It'd be nice if the San Francisco 49ers had a quiet and relatively uneventful offseason, but that's rarely been the case since head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch took over back in 2017.
At least there aren't any lingering contract extensions to figure out, as it seems the Niners finally learned to get ahead of those well before training camp.
Speaking with NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco, Lynch detailed how previous extension talks with star players like wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and defensive end Nick Bosa dragged on into camp, which wasn't exactly the preferred route and one San Francisco hoped to avoid in talks with quarterback Brock Purdy, tight end George Kittle and linebacker Fred Warner this offseason.
"Do you learn from the previous year? The previous year, we had some stuff go into the season," Lynch said. "That wasn't our motivation, but it did. And so, do you learn? Sure."
However, one of the ways Lynch and the 49ers cleared up money to extend big stars like Purdy, Kittle and Warner was to bid farewell to some well-established talent.
And that was awfully tough.
John Lynch admits how hard it was for 49ers to say 'goodbye' to cornerstone players
The Niners lost a bevy of well-known players during the offseason, perhaps highlighted by wide receiver Deebo Samuel and linebacker Dre Greenlaw's departures to the Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos, respectively.
Starters like left guard Aaron Banks, cornerback Charvarius Ward and safety Talanoa Hufanga are all gone, too.
"That's the hard part," Lynch said of the departures. "Watching good players that are good people, and good people who help build the culture we have here, walk out the door. That's never fun, but again, it was necessary, and happy where we're at."
Saying "it was necessary" isn't just GM-speak either. As Lynch pointed out previously this offseason, San Francisco was one of the oldest teams in the NFL a year ago, and it was also the No. 2 cash-spending team (not salary cap space used, rather actual money spent). The end result, of course, was a 6-11 record and last-place finish within the NFC West.
A complete roster teardown and rebuild wasn't necessary, but it was vital to retool and reset by identifying a handful of integral pieces to retain while letting go of other still very-good pieces and hoping to hit on their replacements via the 11 selections made in the NFL Draft last April.
Still, it doesn't make the process any easier.
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