San Francisco 49ers: Top 6 biggest offseason winners and losers
By Justin Fried
The San Francisco 49ers had quite the eventful offseason and will hopefully field a vastly improved roster in 2019. Here are the biggest winners and losers of the past few months.
The San Francisco 49ers 2018 season didn’t exactly go as planned. The team trudged its way through an injury-plagued campaign that started off poorly and only got worse as the season went on.
Injuries to the likes of Jimmy Garoppolo and Jerick McKinnon among others completely derailed what looked to be a very promising season. However, the 2019 49ers look revamped and reignited and hopefully with a clean bill of health.
But injuries weren’t the only cause for concern last season.
San Francisco struggled in many areas — primarily with their outside pass rush and secondary on defense. And while the running game showed signs of life with breakout star Matt Breida, the team’s wide receivers didn’t offer much in terms of production.
Still, there’s a renewed sense of optimism surrounding the franchise. And after a successful offseason, the hope is that 2019 could be the year that this team finally returns to the postseason.
The offseason was a success by most standards and plenty of players emerged as true “winners.” However, some may have been negatively impacted by moves that were made and could thus be declared “losers.”
Let’s take a look at the 49ers’ biggest winners and losers of the 2019 offseason.
Winner: Dee Ford
Newly acquired pass rusher Dee Ford is a winner in more way than one, but the easiest and most tangible way might be in the form of his recently bloated bank account.
Ford’s freshly-inked contract with the 49ers is set to be worth $85.5 million over the next five years which is enough to make any person a “winner” simply at life. The 49ers made the decision to trade for the talented pass rusher in March after the Kansas City Chiefs weren’t willing to commit to him long-term.
After a spectacular 13-sack season in 2018 that netted him his first Pro Bowl appearance, the Chiefs opted to use the franchise tag on Ford because of his inconsistent play in previous seasons. However, it appears that Ford has found a team willing to commit to him.
Ford has not only received the paycheck that he so desired, but he now will have the opportunity to play on a defensive line featuring the likes of DeForest Buckner and Nick Bosa.
And after playing alongside players such as Chris Jones and Justin Houston last season, Ford should feel right at home in San Francisco’s stacked defensive line.
It’s difficult to imagine a better offseason scenario for Ford. He got his long-term contract and was placed on a team that has surrounded him with top-tier talent.
Not a bad offseason for the 2014 first-round pick