You can debate how the 49ers have performed this offseason relative to their NFL counterparts. His place at the top of the NFC and among the best teams in the league cannot.
And frankly, that context needs to be considered when evaluating the moves they’ve made since Super Bowl LIV.
That’s why NBC Sports’ Rich Eisen argued on Friday that San Francisco has had the best NFL offseason, compared to the handful of teams that have dominated the offseason stories.
“The reason the 49ers have had the best offseason of all,” Eisen said Friday on “The Rich Eisen Show,” “… when you’re in the Super Bowl, when you’re in the cream of the crop, you don’t do all those movements. What you do is touch up, be smart and take advantage of the opportunity you have available, limit and draft. “
#VoiceofREason -> Who has won the #NFL offseason so far? @richeisen says that without a doubt _______: pic.twitter.com/HjVlqMO9VD
– Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) June 26, 2020
Eisen’s comments came in response to Yahoo Sports’ Frank Schwab, who gave San Francisco a C-minus for his offseason rating, which Eisen strongly opposed. In addition to re-signing Jimmie Ward’s safety, Eisen pointed to ways the 49ers have met major needs on the go as reasons why their offseason has been so strong.
“They have a guy on the offensive line, Joe Staley, who has Hall of Fame credentials who decides to retire,” Eisen said. “What are you doing to fix that, in the middle of the draft? They get Trent Williams! They get Trent Williams! Rams head coach Sean McVay was basically saying,” Where the hell did that come from? ‘The whole league needs Trent Williams. Who got it? The defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers was the one who did it. “
In addition to possibly being a superior talent to Staley, Williams is also almost four years younger. Getting younger without sacrificing anything important was a common theme in Eisen’s assessment.
“I love Emmanuel Sanders,” added Eisen, “… but he’s also 32. So what do you do? You let him walk, and then you manipulated your draft board with the Indianapolis pick you get and the draft itself. Choose What you got, you go and replace the guy you traded at DeForest Buckner with Javon Kinlaw, who everyone believes could be the best D-tackle in the draft, and then you get Brandon Aiyuk from Arizona State to replace Emmanuel Sanders.
“Now, the only problem with this offseason is that Deebo Samuel got hurt. We guess he’ll be back. But they get younger, they get better, they rearrange their cap properly, and besides, they didn’t.” Losing any of their staff, they which normally happens to any team that goes to the Super Bowl. They did not lose any of their staff and signed their coach for a multi-year extension. “
Arguably Jones ‘recent fracture at Jones was the lowest point of the 49ers’ offseason thus far, but he said his surgery was “perfect” and San Francisco is optimistic that he will be able to return in time for the game in Week 1 home against the Arizona Cardinals. . He exploded as a rookie under the same coaching staff he’ll have in his second NFL season, which, as Eisen noted, was certainly not assured at the start of the offseason.
Blocking coach Kyle Shanahan, one of the brightest minds in all of football, for another six years should not be overlooked. Surely he would have had extremely high demand the closer he was to expiring his contract. It wouldn’t be surprising if GM John Lynch also received a contract extension soon, given the cohesion the two have shown so far.
And then there is George Kittle. Yes, his contract negotiation will be challenging, but both sides want him to be a 49er for a long, long time to come, and the expectation is for something to be done. If so, a large chunk of the money San Francisco has saved this offseason will have been tapped.
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So yes, the 49ers might not have added the amount of big names other teams have had since March, and many of them have made great strides this offseason. But none of those teams were in the San Francisco situation, and that’s really what Eisen’s stance boils down to.
“None of those teams were in the Super Bowl, reorganized for the future, got smarter, and kept the people they needed to keep more than the San Francisco 49ers.”
The 49ers were tough enough to beat during the season. They have also done quite well since then.
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