The 49ers didn't do much during free agency aside from watching numerous players leave, and Jed York finally spoke as to why.
While nowhere near as bad as the mass exodus of talent back in 2015, the San Francisco 49ers' 2025 offseason has been marked by more bad news than good.
The Niners endured plenty of player departures this offseason, including cornerstone pieces like wide receiver Deebo Samuel, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, cornerback Charvarius Ward and safety Talanoa Hufanga, among others.
In response, San Francisco's free-agent pickups almost entirely included adding backups and reserves.
The approach jives with reported attempts by the organization to cut costs after being the NFL's top-spending team a year ago, and it's not hard to see those decisions came from the very top of the franchise.
It's also not hard to connect the proverbial dots between the 49ers' recent cost-savings efforts and the need to dish out a lucrative contract extension to quarterback Brock Purdy, whose pending deal might potentially reset the market.
Speaking from the NFL Annual Meeting, CEO Jed York shed some light on whether or not that was the case.
Jed York opens up about 49ers' lack of spending, how it ties to Brock Purdy
York spoke with reporters from the annual meeting, and he was asked directly why the Niners were no longer trying to be big spenders this offseason.
In particular, York was asked why he was being so "cheap."
"I've been called worse," York said, via ESPN's Nick Wagoner. "I get it. Fans care. You want to win. And when you're in a world where everybody is watching the NFL the first week of free agency or at least the first few days of free agency, it's a frenzy. ... When you're not overly active in that space, it gets easy to say 'Oh, you don't want to win.'"
If there's a defense to York's newfound strategy, it's the fact San Francisco spent more than $334 million cash last season on one of the NFL's oldest rosters, and that team finished 6-11.
Perhaps a reset was in order.
However, Purdy's looming deal played a role, one York even admitted when considering either re-signing pending free agents or luring in others from elsewhere around the league.
"I don't know that, as we looked at the board, that there was somebody that we felt made that type of an impact more so than making the decision to try to go pay Brock," York continued.
The CEO also admitted he felt Purdy was a top-10 quarterback and stressed the desire to keep the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft in a 49ers uniform for a very long time.
Whether or not fans agree with the strategy, cutting those costs should certainly aid in the ability to do so.