5 teams that did the best in NFL free agency
San Francisco 49ers
Under general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan, the San Francisco 49ers have gone from an embarrassment plagued by petty in-fighting to one of the most well-run organizations in the entire NFL.
After assembling a Super Bowl-quality team in the 2019 offseason, the 49ers are back to business in 2020. They re-signed arguably the league’s most underrated edge defenders in Arik Armstead. While they had to invest significantly in the former Oregon Duck, $85 million for five years to one of the league’s most well-rounded front seven players is money well spent.
Additionally, the 49ers moved a more expensive and less important player in DeForest Buckner for a first-round pick. Buckner will be missed, but the Niners should be applauded for both saving cap space and getting a top pick out of Buckner.
It isn’t easy to move star players, but elite teams have to be smart with financial allocations so they don’t run up against the cap. In this case, the 49ers could only pick one defensive lineman, and now they have a pick they can use to address a need elsewhere.
San Francisco have held onto two talented, athletic running backs in Jerick McKinnon and Matt Breida, as having multiple explosive options in the running game is important to Shanahan’s offensive identity.
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Finally, they also re-signed versatile defensive back Jimmie Ward, who fulfilled his potential coming out of Northern Illinois as a jack-of-all-trades playmaker.
The hyper-athletic Ward will be one of the stars of the 49ers defense next season. Following up on a conference championship-winning season is as much about keeping star players and making room for the future, which the Niners have capably done thus far.