The San Francisco 49ers have not formally announce the Richard Sherman signing, but it’s safe to say John Lynch let the cat out of the bag on Twitter.
Hey #Faithful, Gonna be a fun weekend! pic.twitter.com/CAnU4GNikP
— John Lynch (@JohnLynch49ers) March 11, 2018
Lynch tweeted this photo late Saturday afternoon, featuring him, chief negotiator Paraag Marathe, Richard Sherman, and Sherman’s partner. Sherman represented himself in free agency, so there is no agent to appear in the photo.
The 49ers will submit the paperwork to the NFLPA and NFL offices and we should hear the official word sooner rather than later. But it’s great to see how quickly and effectively the front office worked to get this done. We’re still waiting on more details, but the 49ers made the strong sell to Sherman and got the deal done.
It is hard to imagine this happening two or three years ago under then GM Trent Baalke. The 49ers would likely not have gone after a player at this kind of cost, and if they had, one has to wonder if they could have made things happen this quickly. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison given how much has changed and where the 49ers currently stand, but Sherman likes what he sees in the 49ers, and that got the deal done. One has to imagine other free agents likely will be feeling this as well. It could make for a fascinating free agency period next week!