What will the 49ers do with Kyle Juszczyk? They face many tough calls in free agency
Kyle Juszczyk took less than a minute to choke up during his final chat with reporters Monday to conclude the San Francisco 49ers’ lost season.
That’s because the talented fullback, who made the Pro Bowl in each of his four seasons with San Francisco, doesn’t know if he’ll return. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in March and the 49ers might not have the financial flexibility to bring him back on a second contract.
“Just not totally sure what’s ahead for me. I don’t want it to be a sense of finality,” Juszczyk said as his voice caught. “Honestly, it’s just been a lot of emotions the past weeks.”
Juszczyk has been a core member of the first free agent class brought in by coach Kyle Shanahan before his first season in 2017. He signed the largest contract in history for a fullback, landing a four-year, $21 million deal for a position many offenses have phased out.
The other free agents signed early when that new league year began: receivers Marquise Goodwin and Pierre Garçon, quarterback Brian Hoyer, linebacker Malcolm Smith and kicker Robbie Gould.
Juszczyk proved to be worth his contract. His versatility optimized the 49ers’ offense. He’s an excellent run blocker who could also catch passes out of the backfield. This season, Juszczyk was a short-yardage weapon for the first time in his San Francisco tenure. Twelve of his 17 runs went for first downs.
“So if I had to make a pitch for Juice,” tight end George Kittle said, “I definitely want Juice to stay because he’s such a staple of our offense and we couldn’t do a lot of the things that we do without him. The way that he fixes plays, we might get a missed call, and we might block the wrong guy, and Juice will pick up that guy and it’ll be an explosive play. He is, in my opinion, one of one. I don’t know that anyone does the thing that he does on the football field.”
Key 49ers free agent: Trent Williams
Juszczyk would leave a void difficult to fill, but he’s not the only notable free agent the 49ers will either re-sign at a hefty price or replace.
Another is left tackle Trent Williams, who could get one of the largest contracts for a tackle in league history. Packers star David Bakhtiari recently signed a deal paying him an average of $23 million over four seasons. Williams, 33, could get something similar. He finished 2020 ranked as Pro Football Focus’ top-graded tackle overall and in the running game.
The team is expecting the 2021 salary cap be $175 million, which was bargained before the 2020 season to compensate for lost revenue created by the coronavirus pandemic. Williams and the 49ers reworked his contract after getting him from Washington with a clause that prevented San Francisco from giving him the franchise tag. Which means in order for him to return, it will take some serious cash and a long-term agreement.
The 49ers, who are expected to have roughly $30 million to spend before potentially finding more through cuts and restructures, might get outbid for Williams, who reiterated the 49ers are his top option. But he also wants to see what’s out there given he’s never had an opportunity to hit the open market since he left Oklahoma after his second season to enter the 2010 draft.
That possibility is enticing for Williams, given he thought his value dropped in 2019 when he sat out the season amid a longstanding dispute with the Washington organization. Williams sounds ready to reap the rewards now that he’s put together a strong season.
“I am curious to see what my value is around the league,” Williams said. “I felt like I was devalued in a lot of ways. I know I always put a good product on the field, but I think my character was questioned a lot. It was a time and point where I was being told where there was no suitors, there was no people looking to trade for me. So yeah, I thought my value took a huge hit. I think it is curiosity. I kind of want to see where that true value now that everybody can shoot their shot without having to go through anybody.”
A smattering of 49ers free agents
Shanahan, in his final team meeting of the season Monday, said he wanted to keep as many core players as he could despite the team’s disappointing 6-10 season. Shanahan has made clear he still believes this team can make a championship run as constructed, but it won’t be easy keeping that group together given the new financial realities of the league.
“There’s a lot of guys in that room who aren’t signed and especially after our year, going 6-10 and stuff, you don’t usually sit in front of a team and say, ‘We truly want to get all you guys back, but we know we can’t get it all, but we’re going to do it as hard as we can.’ I don’t say stuff totally I don’t mean, so I meant that,” Shanahan said.
“So, it was cool to be able to say that to a group. Everyone knows that you can’t do it, but it’s the truth. We’ve got a lot of guys that we do want to bring back because we do believe we have a good team, a really good team. We’ve got to find ways to improve it through our decisions that we make. Definitely through the draft this year. I think it’ll be a huge year for us in the draft with the amount of picks we have and that’s what I meant.”
Williams and Juszcyzk and Williams are just two of the team’s 26 unrestricted free agents. Eleven played at least 30% of the team’s snaps this season: Williams, cornerback Jason Verrett, defensive end Kerry Hyder – who led the team in sacks – receiver Kendrick Bourne, Juszczyk, defensive tackle D.J. Jones, safety Jaquiski Tartt, defensive end Dion Jordan, cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, cornerback Richard Sherman and center Ben Garland.
Sherman, of course, is the biggest name of the group, but he made clear during the regular season he didn’t expect to be back. Slot cornerback K’Waun Williams, regarded as one of the best nickels in the league, is also unrestricted. He played just 27% of the snaps this season while dealing with injuries.
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
