By early June virtually all of the top free agents are long gone, but a handful of productive players at key positions of need for the 49ers are still available. While San Francisco may be comfortable with its roster, they could use some additional, proven help on the edges. With Leonard Floyd joining the Bills and Frank Clark joining the Broncos in the early days of June, the market for the remaining pass rushers is set, and the 49ers should be involved.
While it’s unlikely that any player signed this late in the offseason calendar is going to make or break a Super Bowl run, the 49ers have placed too much emphasis on their defensive line to leave so much uncertainty on the edges.
Drake Jackson, Clelin Ferrell and Austin Bryant figure to be their top three options on the edge going into camp. Perhaps Jackson breaks out in Year 2 while Ferrell and Bryant have career years under 49ers defensive line coach Kris Kocurek.
They can still lean on those players while also bringing in a proven commodity like Justin Houston, Melvin Ingram or Yannick Ngakoue. All three are at a stage in their careers where their best role is likely as a pass rush specialist, and that’s really what San Francisco needs.
It also wouldn’t cost them much.
Floyd received $7 million guaranteed with $2 million in incentives according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. The former Rams DE posted 29.0 sacks in the last three seasons.
Clark is more versatile than Floyd and a year younger. He got $5.5 million guaranteed and $2 million in incentives. In the last three years Clark had 15.5 sacks for the Chiefs.
Houston and Ingram are both in their mid-30s, although Houston has been far more productive over the last few years than Ingram. The former has 22.0 sacks in the last three seasons. The latter has just 8.0 thanks in part to an injury that limited him to seven games in 2020.
Ngakoue is still just 28-years old and productive as a pass rusher (27.5 sacks since 2020), but he’s played for four teams in those three years which is a red flag.
Still, all three figure to fall into the same contract range as Clark, if not cheaper. The 49ers have just shy of $10 million in cap space, so fitting a $4 million or $5 million contract on the books wouldn’t require any maneuvering. Not to mention they should free up some more space when Nick Bosa signs his extension later this Summer.
Affordable, productive situational pass rushers are the exact thing that could help the 49ers roster heading into training camp. There are a handful available and the team could quickly improve their all-important defensive front by bringing one of them in now that we know what the market looks like.
