Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Thursday, January 9th, 2025
49ers plan to release Javon Hargrave but not Deebo Samuel Sr.
“Deebo is under contract,” Lynch said. “[He’s] a good player and has done a ton for this organization and we’re not in the business of letting good players out of here.”
The 49ers restructured Samuel’s contract in September, a move that meant if the Niners were to trade or release him before June 1, 2025, they’d have to absorb a $31.55 million dead money hit on the cap. If they did want to move on from him with a post-June 1 designation before his March 23 option bonus is due, they could have decreased that number to cap hits of $10,751,753 over the next couple of years…..Hargrave, however, will not be back unless it’s on a significantly reduced contract after the team makes his release official. That can’t happen until March 12 when the new league year begins. He restructured his contract in early December to make a post-June 1 release more palatable for the Niners.”
49ers want Deebo Samuel back next season, but will release Javon Hargrave (paywall)
“This doesn’t mean we can’t compete for his services,” Lynch said. “It gives him an opportunity to go see what his market is and that may include us … Would we be interested in having him? Of course. Is that something we can come to an agreement on and is it something that fits in our plans? We will see. And that’s the exact conversations I’ve had with Javon.”
Kawakami: The 49ers need to be refreshed, recast, and rethought — and it’s about time (paywall)
“If you connect the dots to future personnel decisions, it’s not hard to guess that Shanahan and Lynch will have an increased desire to invest in the offensive line to make sure that Purdy (presumably with more than $100 million in guaranteed money) is given every chance to shine in 2025 and far beyond that. The 49ers could use the 11th pick in next April’s draft on the best tackle available. They could spend some money on the best offensive lineman. They could sign several of them.
And they’ll hope that the new coordinator puts Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Deommodore Lenoir, and the other defensive stalwarts in the right positions next season. The 49ers slipped badly under Sorensen, which cost him his job. But turning back into one of the NFL’s top-10 defenses would change a lot of things.
Meanwhile, Shanahan also looked and sounded livelier in this presser than he did last year, which is not surprising since Shanahan didn’t grind through a long postseason and take an agonizing loss in the Super Bowl right before showing up to the podium this time.
On Wednesday, he talked enthusiastically about the long 14-week span between now and their first spring sessions and said he’s sure everybody will be more than ready to start everything by then.
So they’re disappointed that they’re not in the middle of playoff game planning right now, but maybe the 49ers can take some advantage of the extra time this off-season. Shanahan referenced that when I asked why he’s had to fire DCs in back-to-back years.
49ers defensive coordinator candidates: Robert Saleh, Jeff Ulbrich and 6 other options (paywall)
“Siravo, 48, is another well-respected Flores assistant who could get attention during the current hiring cycle. Siravo specializes in run defense, something that became porous for the 49ers as the season wore on. The Vikings finished second in rushing yards allowed this past season.”
49ers’ Kyle Shanahan on next defensive coordinator, plans for Brock Purdy, Deebo Samuel (paywall)
“Shanahan, however, has the ability to be more thorough this year. He noted that the last two hires — Steve Wilks and Sorensen — were made in February following long playoff runs and when the pool of candidates was shallow.
“There’s more opportunities out there,” he said. “And I plan on looking into all of them.”
49ers Notes: 2 coordinators out, 1 in, and everything else from Shanahan and Lynch
The clear indication from Shanahan is that while he is a fan of the Cover-3 scheme the 49ers have favored, it clearly did not work with the personnel the 49ers had this season. The indication was that Sorenson did not adapt as well as some of the candidates that Shanahan believes he may be able to bring in. They need an adaptable coordinator who can maximize personnel and adjust scheme if and when needed.
“I love the scheme that we’ve had here,” Shanahan said. “It’s one of the hardest things to through you when you got the right guys in the right spots, but I do think people adjust the schemes, and I think you have to adjust, too, depending on your personnel.
“I think that was a tougher thing for us this year just going into the season, it was a little bit harder than past seasons, and some of the injuries we had, I think made it really tough for Nick and I thought he got better trying to adjust and do different things, but I do think that’s something that, I’m not saying you got to change schemes, but you have to have the ability, the history and the knowledge of how to change yourself up when you’re in some certain situations and I think we need that more going forward.”
49ers’ Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch hold end-of-season press conference
“San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan held their end-of-season press conference on Wednesday, reflecting on the team’s 6-11 finish to its 2024 campaign. Here is everything they said.”