Teams that intend to keep their free agents usually get the deals done before another team has a chance to catch his eye. The 49ers didn’t do that as to linebacker Dre Greenlaw, and by the time they mobilized it was too late.
In an article from Luca Evans of the Denver Post regarding the process that resulted in Greenlaw landing with the Broncos, Evans reports that 49ers G.M. John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan flew to Greenlaw’s home in Texas in an effort to keep him. The 49ers also increased their offer.
“That was, like, a last-ditch effort,” Greenlaw’s adoptive father Brian Early told Evans.
But it was too late. Greenlaw had been courted by the Broncos, and he’d made up his mind.
Greenlaw’s agent, J.R. Carroll, separately told Evans that Greenlaw sensed an opportunity to have a “fresh start” with an ascending defense in Denver. Another factor was the fact that the 49ers have been losing plenty of players.
One who’s staying was Greenlaw’s partner at middle linebacker, Fred Warner.
“It just looked different when him and I were going after other teams from the second level, and just trying to erase space in the middle of the field,” Warner told Evans. “He’s, by far, one of the greatest athletes and football players I’ve ever played with, and it was truly an honor to play alongside him. . . . I even told him, and I always say, that I would not be the player that I am today without playing alongside Dre Greenlaw.”
Greenlaw’s adoptive father saw it a little differently.
“Hey, man, you stay in San Francisco, you’re Scottie Pippen,” Early told Greenlaw. “And Fred Warner is [Michael Jordan]. . . . Go be frickin’ MJ.”
Greenlaw now gets the chance to do just that.
The 49ers are surely wishing they’d traded receiver Brandon Aiyuk when they had the chance.
They could have. It was happening. Aiyuk was about to be a Steeler. Then, he expressed a willingness to accept the 49ers’ best offer on a long-term deal, and coach Kyle Shanahan literally ran upstairs to keep the trade from going through.
The end result was a contract that now ties the 49ers’ hands. No other team will be taking on the balance of the deal, given Aiyuk’s injury.
Earlier today, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com pointed out that, once the 49ers pay Aiyuk a $22.85 million bonus due on Tuesday, “any trade talks would be off.” But they were never on, given that a new team would have to pay that amount to a player who might or might not be ready to go in 2026.
There’s another important wrinkle in the contract. As of Tuesday, a $24.95 million 2026 option bonus becomes fully guaranteed.
With Aiyuk still recovering from the ACL tear, and given that he wasn’t exactly tearing it up before the injury, no one would take on his deal at this point.
Could the 49ers simply cut their losses and move on from Aiyuk, before the extra $24.95 million vests? Nope. Because Aiyuk currently can’t pass a physical, and because the payment is already guaranteed for injury, they’d still owe him the money, even if they cut him.
So, yeah, the 49ers regret this one. Whether they’ll ever admit it is a different issue. Then again, do they need to?
Brock Purdy was not supposed to play his rookie season. As the final pick in the 2022 draft, he was buried deep on the 49ers’ depth chart.
Trey Lance, the No. 3 overall pick in 2021, and Jimmy Garoppolo, who the 49ers had acquired for a 2018 second-round pick, began the season ahead of Purdy. Lance, though, fractured his ankle in Week 2.
That’s when Purdy was confident his opportunity would come sooner than later.
“I’m not going to lie. During camp and stuff, all the competitions and stuff were going on, and Trey was the guy, but like with Nate Sudfeld and I are competing,” Purdy said on the Built 4 More podcast. “I knew that I could like rip the ball, and going up against like some dudes I watched growing up on the practice field and then in preseason games. So, that sort of gave me some confidence, like, ‘OK, I can do this thing. I don’t know how it’s going to go down, because there’s guys in front of me with Trey Lance and then later Jimmy Garoppolo.
“Once Jimmy became the starter, I was like, ‘I might get some playing time this year, man. I just don’t know when.’”
Garoppolo fractured his foot in Week 13 and Purdy led the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game. It’s been Purdy’s job since.
“My whole story has been just being overlooked, not good enough,” Purdy said on the podcast, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “And for me, deep down inside, I’m like, ‘I know I can play and compete at this level, this level, this level.’ And so, high school, it was the case. And then I became a starter, and we went to the state championship, all that. But I got recruited very late.
“And then all of a sudden, I barely get an offer at the end, and I go to Iowa State. And then I was the third-string guy going into that. Overlooked. And then I became the starter halfway through that season, and then for four more years. And then I got drafted last. So, all these people tell me that you’re not going to be good enough, but deep down inside, this whole time, I’m like, ‘Just wait until I get an opportunity to compete.”
Purdy did not discuss his contract situation on the podcast. He is eligible for a contract extension after making $2.637 million his first three seasons combined.
49ers defensive lineman Sam Okuayinonu signed his one-year exclusive rights tender contract, the team announced Wednesday.
Okuayinonu was one of seven exclusive rights free agents the 49ers tendered in February.
Okuayinonu bounced between the practice squad and the active roster.
He appeared in 16 games with three starts last season, seeing action on 450 defensive snaps and 39 on special teams. Okuayinonu totaled 35 three sacks, a pass defensed and a forced fumble.
His only other regular-season action came in 2022 with the Titans. He played six games and made 11 tackles and half a sack.
Quarterback Trey Lance has not landed with an NFL team since his contract with the Cowboys expired earlier this month and possibilities for his next club don’t stop at the border.
Dave Naylor of TSN reports that the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders have added Lance to their negotiating list. The move gives the team exclusive rights to negotiate a contract with Lance in the event he wants to continue his career in Canada.
There’s been no sign that the 2021 49ers first-round pick is eyeing such a move, but Lance’s father Carlton did play for the team in 1993.
Lance spent most of his rookie season on the bench after being selected with the third overall pick, but took over as the 49ers’ starter to start the 2022 season. A broken ankle in Week Two ended his season and Brock Purdy’s emergence later that year led to him being traded to the Cowboys before the 2023 season. He did not play at all that year and he made one start for Dallas in 2024, so regularly playing football anywhere would be a big step up from the last four years for the quarterback.
