Almost immediately after the 2025 NFL Draft concluded, the San Francisco 49ers reportedly signed veteran swing tackle D.J. Humphries to alleviate the need for a backup lineman, which alleviated the free-agent departure of Jaylon Moore to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Except the following month, additional news broke that Humphries never actually finalized his contract to head to the Bay Area after a one-year stint in K.C. in 2024.
Now, the longtime Arizona Cardinal is back in the NFC West, just not with Arizona or with the Niners.
According to Humphries' agency, AMDG Sports, the 2015 first-round draftee is joining the Los Angeles Rams, likely due to L.A.'s offensive tackle, Alaric Jackson, dealing with blood clots:
SIGNED✍️✍️ #AMDG pic.twitter.com/VjgAGfqvCO
— AMDG Sports (@SportsAmdg) June 12, 2025
NFC West rivals doing rival-like things.
It's still not fully clear why the 31 year old never fully came to terms with San Francisco despite reports, although one can simply draw that up to the idiom of "nothing is official until it actually is."
In this case, Los Angeles was happy to take advantage.
Granted, the 49ers pivoted not long after by inking two veteran linemen, Andre Dillard and Nicholas Petit-Frere, the latter being no longer on the Niners roster after subsequent transactions. And it's possible San Francisco was the side that ultimately pulled the plug on contract discussions with Humphries anyway.
If so, 49ers fans probably won't feel quite as bad about a division rival plucking away a would-be free-agent pickup.
Heading into the final period of the offseason before training camp, Dillard appears to be a primary backup to support starting tackles Trent Williams and Colton McKivitz, while Humphries could easily wind up being Jackson's fill-in replacement out of the gate.
Even if it wasn't truly intentional, Humphries' ultimate rebuff of the Niners and subsequent joining of the Rams won't sit well once the two teams square off this upcoming season.