Howie Roseman and the Eagles apparently taught John Lynch and the 49ers a valuable lesson about roster turnover.
It's OK for San Francisco 49ers fans to be upset with the mass exodus of player talent befalling their favorite squad entering 2025.
After all, the Niners' now-closed Super Bowl window was awfully fun to watch, and the sheer amount of star-studded talent made San Francisco a powerhouse for years, even if it never quite culminated in a sixth Lombardi Trophy.
That said, bidding farewell to cornerstone players like wide receiver Deebo Samuel, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, fullback Kyle Juszczyk, safety Talanoa Hufanga and others has been difficult.
But it's almost necessary.
That core of aging, increasingly expensive veterans led to a 6-11 finish last season. Sure, injuries and lackluster coaching played roles, but in a results-based business, an old-ish 49ers team that looked sluggish and slow needed to rethink and wholly retool.
And it's a lesson the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles might teach them.
49ers can learn from Eagles' previous roster mistakes
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is now (if he wasn't already) viewed as one of the best in the business. But even Roseman has made mistakes along the way, highlighted by what he did in the wake of his franchise's first Super Bowl crown in February of 2018.
Reuben Frank of NBC Sports Philly summed this up nicely (and you might notice how it relates to what the Niners experienced in 2024):
"Howie Roseman learned his lesson last time the Eagles won a Super Bowl. He tried to keep that team intact, he let emotion rule his decisions and he gave contracts to older players near the end of their career.
And then he watched as an aging team slowly declined.
The 2017 Eagles were the 8th-oldest team in football and by 2018 they were 3rd-oldest, and the decline was on. The 2018 team did steal a wild-card win in Chicago, but the 2018 and 2019 teams both went 9-7 and the bottom fell out in 2020 with a 4-11-1 disaster that cost Doug Pederson his job.
The three years immediately after the Super Bowl LII win, with an aging roster and a G.M. who admittedly made decisions for the wrong reasons, the Eagles went 22-25-1, the 20th-best record in the NFL over that three-year span."
There are key differences between Philly and San Francisco here, yes, aside from actually winning a Super Bowl. Head coach Kyle Shanahan doesn't appear in any sort of hot-seat danger, nor was the 49ers' fall from grace a gradual one like Philadelphia experienced from 2018 through 2020.
But, it shouldn't take much to recognize the similarities.
The Niners committed big bucks to aging veterans who helped Shanahan and Lynch's team get to three consecutive NFC title games and a Super Bowl, including top-end contracts to left tackle Trent Williams, running back Christian McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle, and wide receivers Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk.
As a result, San Francisco spent more money (not cap space) than any other team in the league in 2024, yet that squad finished 6-11 and in last place within the NFC West.
There were also reports, notably from The Athletic's Mike Silver, how Shanahan personally intervened to keep Aiyuk from being traded last offseason amid his tenuous extension standoff, which ultimately resulted in the 49ers begrudgingly keeping the wide receiver on a hefty new contract.
Emotions got in the way. And the Niners reportedly still regret the decision to keep Aiyuk.
49ers must adopt Howie Roseman's principles
San Francisco wants to reel in its cash spend this offseason, and it's doing so. So far, the 49ers have avoided paying more than $276 million in contracts doled out to their former players who've already signed elsewhere.
But they also need to get younger after being the third-oldest team in the league in 2024.
It's a hard realization Roseman eventually adopted and is again putting to work after the Eagles' most recent Super Bowl victory last February, one Frank continued to elaborate on:
"It’s got to be so hard building a championship roster with homegrown players and then essentially dismantling it. But Roseman learned. You can’t run it back. It just doesn’t work.
And he's convinced that you can’t sustain success without constantly infusing the roster with young players. That means you have to keep drafting well and that means you have to have a lot of starters on rookie contracts and that means you can pay market value to keep your superstars.
That’s the formula. That’s the plan. And it works.
Roseman’s plan for this offseason was a simple one. Stock up on draft picks. Don’t even try to sign any free agents. Get younger. Trust the kids. Put the compensatory pick formula to work."
The Niners appear to be doing just this, dismantling what was once a proud roster and putting a greater emphasis on drafting smart, getting the most out of younger and cheaper talent. They already have the maximum number of four comp picks for 2025 and will likely have another four coming their way in 2026. So far, Lynch hasn't spent big bucks on marquee free agents either.
If San Francisco does it correctly, as how Roseman did it, the end results will be worthwhile.