The 2021 49ers: A Colossal Waste of Time

The 49ers attempted to win now and plan for the future in the same offseason. By trying to do both they diminished their chances of accomplishing either.

The San Francisco 49ers sold their fanbase on the delusion of trying to accomplish two very different goals in the same offseason – winning now and planning for the future.

They sold you (this fanbase) on the lie that they were Super Bowl contenders with Jimmy Garoppolo and the team they brought back in free agency. They also sold you on the idea that trading up for a young talented rookie quarterback will lead them in the future and they were in the right position to do so.

By trying to accomplish both of those things at the same time they diminished the chances of accomplishing either of those goals.

How are you a Super Bowl contender if you just spent three first round picks and a third round pick on your current backup quarterback? If they really believed in the 2021 49ers ability to contend, they should have poured those resources into making the team better around Garoppolo this season. 

The front office never believed that lie.

On the other hand, if Garoppolo could never win you the Super Bowl this year why is he on the 49ers? On top of that by paying him $26.4 million (13.4 percent of the 49ers cap) - how could you actually create a competitive contender when you could not win in 2019 when he was making 8.6 percent of the teams cap?

By sticking with Garoppolo in 2021, you lose cap flexibility now and in the future. This upcoming offseason they have seven starters (Laken Tomlinson, D.J. Jones, K'Waun Williams, Jaquiski Tartt, Arden Key, Jason Verrett, Azeez Al-Shaair) as free agents who they will need to re-sign along with extensions for Nick Bosa and Deebo Samuel.

Beyond the players who are free agents, there are also many high tier NFL players on the 49ers who are in the peak of their career. Guys such as Trent Williams, Samuel, Bosa, Fred Warner, Jimmie Ward, George Kittle and Al-Shaair are playing the best football of their careers. It is totally unfair to them that they were not put in a position to contend.

The 49ers wasted their time. The front office sold the team on being contenders and having one last opportunity to win it all when, by their own actions, they never believed that was possible in the first place.

In the NFL you have a Super Bowl window and you have to make the most of it because you never know what might happen. But they were not in that window this season when they allocated the picks they traded for the future and the money they're spending for the present.

By drafting Trey Lance, they potentially opened that window from now to 2024 (the end of his rookie contract), but they wanted to hang onto Garoppolo so they could have a “winning” season.

The fact is if they believed in either of these plans, they would have invested the resources they put into these quarterbacks in maximizing either the 2021 49ers or the 2022-24 49ers. But they did neither of those things.