Report: 49ers Exercising Final Year Option on FB Kyle Juszczyk

The first key player that the San Francisco 49ers have locked up for the 2020 season is fullback Kyle Juszczyk.

The first key player that the San Francisco 49ers have locked up for the 2020 season is fullback Kyle Juszczyk. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN has reported that the 49ers are exercising the final year option on his four-year deal that was signed back in March 2017.

49ers exercise option on fullback Kyle Juszczyk, per source, keeping key piece to SF offensive attack.

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) March 4, 2020

Juszczyk is slated to make $5.05M base salary and $400k in bonuses in 2020. That means his salary-cap hit for the season is $6.7 million per David Lombardi of The Athletic.

Locking up the Pro Bowl fullback should not come as a surprise. Juszczyk was easily one of the best offensive players for the 49ers last season. He played a pivotal in the 49ers being the No. 2 ranked rushing offense last season. His blocks were nothing short of stellar as he gave fits to linebackers, and even defensive lineman, week after week.

If he wasn't blocking, then he would go out on a route and gash a defense. Just how versatile he is and how elite he is in his execution of multiple positions makes him invaluable.

Instead of using "Swiss army knife" as a reference for versatility, people should just start referencing Juszczyk for it. He's just a high-caliber performer and stand up guy in the locker room. 

The next step for the 49ers would be to lock up Juszczyk for the future. Of course, it isn't lock that they would invest in him on a long-term deal. However, I would lean towards more likely than not that the 49ers want to keep him for the future.