The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[Bulldog]

That Joe Gibbs ear was built around a great 1981 draft. We also signed Joe Jacoby as an UDFA in 1981.

Key 1981 Washington Selections:

• Round 1 (20): Mark May (T, Pittsburgh)
• Round 3 (69): Russ Grimm (C/G, Pittsburgh)
• Round 5 (119): Dexter Manley (DE, Oklahoma State)
• Round 5 (132): Gary Sayre (G, Cameron)
• Round 6 (148): Larry Kubin (LB, Penn State)
• Round 8 (201): Charlie Brown (WR, S.C. State)
• Round 9 (231): Darryl Grant (DT, UTEP)
• Round 12 (314): Clint Didier (TE, Portland State)
  View attachment 14325Washington Commanders +2

Yep, it was voted one of the 10 best drafts in NFL history a few years back. The 49ers 1985 draft was on that list as well.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Evidently Mike Vrabel doesn't have as much of an issue as Washington does spending in free agency.

Which is kind of strange to me considering he came from New England where Belichick only signed guys every once in awhile that had bigger contracts and focused on the draft and getting comp picks.

Feels like a lot of that is the Pats ownership, Kraft, getting old and wants another championship. It's usually not the coach dictating spending but the owner-GM.

I think KDawg nailed it with their early success hurt them more then helped. They felt they we a game away from the SB so they don't need to be that aggressive -- they can sign veterans on the cheap and work FO without going for the kill. But that approached backfired. And they are still dealing with the backwash from that off season.

Also the narrative from 2024, that Jayden can overcome any bad roster - bad defense, meh WRs, no problem.

Felt like they thought they found a cheat code. And IMHO they got arrogant with this approach, lost their edge and man have they paid the price for it.

 

[Conn]

The 49ers front office found guys like Jennings in Round 7 of the draft and now teams are drooling over them

That 49ers front office was on a nice clip of finding Fred Warner, Hufanga, Dre Greenlaw and others in the middle rounds.

I was expecting that kind of accent on the draft here.

Wow, have things turned out differently.

This I can agree with. We need to be drafting our own mid-late round players that other fans wish would hit FA. Heck even early round. We mostly aren’t doing that so far.

 

[KDawg]

With all this WR talk, we still need a C and LB. Lots of work left to do.

I have some bad news for you. I think these things are for the most part by design…

 

[BayouBrave86]

Feels like a lot of that is the Pats ownership, Kraft, getting old and wants another championship. It's usually not the coach dictating spending but the owner-GM.

I think KDawg nailed it with their early success hurt them more then helped. They felt they we a game away from the SB so they don't need to be that aggressive -- they can sign veterans on the cheap and work FO without going for the kill. But that approached backfired. And they are still dealing with the backwash from that off season.

Also the narrative from 2024, that Jayden can overcome any bad roster - bad defense, meh WRs, no problem.

Felt like they thought they found a cheat code. And IMHO they got arrogant with this approach, lost their edge and man have they paid the price for it.

Man remember how good we were all feeling after going into San Diego (LA) and bullying them around in that second half?

 

[Bulldog]

It doesn’t need to be a coincidence, connections are not always a bad thing. They’re a bad thing when they’re prioritized over better options. We’re getting rejected all over the place by the better options (who we also prefer to the former 49ers, you might notice—as we’re trying to sign them first and losing out). So we shouldn’t pursue the 49ers worthy of pursuing because people can’t help but think of Rivera and Bruce Allen? How weak is that?

Aiyuk is much more about the Jayden connection than the AP connection anyways. Would be cool if our franchise QB wanted to re-sign here because we supply him some weapons to utilize on the field, but that apparently isn’t in the cards for the second year in a row. Better not sign any guys he likes either because it might trigger some peoples’ scary memories of the past

Nobody wants to come here. It’s funny to imagine turning away the few who do because they actually know and like the staff most here didn’t want to fire.

Again, though one reason Aiyuk will be attractive to this front office is the size of the contract he will be looking for will be more modest and THAT is a key for this team to the inth degree.

This front office is Charlie Munger/Warren Buffett cheap.

 

[skinsinparadise]

It doesn’t need to be a coincidence, connections are not always a bad thing. They’re a bad thing when they’re prioritized over better options. We’re getting rejected all over the place by the better options (who we also prefer to the former 49ers, you might notice—as we’re trying to sign them first and losing out). So we shouldn’t pursue the 49ers worthy of pursuing because people can’t help but think of Rivera and Bruce Allen? How weak is that?

Aiyuk is much more about the Jayden connection than the AP connection anyways. Would be cool if our franchise QB wanted to re-sign here because we supply him some weapons to utilize on the field, but that apparently isn’t in the cards for the second year in a row. Better not sign any guys he likes either because it might trigger some peoples’ scary memories of the past

Nobody wants to come here. It’s funny to imagine turning away the few who do because they actually know and like the staff most here didn’t want to fire.

Yeah I am more than OK if they sign Jennings and Aiyuk.

Among other things part of the reason why it was comical that Ron wanted to double down on Carolina players was they were mostly a bad to a mediocre team. It's not a model team to take talent from. SF actually is a winner and is a model team.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Man remember how good we were all feeling after going into San Diego (LA) and bullying them around in that second half?

I do, I was coming back from seeing a UCF game the night before, got back in time for the game, and it looked like the team was back. But alas the whole season collapsed after that.

 

[Gooseneck]

 

[Bulldog]

Yeah, but Aiyuk is anything but a model player and human being.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Yeah, but Aiyuk is anything but a model player and human being.

Different subject then lets not do the Ron thing but with SF.

 

[Conn]

The "guys you know" pipeline is "fine" early on. But we're now in year 3. They guys you know are 3 years older than when you knew them in a sport where decline starts around 30.

Jennings being 28 is not ideal. The wall at age 30 claims a LOT of wrs. Some manage to get past it, some decline but are still decent, and some just smack it and that's all she wrote.

If we assume Terry (31) is done after this year, Jennings will be 29 and only gives us one more year of sub-30 play. The hope is he can remain productive until at least 31 so we get 3 years out of him, but we need still need a new WR for next year and probably another shortly thereafter once Jennings ages out.

But for 2026 and 2027, Jennings would be a huge get. Absolutely needed to give us any real chance at having sufficient weapons for Jayden at this point.

You’re not wrong on all this. But we were rejected by the younger WR’s we chased, so Jennings becomes the best option, like you said, and you hope we can backfill the talent to develop in the meantime. Every starter on the team can’t be a trade or high dollar signing. We have to start seeing some of these young guys grow into starter roles where they exceed the value of the pick used to select them, and make themselves eligible to be re-signed early or allowed to hit FA and get overpaid.

 

[Bulldog]

Jennings on the right deal can be paid out on his guaranteed money before he is McLaurin's age at the end of this season, so I don't necessarily see that as an issue.

Besides, last year we were negotiating against ourselves with Terry whereas there is competition this time around for a free agent who has other options.

And we have burned through enough draft picks where we really can't afford to go that route.

 

[Higskin]

I know this doesn't lesson the pain but...

 

[Bulldog]

Yes, but anyone that is not a broken down 32 year old former starter who was injured in 2025?

 

[SkinsFTW]

Well, 5+ hours in today and NOTHING.

Apparently we are going to be waiting until at least tomorrow to hear anything new.

 

[skinsinparadise]

something like this

 

[Conn]

Again, though one reason Aiyuk will be attractive to this front office is the size of the contract he will be looking for will be more modest and THAT is a key for this team to the inth degree.

This front office is Charlie Munger/Warren Buffett cheap.

Every team cares about risk/reward in talent acquisition. The cost/benefit analysis on Aiyuk is different for us because of Daniels. Aiyuk wouldn’t even be an option for us with his head case baggage if he wasn’t essentially Jayden’s best friend. That’s a unique situation and he just happens to have been a 49er. That’s the reason the risk/reward ratio on him is interesting for this team specifically.

But yes they’ve been reluctant to open the wallet in general the past few years, I’ve posted on it a lot. That isn’t the main reason Aiyuk is an option for us right now though. It’s just a part of the equation.

 

[Bulldog]

Could be late. I remember one signing being announced at 11pm a couple of years ago.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Could be late. I remember one signing being announced at 11pm a couple of years ago.

Going to the previous regiime, if I recall Fitzpatrick signing was around 10 pm