After the NFL Draft, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported the San Francisco 49ers had signed veteran offensive tackle D.J. Humphries. Fowler's source was Humphries' agency, as it may tend to be in a lot of circumstances, and said agency also passed along the news.
Typically, teams don't waste much time to officially announce player signings. Instead, the 49ers announced the signings of offensive tackles Andre Dillard and Nicholas Petit-Frere and amid a bunch of roster moves on May 9. Humphries' name was nowhere to be found.
On Thursday, as the dust from the release of the 2025 schedule settles, Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area reported the 49ers and Humphries have not in fact come to terms on a contract.
"Veteran offensive tackle D.J. Humphries has not agreed to terms with the 49ers as previously reported, multiple sources told NBC Sports Bay Area on Thursday."
"Humphries appeared to be heading to the 49ers in the days after the 2025 NFL Draft. His representation announced on April 29 that the sides agreed to a deal."
"But that contract was not finalized, and nothing appears imminent. Humphries remains a free agent after appearing in just two games during the 2024 season due to injuries."
D.J. Humphries may not ever be a San Francisco 49er after all
Humphries spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Arizona Cardinals. A torn ACL shortened his 2023 season, and he was released in March of 2024. He landed with the Kansas City Chiefs last November, starting two games (Week 14 and Week 18) around a hamstring injury that cost him three games.
Now we know why 49ers has never announced signing Humphries, and why the signings of two other offensive tackles were officially announced instead.
Humphries' agency prematurely passed along to a national reporter he had signed with the 49ers, then posted on social media to practically confirm the move. The 49ers not following suit was odd, but up to a point it could have been a matter of contract semantics.
That point of contractual semantics as a hold up to a deal with Humphries has long passed, and Maiocco's report all but guarantees he won't be a 49er at any point in time.