John Lynch Gives Brutally Honest Assessment Of Niners Offseason

This offseason saw some significant changes for the San Francisco 49ers' roster. They saw one of the largest free agency spending deficits in NFL history, letting a number of starters and key players walk away. 

San Francisco forced the issue on a few departures, most notably their trade of former No. 1 wideout Deebo Samuel. Nonetheless, they accepted these losses and shifted their focus for 2025 and beyond. 

The goal for the Niners was to get cheaper and younger. They accomplished the first of those two items through free agency period and fulfilled the second in part with an 11-player draft class in April. 

But focusing on the "cheaper" objective, that came at a cost. The Niners let key ancillary players go while investing top-dollar into their core foundational pieces as Brock Purdy, Fred Warner and George Kittle all signed their own contract extensions. 

General manager John Lynch acknowledges these changes as a necessary evil as the franchise moves forward. 

“I think it spoke to how good our roster was,” Lynch said. “We had a lot of talent on it and we had acquired a lot of talent, accrued a lot of talent, and people saw that," he told Matt Maiocco of NBCSportsBayArea.com.

"That’s the hard part, watching good players that are good people, and good people who help build the culture we have here, walk out the door. That’s never fun, but again, it was necessary, and happy where we’re at.”

While the Niners lost several of those culture-setters they have remnants of that same core still in-tact. Warner, Kittle and Purdy all played key roles in that process not to mention Nick Bosa who remains very relevant as a contributor and a leader. 

But despite this commitment to the future, it's not a turnover engineered by entirely new faces either. Robert Saleh, an instrumental member of the coaching staff from their initial run with Lynch leading the franchise, returns to the Bay Area in hopes of revitalizing this Niners' defense.

Replacing this allotment of talent offensively and defensively will be no easy undertaking. San Francisco has direction but there's no guarantee of any immediate success. 

However, there is a strong belief within this organization that a shift was needed for multiple reasons. Niners falls wait and hope that this gamble will pay off down the line.