The 49ers released one of their backup linebackers, Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, suggesting they'll restock the position this offseason.
The 2025 NFL new year is still a number of weeks away, but the San Francisco 49ers are already starting to prepare for the offseason's campaign.
One of those moves involved releasing veteran linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, as the team announced on Feb. 18.
Fowles joined the Niners as an undrafted free agent in 2019, spending the bulk of his time on special teams and as a backup. When San Francisco lost starting backer Dre Greenlaw in Super Bowl 48 to an Achilles tear, Flannigan-Fowles was one of those who was tasked with plugging the void.
Needless to say, it did not go well. And Flannigan-Fowles largely struggled in a larger role over the course of 2024 when Greenlaw was absent.
Along with an impending farewell to fellow linebacker De'Vondre Campbell, albeit for very different reasons, Flannigan-Fowles' release suggests the 49ers will overhaul a good deal of their linebacker corps entering the offseason. This might be necessary anyway, given Greenlaw is also a pending free agent and could depart the team this offseason, too.
Flannigan-Fowles likely wouldn't factor into the Niners' compensatory-pick formula for net losses of qualifying free agents. So, by that measure, San Francisco is doing the veteran a favor by allowing him to get a jumpstart on free agency sooner than if it had waited for his contract's official expiration at the start of the league new year in March. His agent can begin speaking with other teams to gauge interest, which would have been considered tampering had such talks taken place while he was still technically under contract.
49ers tender 1-year deals to exclusive-rights free agents
In the same press release, the 49ers announced one-year deals for the following exclusive-rights free agents:
- DL Evan Anderson
- DL Alex Barrett
- LB Jalen Graham
- DL Sam Okuayinonu
- OL Austen Pleasants
- TE Jake Tonges
- TE Brayden Willis
Related story: NFL rules: What's the difference between restricted and unrestricted free agency?
ERFAs technically aren't free agents, given they can only negotiate terms with the team holding their rights. But teams don't have to tender agreements to ERFAs, meaning these bottom-of-the-roster Niners are at least given the opportunity to participate in offseason programs with a chance to make the 2025 regular-season squad.
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