San Francisco 49ers
Now under the leadership of general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco will likely head into free agency with north of $100 million to spend. Though, that will depend on what Colin Kaepernick decides to do. Heck, a lot of the 49ers’ off-season plans start and end at the quarterback position.
It was previously reportedly that Kaepernick is expected to opt out of his contract. These reports came before it was made clear that the 49ers’ new brass will meet with Kaepernick. It also came before Kaepernick himself reportedly indicated he’s open to returning.
And that’s the crux of the issue here. Shanahan’s offense is not one that can be successfully run by a rookie quarterback. Lynch himself has already noted this. If Kap does not return, common logic suggests that the 49ers will look for a veteran on the open market.
Based on Shanahan’s prior relationship with Kirk Cousins, that’s been bandied about as a possibility. Though, there’s very little reason to believe the Washington Redskins will let Cousins actually test the open market.
Outside of that, Jay Cutler, Tony Romo, Tyrod Taylor and Brian Hoyer seem to be the most-realistic options here.
As with Green Bay, the 49ers have not necessarily gone out and spent a ton of cash in free agency.
Unlike the Packers, they haven’t made up for it in the draft. While the hope is that this new front office will change that, free agency is going to be incredibly important in the process of turning around the fate of a two-win team.
It really isn’t solely the quarterback position we have to look at here. Outside of a couple decent tackles and a solid performance from Carlos Hyde, San Francisco’s offense lacks talent. In fact, it is right up there with the Cleveland Browns as the most talent-stricken unit in the NFL.
With likely $100 million to spend, San Francisco needs to target a top-end skill-position player in free agency. Whether that’s Alshon Jeffery or DeSean Jackson remains to be seen. But adding a player of that ilk would go a long way in helping San Francisco improve in Shanahan’s first season as the team’s head coach.