The San Francisco 49ers' 2025 free agency period has gone in a completely opposite direction than most expected. Rather than bolstering the roster for a final run at the Super Bowl with their core, the Niners cleaned house, allowing significant players leave for big paydays elsewhere and releasing major contributors from the roster.
The cost of their house-keeping has been a whopping $77 million in dead-cap charges, per Over the Cap, a number that does not even include the eventual charges for releasing or trading defensive tackles Javon Hargrave and Malik Collins. That level of cap charges has crippled the 49ers' ability to pay at the top end of the market and limited their free agency forays to minimal depth signings.
Many have compared San Francisco's reset to that of the Buffalo Bills or division rivals, the Los Angeles Rams, in recent years, including Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated on The Rich Eisen Show (h/t 49ersWebzone).
Breer said:
"The Rams, two years ago, same thing. The Rams, two years ago, they ate all of this dead money. They traded away [CB] Jalen Ramsey. What are the Rams going to do? Well, it was a front office, a coaching staff that made a lot of good decisions over the years, continuing to make good decisions, filling out the roster.
And now, what do you see? You see the Rams and Bills in a good position going forward with clean cap and a full complement of draft picks. I think that's sort of where the Niners are.
Now, can they pull it off the same way the Bills and Rams did? Maybe, maybe not. But I don't think there's any question they've got the right people in charge to pull it off.""
However, the Niners have a couple key differences than these two teams that may result in them not emerging as positive as the others.
49ers struggle at drafting the defensive trenches
The Rams defensive line consists of players drafted over the last three years by the team all making a major impact. Los Angeles' pass-rushers drafted in the last two years have combined for 49 sacks.
Over the last five drafts, 49ers drafted players have combined for 20.5 sacks, half of which came from Javon Kinlaw, a defensive tackle not on the roster anymore. Nearly a quarter came from Drake Jackson, whose career total of six sacks was half-earned in one game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he has not played football in a over year as he recovers from an injury.
Three more of those sacks have come from non pass-rushers: safeties and cornerbacks on blitzes.
Even accounting for the number of defensive linemen drafted over these timeframes, the Rams have averaged roughly six sacks per drafted pass-rusher, while the 49ers have averaged approximately five. This disparity is less egrigious, but it highlights a lack of quantity of young pass-rushers for San Francisco.
The 49ers' retool works only if they can infuse their roster with high-end talent from the draft.
But at the positions that matter most, their prior history does not bode well for how their work will transpire.