The San Francisco 49ers have endured an extremely disappointing season in 2024. They are almost certain to miss the postseason a year after a bitter Super Bowl loss. The team is probably regretting signing several free agents who did not help much.
The 49ers did not add a ton in the offseason. Instead, they mainly focused on trying to reload by retaining key offensive pieces like running back Christian McCaffrey, wide receiver, Brandon Aiyuk, and left tackle Trent Williams.
Of course, that plan did not exactly work out as McCaffrey and Aiyuk missed most of the year and Williams has been injured as of late.
The Niners did bring in some new free agents to fill in for injured players or try to improve on the margins, but several of them did not pan out at all.
Let's take a look at three free agents the Niners definitely regret signing this past offseason.
De'Vondre Campbell
This one is pretty obvious.
The 49ers signed De'Vondre Campbell this offseason as a stopgap measure with linebacker Dre Greenlaw set to miss most of the season after tearing his Achilles in the Super Bowl.
We learned pretty quickly that Campbell was no Greenlaw on the field. The former's lackluster pursuit and missed tackles were glaring early on. He improved a bit as the season went on, but it was a relief when Greenlaw was healthy enough to get back on the field and reclaim his starting role.
A relief to everyone except Campbell who abandoned his teammates when they needed him most after Greenlaw and Dee Winters went down with injuries in Week 15 against the Log Angeles Rams. Campbell refused to play and was subsequently suspended for the rest of the season.
Safe to say the Niners made a bad call bringing in Campbell and certainly regret that they ever signed him.
Isaac Yiadom
Veteran cornerback Isaac Yiadom has had some ups and downs in 2024. He has not been a disaster, but it has been telling that rookie cornerback Renardo Green has challenged Yiadom for playing time. Pro Football Focus ranks the 28-year-old 87th out of 216 cornerbacks which is not awful, but they have him 102nd in terms of coverage which is not ideal.
Yiadom has been average for the Niners, but their secondary could use better than average going forward.
Brandon Allen
Backup quarterback Brandon Allen was forced to start Week 12's matchup against the Green Bay Packers because Brock Purdy was dealing with a shoulder injury. Allen was not horrendous, but his 17 completions on 29 attempts for 199 passing yards and one touchdown and one interception was far from a stellar performance.
The 49ers were simply overmatched in that game, but if they had instead opted for Joushua Dobbs and had not re-signed Allen after last year, perhaps they would have had a slightly better shot at winning the game.
Free agency is always a crapshoot. Sometimes a team finds a diamond in the rough and other times they find a Veruca Salt i.e. bad egg i.e. De'Vondre Campbell.
The Niners are probably wishing they had a do-over on these signings.