49ers show restraint to start free agency — even with Dre Greenlaw
The 49ers have already developed replacements for most of the big-money players on that list — Dominick Puni for Banks, Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green for Ward and Malik Mustapha for Hufanga — so it’s fair to say those departures are a built-in part of the 49ers’ formula. The one exception is Greenlaw, whom the 49ers hoped to retain — but not at the price Denver offered.
The larger strategy involves a calculated pullback in spending this offseason and has long featured a focus on accumulating compensatory picks in the NFL Draft. The league awards those based on a formula that tallies contracts lost and gained during free agency.
Before six hours had even elapsed on Monday, the list of 49ers’ departures above — even with the addition of Farrell considered — already translated into a projection of four compensatory draft picks for the team in the 2026 draft. That’s the maximum allowed through player departures in a single season.
The 49ers, therefore, are on track to net 25 compensatory draft picks over a five-year stretch (the team has also attained picks through the departures of minority coaches and executives for promotions), the most in the NFL. Since draft picks are cost-controlled by the Collective Bargaining Agreement’s rookie wage scale, this haul is an instrumental pillar in the 49ers’ efforts to build a younger roster that fits in a time of rising costs.
“You look at the well-run organizations,” Lynch said in 2023. “Some of the people play this [comp-pick] game and play it really well. Baltimore was always one that did it extremely well. New England was doing it. We felt like once we could get to a position, we’d love to figure it out. And we had a lot of smart people who we felt could help us figure it out and figure out how to do it well.”
The 49ers have certainly mastered that piece of the puzzle. There’s much more work to do, of course, and that’ll eventually require drafting effectively with the extra selections that they have accumulated. The team has a total of 11 picks in the 2025 draft, four of which are compensatory selections.
But the draft isn’t until late April. Now, free agency is rolling. And that means the focus will be on veterans to begin solidifying the roster at a good price.
The 49ers will certainly scour the market for linebackers moving forward. And they’ll also continue monitoring the case of pass rusher Joey Bosa, the brother of 49ers’ star Nick Bosa. While there’s mutual interest to pair the Bosa brothers together in the Bay Area, the Miami Dolphins are also interested in adding Joey, who grew up in nearby Fort Lauderdale (Bosa’s dad, John Bosa, played for the Dolphins). That courtship has put the Bosa saga into a holding pattern — for now.
Stay tuned for more updates as the 49ers traverse through free agency.