The San Francisco 49ers have a lot of cash and potentially a franchise quarterback in place. It’s safe to say they should be a popular destination in free agency. At Jimmy Garoppolo’s contract extension press conference, John Lynch talked about the great weather and having a quarterback in place. Garoppolo then mentioned that some outside players had already reached out to him. Now, we can add another person pitching that line.
Former NFL wide receiver Andrew Hawkins was on ESPN’s NFL Live on Monday, and they got into a discussion about John Lynch’s free agency comments. They run an Overreaction Monday segment, and host Dianna Russini said his statement about the chance to become a premier destination was an overreaction. She focused on the money, talking about the high state income tax in California.
Hawkins did not think it was an overreaction for a variety of reasons.
“San Fran, great place to be. Kyle Shanahan, I played for him in Cleveland. Players love him. I have fans and friends on the Falcons that miss him. And then I have guys who are free agents this year who are talking about trying to get to San Francisco.”
The 49ers are going to be connected to a lot of free agents given their cap space. But it makes a lot of sense that players would be intrigued by playing for the team. We saw the huge turnaround under Jimmy Garoppolo, Kyle Shanahan has built a strong coaching reputation, and I can see John Lynch offering appeal in that “he played the game, so he knows what’s up” kind of way.
The 49ers will have their own decisions to make with regard to who they actually want to make a run at next month. But it shouldn’t be for lack of interest from players.