The San Francisco 49ers are in a very delicate spot this offseason. On one hand, they're only a year removed from appearing in the Super Bowl, and early 2026 odds on FanDuel Sportsbook give them top-10 chances of winning it next year. On the other hand, they just missed the playoffs altogether in 2025.
A good offseason can propel this team back to greatness, but a bad one can be the start of a multi-season slide that will be hard to recover from quickly.
Making major additions is always the focus of the offseason for most fans, but sometimes even more important is addressing who on the current roster won't be back for another campaign. These 49ers are the big ones that will likely be playing elsewhere in the 2025-26 season.
1. Charvarius Ward, CB
The decision to be made on Charvarius Ward this offseason is easy. He'll be an unrestricted free agent, and has the highest salary of any upcoming Niners free agent. And he didn't do a single thing to earn that kind of money last season.
Coming off a career year in 2023, Ward was only healthy enough to make 12 starts in 2024, and his level of play tanked. He was still all over the field making tackles, but the value of tackles as a DB can only go so far when your'e struggling in coverage.
He was targeted in coverage 52 times, giving up 389 yards and 5 touchdowns on 32 receptions. Opposing QBs had a passer rating of 116.6 when throwing at Ward. For context, that would have ranked No. 2 in the NFL for any QB this season, trailing just Lamar Jackson's 119.6 rating.
Stats never tell the whole story, sure, but you won't find many 49ers fans that disagree with the idea that Ward was a liability in coverage. PFF's subjective grade also had him ranked just 93rd among 118 qualifying corners leaguewide.
Did those injuries hamper his performance? Probably, but that's a problem in and of itself. How much do you really want to invest in a cornerback who is struggling to stay healthy? Letting Ward walk will be an important move in giving the 49ers enough cap space to reinforce the secondary.