The 2026 Free Agency Thread

Agree with all of this, except for Jennings. Isn't passing on free-agent wide receivers because we think they’re “not worth the price“ partly how we got in this mess in the first place?

I really don’t think we are in a mess. We could stand to add a veteran sure, but I actually like our wide receivers.

Last year was bad because Terry, Luke, and Noah Brown were hurt. This year we replaced the wrong Brown (Noah) with the right one (Dyami) and hopefully Terry and Luke are healed. We’ve also added Antonio Williams to the mix, which should be a big help. I agree we do need to bring back Deebo or add a veteran like Aiyuk or Jennings to replace him, but I don’t think we need more than one. We are better off at the position than everybody seems to think.

I’ve posed this question a few times, but I think it is the clearest way to explain what I mean. We have the following wideouts in addition to Terry McLaurin and Antonio Williams: LMC, Dyami Brown, Jaylin Lane, Treylon Burks, Van Jefferson. We need to cut at least one of them as it is, and for everybody else you bring in you’ll have to cut another. So which 2 or 3 are you cutting?
 
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Last year looked bad because Terry, Luke, and Noah Brown were hurt. This year we replaced the wrong Brown (Noah) with the right one (Dyami) and hopefully Terry and Luke are healed. We’ve also added Antonio Williams to the mix, which should be a big help. I agree we do need to bring back Deebo or add a veteran to replace him, but I don’t think we need more than one. We are better off at the position than everybody seems to think.

I’m probably on an island. I’d rather have Noah Brown than Treylon Burks. What does Burks have over Noah? That he was healthy enough to catch 10 balls last year instead of 5. Burks has been much less productive as a pro.

To be clear, I would sign Noah. Edit: holy hell. I meant to type, “would NOT sign Noah.”

I just think that there are obvious WR upgrades out there for us, and I’d rather sign one than buy a Burks scratch off ticket or rely on Dyami being something other that what he’s been over a career that now has been long enough to give us a totally adequate sample size.
 
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I hear you, and I think you may be right, but you shouldn’t be right.

We are going into Jayden’s last year on his rookie deal. We almost made the Super Bowl 2 years ago. ****ing fill the holes at WR, C, and CB. We have 50 million dollars of cap space and 100 million next year. We should not be less aggressive than our division rivals. We should not be counting on lotto tickets, like Aiyuk. Is there a world where Aiyuk and Terry both put up 1,000 yards and Williams and Chig both put up 700? Sure. Do I want to bet a year of Jayden’s career on that? Hell no. If I were Josh Harris, I would be pushing this hard.

I get it that leaning into value can be a good strategy. I think Peters hasn’t leaned into maximizing our opportunities enough. It’s not that I think that his drafting or signings haven’t been good. It’s that I don’t perceive nearly enough of a sense of urgency from him. You can be as shrewd as you want, but if a bunch of other teams look like they’ve just done an obviously better job supporting their QB, than we have done supporting what looks like could be our franchise savior, then we need more urgency.

I get wanting to be aggressive to push us over the top, but it could backfire. I remember what happened when we tried to do that in 2000. How sure are we that bringing in Brandon Aiyuk isn’t the same kind of mistake as bringing in Deion Sanders?

Also, we did add a WR and C in the draft, so those aren’t huge holes anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, we do need CB depth, and adding a vet WR is probably a good idea, but I would be cautious about trying to buy a championship roster in free agency.
 
On the Aiyuk thing, if AP folds, he is a mark
It really depends on the type of trade it is. If it's a swap of a 6th for a 7th + Aiyuk, eh, it really doesn't matter assuming it's an entirely new contract, I mean, who the hell cares. If you think he could help this year, taking an at maximum 20 spot slip in the draft is really absolutely nothing.

Now if he gives up a pick or more value, I would have questions.
 

Why do people keep looking at this as a bad thing? It's actually a great thing. He's not answering the phone because he literally wants to be a Commander and nothing else. He wants to play with Jayden and for AP. He likes Tunsil. He doesn't care what SF or any other club is offering. That's why he's not responding to them. Jayden is in constant contact with him.

Also this is another person who has been around him who said that he's a great person and teammate. I haven't heard one person yet say otherwise yet that is the narrative that have a lot of people not wanting us to sign him.... Smh
 
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To expand on what Conn said above a little, I think the most important thing for the offense is to have enough variety and weapons on the field, team's can't lock down one guy and grind the whole thing to a halt.

This is why you want a complementary running/passing game, so defenses can't key on one or the other.

This is why you want multiple pass catchers, so they can't just double (or even triple) one guy and then nobody else cand do anything.

And the more I thought about it, the more I think they've essentially accomplished that whether they really get another true outside WR2 on the outside opposite Terry.

Last year we only had that kindof when Deebo and Terry were both healthy, and that didn't happen much, and there was really no third option to speak of, either at TE or WR.

This year, assuming some health, we have Terry on one side, Chig as a more dynamic TE, and Williams as another WR (granted a rookie) who can get open. That's three + the running game. We also have depth pieces who can provide the 4th, and we have RBs who can contribute to the pass game.

So, if (and this is a big if) Blough can mix run/pass, and be creative with different concepts and mix up play calling, the offense has enough to be the one thing that you need it to be more than anything else: unpredictable. If you're predictable, you better be like the 80's skins and just be able to run over people when they know it's coming. And there are VERY VERY few examples of that in NFL history.

Otherwise, you have to be unpredictable. If they double Terry, then that should open up Chig and William, and as long as you have one more competent player out there somewhere, you're probably in pretty good shape.

There is more than one way to slice this onion. And maybe we're going to try and do it in a non-traditional way.

The best example of being non-traditional with this I can remember is when NE loaded up with TE's and essentially ignored the fact they had WRs on the field. Gronk was the primary target on most plays. They accomplished the same thing with different positions.

I have no idea if this will work or not. But it seems to be the plan.

And if it is the plan, then I think it's unlikely you see any real movement with another WR. Maybe down the road, but probably not until after mini-camps.
 
I get wanting to be aggressive to push us over the top, but it could backfire. I remember what happened when we tried to do that in 2000. How sure are we that bringing in Brandon Aiyuk isn’t the same kind of mistake as bringing in Deion Sanders?

Also, we did add a WR and C in the draft, so those aren’t huge holes anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, we do need CB depth, and adding a vet WR is probably a good idea, but I would be cautious about trying to buy a championship roster in free agency.
Our WR depth has gone from Terry and a couple of 3rd and 4th round picks to to Terry and a few 3rd and 4th round picks. I hope that SIP the others are right that Williams can hit the ground running, but I still think it's incredibly foolhardy to trust the entire receiving corps to Terry, a rookie, and some guys who play like rookies. And Chig. Much love to Chig, who will hopefully earn that love, but he's one dude.

If I'm reading your post right, you don't want Aiyuk (unless it's for peanuts, I feel the same way) OR another WR for more than peanuts? I disagree with that if so. We get what we pay for, so to get an acceptable helper at WR, we're going to have to spend at least a little.
 
Our WR depth has gone from Terry and a couple of 3rd and 4th round picks to to Terry and a few 3rd and 4th round picks. I hope that SIP the others are right that Williams can hit the ground running, but I still think it's incredibly foolhardy to trust the entire receiving corps to Terry, a rookie, and some guys who play like rookies. And Chig. Much love to Chig, who will hopefully earn that love, but he's one dude.

If I'm reading your post right, you don't want Aiyuk (unless it's for peanuts, I feel the same way) OR another WR for more than peanuts? I disagree with that if so. We get what we pay for, so to get an acceptable helper at WR, we're going to have to spend at least a little.

No guarantees in life. But I watched a lot of college Jaylin Lane and my share of McCaffrey and a lot of Antoinio Williams. There is no comparison IMO. Lane and McCaffrey for different reasons were projects. They were raw. Lane was basically a WR that caught passes on the first level and was about YAC. Not much of a route tree. McCaffrey was just learning the position and IMO was stiff when it came to short area seperation. Antonio is a sharp route runner, high floor. A total different idea from the other late third-late forth round WRs. It's almost as if Peters said to himself, not again, lets go for polish over potential.

Logan Paulsen and Keim said same thing no comparison between Antonio and Lane-McCaffrey. Todd McShay thinks he can catch 80 balls as a rookie. I am not on an island about him even though the local media seemed to be sleeping on him as a potential pick and seemed focused on boom-bust WR prospects.

Also I think some seem to sleep on the difference between an early 3rd rounder and a late third rounder. It's weird because no one sleeps on an early first versus a late first -- there is a difference. It's part of my actual defense of the McCaffrey pick as being Ok with the benefit of hindsight. I graded McCaffrey as a 6th rounder. They took him at 100 -- late third. There is typically a difference between a dude taken in the late third like McCaffrey or a late forth like Lane versus earlier in that round. But to me if you got a #4 type of receiver who blockers well and is a good kick returner is a good pick at that spot -- not great but good. The typical dude who is picked 100 is a bust or close enough.

Maybe hopefully I am good luck, the last time I was this enthusiastic about an early third round pick where I felt like I had to sell it both pre and post the pick it was Terry.
 
I hope so, I really do. But even if Williams pans out immediately, one freak injury puts the team back at square one. I know it's impossible to have loads of quality at WR on every level of the depth chart, but right now, the impression I have is we have 2 effective receivers, a TE, and then there's everyone else. I want so much to have a 3rd receiver who has a proven body of work and isn't so old that he'd be the most likely to get injured first out of the three.
 
I hear you, and I think you may be right, but you shouldn’t be right.

We are going into Jayden’s last year on his rookie deal. We almost made the Super Bowl 2 years ago. ****ing fill the holes at WR, C, and CB. We have 50 million dollars of cap space and 100 million next year. We should not be less aggressive than our division rivals. We should not be counting on lotto tickets, like Aiyuk. Is there a world where Aiyuk and Terry both put up 1,000 yards and Williams and Chig both put up 700? Sure. Do I want to bet a year of Jayden’s career on that? Hell no. If I were Josh Harris, I would be pushing this hard.

I get it that leaning into value can be a good strategy. I think Peters hasn’t leaned into maximizing our opportunities enough. It’s not that I think that his drafting or signings haven’t been good. It’s that I don’t perceive nearly enough of a sense of urgency from him. You can be as shrewd as you want, but if a bunch of other teams look like they’ve just done an obviously better job supporting their QB, than we have done supporting what looks like could be our franchise savior, then we need more urgency.

Hey I agree with you. Completely. I’ve been very hard on Peters, especially in regards to the offense and the WR spot specifically. I’ve killed him for it.

Just explaining what I think their general plan is, and how it might not be a disaster if the Blough offense is actually well-designed, Jayden bounces back, and most of the weapons we do have stay healthy. Lots of qualifiers to come out the other side of this with a productive offense, but that’s what happens when you fail to achieve your objectives. Which is what happened for us at WR in FA. We failed, and now have to try and succeed overall on offense anyways.
 
I really don’t think we are in a mess. We could stand to add a veteran sure, but I actually like our wide receivers.

Last year was bad because Terry, Luke, and Noah Brown were hurt. This year we replaced the wrong Brown (Noah) with the right one (Dyami) and hopefully Terry and Luke are healed. We’ve also added Antonio Williams to the mix, which should be a big help. I agree we do need to bring back Deebo or add a veteran like Aiyuk or Jennings to replace him, but I don’t think we need more than one. We are better off at the position than everybody seems to think.

I’ve posed this question a few times, but I think it is the clearest way to explain what I mean. We have the following wideouts in addition to Terry McLaurin and Antonio Williams: LMC, Dyami Brown, Jaylin Lane, Treylon Burks, Van Jefferson. We need to cut at least one of them as it is, and for everybody else you bring in you’ll have to cut another. So which 2 or 3 are you cutting?
I think they’re all somewhat expendable. Jefferson would be an easy cut for me. If we need to cut one more then it’s Dyami. those guys are easily replaceable veterans who have done very little and to me don’t have any upside at this point.

I’ll throw the question back at you, since you say we could stand to add a veteran? Who would you let go to bring in an upgrade?
 
There have been a number of teams mentioned recently as potential landing spots for Deebo now that the draft is history.

I expect he and possibly Jennings and even DIggs are signed over the next couple weeks.

It seems prudent for AP to have another option in place if one of those guys are in his plan
 
As I was just saying:

Free agent WR Jauan Jennings is visiting with the Vikings on Tuesday.

His market is starting to pick up steam now that we’re close to clearing the compensation pick portion of proceedings. The Dolphins, per Barry Jackson, also reportedly have interest in Jennings. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him signed before the week is out after his initial market went cold.
21m ago
Source: Adam Schefter
 
I really don’t think we are in a mess. We could stand to add a veteran sure, but I actually like our wide receivers.

Last year was bad because Terry, Luke, and Noah Brown were hurt. This year we replaced the wrong Brown (Noah) with the right one (Dyami) and hopefully Terry and Luke are healed. We’ve also added Antonio Williams to the mix, which should be a big help. I agree we do need to bring back Deebo or add a veteran like Aiyuk or Jennings to replace him, but I don’t think we need more than one. We are better off at the position than everybody seems to think.

I’ve posed this question a few times, but I think it is the clearest way to explain what I mean. We have the following wideouts in addition to Terry McLaurin and Antonio Williams: LMC, Dyami Brown, Jaylin Lane, Treylon Burks, Van Jefferson. We need to cut at least one of them as it is, and for everybody else you bring in you’ll have to cut another. So which 2 or 3 are you cutting?
Is there another NFL team with a weaker receiver room than we have right now?

Maybe the Raiders. The Browns would have been part of the conversation but used 1st and 2nd round picks on receivers.
 
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Aiyuk lol in the SF camp I guess is a possibility.


*sigh* all of this uncertainty about Aiyuk is in danger of becoming about as much of a distraction for us as it is for the 49ers.

Can we please just go get Jennings with that cap space that we probably won’t use otherwise and be done with it?? SIP, if I remember correctly, you were pretty high on Jennings as a potential signing going into free agency…still the case?
 

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