Don’t worry about how many free agents the 49ers can bring back

The prevailing story of the offseason has been how the 49ers are going to construct their roster with a ton of free agents and limited cap space. I came to a bit of a revelation today when thinking about how the team should move forward this offseason.

Don’t worry about bringing everyone back.

I say this knowing full well many of you have already bitten your fingernails down to the bone trying to squeeze everybody under a salary cap that is going down in 2021. I’m not entirely sure that’s the right way to look at it.

I took a deep dive into this subject in today’s Niners Nation Podcast, but I’ll try and explain a little bit here. The goal is to make the team as good as it can possibly be, not to try and re-sign all its free agents. Are the 49ers really as good as they can be if they brought everyone back? I’m not so sure about that.

When guys hit the market, you then have to pay them the market rate, which is almost always more than they were making previously. Nothing about their free agency, however, makes them better players. So all you really get if you bring them back is the same player at a higher price.

In reality, the 49ers should only be looking to bring back superstar players like Trent Williams, and the guys they think will actually produce at a higher level than they did previously. But how many of the team’s free agents fit into that category?

Listen to today’s Niners Nation Podcast in the player below to find out. Or listen on any major podcast platform.

Other topics in today’s episode

• Why I think Tim Kawakami’s latest article defending Jimmy G. is wrong
• Who is your least favorite 49ers head coach in the last 20 years?
• Why the 49ers could have more cap space than we thought