49ers Place Second-Round Tenders on Kendrick Bourne, Matt Breida

Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne and running back Matt Breida are in line to remain with the San Francisco 49ers in 2020.

Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne and running back Matt Breida are in line to remain with the San Francisco 49ers in 2020. The 49ers have placed second-round tenders on both players who entered free agency as restricted free agents per Matt Barrows of The Athletic.

The #49ers have tendered their restricted free agents:
* WR Kendrick Bourne, second-round tender
* RB Matt Breida, second-round tender
* LB Elijah Lee, no tender

— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) March 17, 2020

Breida's second-round tender was first reported by Dianna Russini of ESPN.  

Bourne and Breida will each be paid a salary of $3.259 million in 2020. However, there is still a chance that they can find a new team in the coming days. The only reason why it doesn't seem likely is because of the second-round tender.

Any team that wants to offer these two players a deal will have to jump through hoops. The 49ers are allowed to match any offer another team gives to them. And if they refuse to match, then the team that is luring one of the players away will be forced to surrender their second-round pick to the 49ers as compensation.

No slight to Breida and Bourne, who were strong offensive players last season, but giving up as second-rounder seems over the top for them. Not to mention the money to give up just to bring them in. 

Having these two players back in the fold just further cements the continuity of the football team. The 49ers have made it a priority to keep the 2019 as much intact as they can. The only exception is DeForest Buckner who was traded to the Indianapolis Colts on Monday.

Breida was the star of the show for the running backs as he trampled over defenses for the first half of the season. That was until he fell out of favor as the season was nearing its end. He didn't even see a single snap in the Super Bowl, so his tender is a bit surprising.

As for Bourne, his tender was a no-brainer as he was the offense's most clutch receiver on third-down and in the redzone. Without Bourne, that would've left Deebo Samuel as the only contributing receiver from 2019. 

The only restricted free agent that was not tendered was linebacker Elijah Lee.