Grading 49ers' 2023 offseason: Free agency, staffing and NFL Draft

The San Francisco 49ers lost five starters to NFL free agency this offseason:

• QB Jimmy Garoppolo
• DB Jimmie Ward
• CB Emmanuel Moseley
• EDGE Samson Ebukam
• RT Mike McGlinchey

They also lost their defensive coordinator, DeMeco Ryans, to the Houston Texans' head-coaching opening. And Ryans was kind enough to take one of the Niners' offensive assistants, Bobby Slowik to be his new offensive coordinator down in Houston.

San Francisco was also without first- or second-round picks in the 2023 NFL Draft, and general manager John Lynch used a third-round pick on a kicker, Michigan's Jake Moody.

If we stopped there, you might conclude the 49ers' 2023 offseason was disastrous.

And you still might feel that way, even though the Niners had other events that helped offset what was quite a turbulent offseason after last January's loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship game.

Combing through everything we've done since then, though, we realized we hadn't graded the Niners' offseason just yet.

So, let's do so now.

49ers NFL free agency grade

Losing those five aforementioned starters will probably hurt in some ways this upcoming season. San Francisco doesn't exactly have an answer to replace Moseley, although third-year pro Deommodore Lenoir seems to be the best option.

Behind him, though the depth chart is awfully thin.

The 49ers also couldn't have won a bidding war for McGlinchey and wisely allowed him to seek big money elsewhere, which he did with the Denver Broncos. His replacement, Colton McKivitz, is significantly cheaper and hopefully not too far off, in terms of effectiveness.

If NFL free agency hurt the Niners, they more than made up for it by grabbing Eagles star defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, who was easily the top defender available on the market.

San Francisco's top defensive strength, its front seven, gets even stronger with Hargrave's addition.

Also, kudos to the 49ers grabbing nickel cornerback Isaiah Oliver to solve that positional need, too. He'll be a good fit.