially works out as a one-year contract for less than $10 million, would've helped improve the O-line's interior.
Instead, the 49ers stood by and will likely count on Jake Brendel to man the position again in 2025.
Along the D-line, the big misses here are letting Joey Bosa go to the Buffalo Bills for a reported $12.6 million deal for one season and watching Azeez Ojulari, a potential diamond in the rough, go to the Philadelphia Eagles for a paltry $4 million.
There were other misses that would have been great to see join the Niners, like defensive tackle Milton Williams and cornerback D.J. Reed. But their deals (four for $104 for Williams with New England and three for $48 for Reed in Detroit) are much larger and easier to see why San Francisco was likely never involved.
But, suffice it to say that when the major free-agent pickups are special teams-focused, depth guys, and Jones, it's disheartening to watch other teams with Super Bowl aspirations make moves to get better.