San Francisco 49ers: Top 6 biggest offseason winners and losers

Loser: Garrett Celek

The writing has been on the wall since the end of last season that Garrett Celek‘s time in San Francisco was nearing its conclusion and the events that have unfolded this offseason have only doubled down on the issue.

Celek has amazingly spent the last seven seasons in a 49ers uniform — boy how time flies — and after a few seasons of quality production, it’s clear that his best years are behind him.

The 31-year-old hauled in just five catches for 90 yards last season after recording 19 or more grabs in each of the prior three seasons. On top of that, his blocking chops were clearly not what they used to be as he was tagged for six accepted penalties on the season.

The bad news has only continued to pile on for Celek as it was recently reported that the veteran had undergone back surgery and could miss the start of training camp.

Moreover, Celek is still in the concussion protocol and can’t be tested until training camp after suffering a head injury late in the season.

San Francisco has clearly been planning for his departure too drafting Stanford’s Kaden Smith in the sixth-round of this year’s draft and signing former Atlanta Falcons tight end Levine Toilolo in free agency.

Toilolo could easily take over as the primary blocking tight end while Smith could fight for time behind George Kittle as the primary backup tight end.

The 49ers could save over $2 million in cap space if they were to release him making it a financially wise decision as well. Celek has had a great run in San Francisco and his “Celek Time” catchphrase will be entrenched into the hearts and minds of 49ers fans for quite some time.

But this past offseason may have very well sealed his fate.