With the San Francisco 49ers’ season officially being over, their focus will now shift to offseason activities. The first of those is the free agency period. Normally for a team that doesn’t currently have a head coach under contract you would say that what they do during their free agency period will largely depend on who they hire as their head coach. I believe the 49ers are the exception, not the rule.
The reason why the 49ers front office and former head coach Jim Harbaugh parted ways was because Harbaugh butted heads with General Manager Trent Baalke and CEO Jed York. I think a prerequisite for any coach they choose to bring in this time will be that they are willing to give Baalke complete and total control over personnel decisions. Since the 49ers already have their personnel decision maker on staff, we know what moves they will be likely to make.
The 49ers have a need at wide receiver. It’s been a glaring weakness for years now and the front office has repeatedly missed on draft picks at this position, most notably A.J. Jenkins in the 2012 draft class. The 49ers will more than likely let their current top wide receiver Michael Crabtree hit free agency rather than giving him a new contract. I think this move is for the best because he’s not the type of wide receiver this team needs. They need a receiver who can take the tops off of defenses and be a vertical threat. He'll also more than likely want top wide receiver money which, based on his on field production, he doesn't deserve. Since they haven’t had a ton of luck with receivers in the draft, we might see Baalke go another route to address this need: free agency.
The top three wide receivers that might hit the open market are Dez Bryant of the Dallas Cowboys, Demaryius Thomas of the Denver Broncos, and Randall Cobb of the Green Bay Packers. All three of these guys would be exactly what the 49ers need in their receiving corps. All three are able to stretch defenses and require more than single coverage. All three are also extremely good after the catch and are extremely dynamic. If the 49ers could add any of these players to go along with Anquan Boldin, Quinton Patton, and Bruce Ellington it would be extremely dangerous for defenses. If they are unable to land any of these players or feel they might be a little too expensive, they might look to someone like Torrey Smith of the Baltimore Ravens. He is another receiver who is able to stretch defenses, although he’s not quite the pure playmaker the other three guys are.
Another need for the 49ers will be at cornerback. They have two important pieces of their secondary scheduled to hit free agency if they’re not able to work out new contracts before the new league year starts in March. Those two players are Perrish Cox and Chris Culliver. Both players have stepped up a great deal this season, Culliver coming off a torn ACL before last season and Cox being released by the 49ers last season and then again by the Seattle Seahawks only to be re-signed at the beginning of this season.
Both are very good players who can make a big impact in the 49ers’ secondary. However, if the 49ers think either one wants more money than they’re worth and they don’t end up coming back, a good addition would be Walter Thurmond of the New York Giants. Thurmond played for the Seahawks before signing with the Giants before last season. Thurmond only played in two games for the Giants before suffering a season ending injury, which means the 49ers might be able to get him well below market value since such an injury might scare a lot of teams away.
Another position I think they will address in free agency is their offensive line. They have a lot of young players going into next season that will be asked to step up but I think they will try signing a veteran lineman just in case things don’t work out like they hope they will. It will also benefit the younger linemen like Joe Looney, Marcus Martin, Brandon Thomas, and even Daniel Kilgore.
Another reason they might sign a veteran is because they don’t want to rely on Jonathan Martin again in case they have injuries along the line in 2015 as well. Someone they might end up targeting is offensive tackle Michael Roos if the Tennessee Titans let him walk. If they can sign him at the right price he would be a very good addition. Another good addition would be Dan Connolly from the New England Patriots. The problem with that is if the Patriots allow him to walk it will most likely be because he wants too much money, which would eliminate him from consideration for the 49ers.
In recent years the 49ers haven’t big players in free agency. This year might be different with their front office being under so much pressure to succeed without Jim Harbaugh now. Despite what a lot of people say, they will have plenty of cap space when free agency comes to be able to sign the players they need. It is going to be an incredibly busy offseason for the 49ers and free agency will just be the tip of the iceberg.