Putting the 49ers Contention Puzzle Together: Needed Changes

Part 1 overdue changes in philosophy. Part 2 the corresponding roster moves.
John Walczak places a puzzle piece in place as he shows some of his huge collection of jigsaw puzzles Friday, May 3, 2024 in his Carmel home. He recently achieved a Guinness World Record for the largest collection of jigsaw puzzles.
John Walczak places a puzzle piece in place as he shows some of his huge collection of jigsaw puzzles Friday, May 3, 2024 in his Carmel home. He recently achieved a Guinness World Record for the largest collection of jigsaw puzzles. / Kelly Wilkinson/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK
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My dad loves jigsaw puzzles. For years at Christmas, we’d get him this impossible puzzle with a million pieces, we’d all groan and then laugh. We’d gather around the table and with patience and process we put it together. That’s the 49ers assignment this off-season, to make personnel and philosophy connect.

They found a crucial piece in Robert Saleh’s return. A helpful one with the hiring of Brant Boyer to run special teams.  Now the rest of the pieces are spread across the table. Over $63 million in effective cap room. The 11th pick as part of four selections in the first 99. Then the tricky part, pieces that only emerge through a change in philosophy. Let’s start putting it together.

The first step is finding the edge pieces and building the perimeter, that’s the foundation. Last season the Niners chose to run it back by doubling down on proven but aging and fragile veterans, who predictably fell to injury. Running it back in 2025 risks the same result. Changes are needed to establish a sound foundation.

PHILOSOPHICAL CHANGES

Adopt a new approach to contract negotiations.

Every year it’s start with a shameless lowball offer, anger the player, stretch out negotiations, and cave last minute. The player reports late, and the team builds no continuity as individuals parachute into the season opener.

Tim Kawakami of sfstandard.com reports that the Niners will change things up with a shorter-term, lower guaranteed money offer to Brock Purdy. It’s still a lowball opening but Kawakami has heard, ”there won’t be fireworks on the way to an eventual deal.” The key word being eventual. The Niners are best served having Purdy signed by OTAs that begin in late May.

Build the future core now, in the image of the current one.

One of the 49ers’ cultural flaws is to wish things into being. Wish by doubling down on core vets, they go down, then wish that those players will carry the team when they return. There is never a commitment to Plan B.

This is true of the roster management and how the defensive coordinator search was run. Plan B did not exist. Now with high picks and a lot of cap room the Niners must invest in Plan B – the future core of the team. Use the Super Bowl seasons as the skillset blueprint.

Focus on signing a younger free agent and drafting younger players.

It’s more expensive to sign younger free agents. Yet the history lesson is the younger, more expensive free agent in Charvarius Ward is their most successful outside free agent signing in years. Don’t focus on getting the best deal with an older cheaper free agent, focus on getting the right piece that helps you win games and joins the future core long term.

This isn’t possible for all of the signings, but it is for the big swings.

Ricky Pearsall was drafted in the first round last year despite being 24. His first season was essentially a redshirt year. Which means the 49ers used a first round pick on a player who will likely only provide four meaningful seasons. That’s a poor return on investment. It’s wasteful.

Find more flavors than vanilla on defense.

This will change with Saleh’s arrival. Last year the defense was vanilla, Wide 9, rarely blitz, zone with minimal use of disguised coverages and simulated pressure. Saleh is known for dialing it up on third down to get off the field, that’s needed and overdue.

Speaking of the Wide 9, it needs to be a primary option, but not the only one. A 4-3 with conventional spacing would make it easier to mask coverages and set up exotic blitzes.

Commit to the investment that should have been made years ago, a significant upgrade of the offensive line.

This is the largest and most important piece of the puzzle other than Saleh.

Kyle Shanahan told Kawakami in an interview last year that his focus for the offensive line to the right of Trent Williams was the floor not the ceiling. If you met the floor of NFL starter, that’s good enough for Shanahan. Then that floor OL lost mismatches to Kansas City in both Super Bowls. In my view, Shanahan’s OL philosophy has contributed to losing rings. It must change.

After extending Brock Purdy, the best way to optimize him is an investment in the OL, he’s far more efficient when protected. The best way to beat the Rams is to neutralize their young defensive line. Improving the offensive line is a path to score consistently in the red zone. The benefits of the investment are clear.

In his introductory press conference in Chicago, new Bears head coach Ben Johnson noted a key change that flips conventional thinking. He said quarterback efficiency is now a more effective predictor of wins and losses than turnover margin. Another argument for an investment in the offensive line.

Will Shanahan be willing to spend big money on a young free agent lineman? A growing chorus is calling for the Niners to sign Atlanta center Drew Dalman. Will four years at $46 million give Dollar Store OL shopper Shanahan some sticker shock? We’ll find out soon.

The next step in putting a puzzle together is organizing by color and shape, building segments that then connect to the perimeter. In the Niners case, connecting players to how they win.

That’s next in part 2, the upcoming roster moves in the draft and free agency.

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Tom Jensen
TOM JENSEN

Tom Jensen covered the San Francisco 49ers from 1985-87 for KUBA-AM in Yuba City, part of the team’s radio network. He won two awards from UPI for live news reporting. Tom attended 49ers home games and camp in Rocklin. He grew up a Niners fan starting in 1970, the final year at Kezar. Tom also covered the Kings when they first arrived in Sacramento, and served as an online columnist writing on the Los Angeles Lakers for bskball.com. He grew up in the East Bay, went to San Diego State undergrad, a classmate of Tony Gwynn, covering him in baseball and as the team’s point guard in basketball. Tom has an MBA from UC Irvine with additional grad coursework at UCLA. He's writing his first science fiction novel, has collaborated on a few screenplays, and runs his own global jazz/R&B website at vibrationsoftheworld.com. Tom lives in Seattle and hopes to move to Tracktown (Eugene, OR) in the spring.