49ers Make Multiple Moves, Tender Kendrick Bourne And Matt Breida

The San Francisco 49ers followed up a busy first day of the NFL’s legal free-agent tampering period by making a plethora of under-the-radar moves.

The defending NFC champs placed second-round tenders on restricted free agents, running back Matt Breida and wide receiver Kendrick Bourne. San Francisco did not tender backup linebacker Elijah Lee.

On other fronts, general manager John Lynch and Co. restructured the contract of oft-injured running back Jerick McKinnon while re-signing edge pass rusher Ronald Blair.

Below, I will take a look at these moves from an individual standpoint and focus on what they mean.

Matt Breida

San Francisco pretty much made sure that this electric back is going nowhere. Not a single team is going to give the 49ers a second-round pick to sign Breida in a free-agent market that already seems to be unfriendly to running backs.

It’s a rather interesting move. The tender will pay Breida roughly $3.3 million for the 2020 season. This came after he did not play a single snap in the Super Bowl. Fumble issues led to the former undrafted free agent finding himself in head coach Kyle Shanahan’s doghouse.

Outside of those issues, Breida has more than proven himself to be an electric back. He averaged 5.1 yards per rush as a third-year back this past season. That came after the Georgia Southern product averaged six yards per touch back in 2018.

There’s a chance San Francisco placed a second-round tender on Breida with the hopes of trading him for a mid-round pick in April’s draft. A lesser player in Jordan Howard signed a two-year, $10 million deal with the Miami Dolphins earlier on Tuesday. In comparison, Breida would be considered a market value.

Kendrick Bourne

As with Breida, San Francisco placed a second-round tender on this former undrafted free agent. Again, that will pay him about $3.3 million. Despite some drop issues earlier in the 2019 season, the 24-year-old Bourne took on an important role behind Deebo Samuel and Emmanuel Sanders as the campaign progressed.

All said, Bourne caught 30 passes for 358 yards and five touchdowns while hauling in north of 68% of his targets from Jimmy Garoppolo as a third-year player.

Source indicate that there’s interest in Bourne even after he was tendered with a second-round designation. Whether that’s on the trade block or signing the former small-school product outright remains to be seen. What I do know is that San Francisco pretty much guaranteed he will return for a fourth season. If the team had placed a lower tender on Bourne, that likely wouldn’t have been the case.

Elijah Lee

While Lee has played well in limited spurts since San Francisco picked him up off waivers from the Minnesota Vikings, he became the victim of a numbers game. An undrafted free agent last year, Azeez Al-Shaair played exceedingly well as a rookie. He could even be a future starter should things not pan out with Kwon Alexander moving forward.

A seventh-round pick of the Vikings back in 2017, Lee recorded 65 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble in 16 games (five starts) for the 49ers the following season. He took on a much lesser role with Al-Shaair and Mark Nzeocha seeing more playing time this past season.

Jerick McKinnon

In what can’t be considered surprising news, the 49ers are apparently holding out hope that McKinnon can play a big role in their offense after he missed each of his first two seasons in San Francisco with a torn ACL.

I am certainly rooting for McKinnon to salvage a career that has seemingly been derailed by injury. I am also not too confidence that’s he’s going to recover. Name another player outside of Teddy Bridgewater who has returned to action after missing that amount of time?

From a pure financial perspective, restructuring McKinnon’s deal made more sense than releasing him outright. That has to be the 49ers’ thinking here.

Signed to a four-year, $30 million contract ahead of the 2018 season, this former Minnesota Vikings mid-round pick would have cost $8.5 million against the cap in 2020. If San Francisco had released McKinnon, it would’ve faced a $4 million dead cap hit.

Instead, the 49ers gave this veteran a league-minimum contract. In reality, it saves them an additional multitude of millions. McKinnon is now playing under a league veteran deal.

Ronald Blair

An original fifth-round pick of the 49ers’ previous front office back in 2016, Blair played exceptionally well last season before suffering a season-ending torn ACL. He recorded seven tackles for loss and three sacks in nine games.

While the terms of his deal are not yet known, San Francisco made sure to keep Blair as a way to find depth behind Nick Bosa and Dee Ford out on the edge. It was a necessity.

This will likely limit the 49ers when it comes to finding other edge rush talent in free agency. That’s especially true if they make the smart decision to retain Damontre Moore.

Bottom Line

There’s certainly going to be a trickle-down effect when it comes to the plethora of moves San Francisco has made over the two days of the NFL free-agency tampering period.

The re-signing of Armstead coupled with what has to be described as the shocking trade of Buckner adds another layer to this.

Though, Tuesday’s moves were almost as consequential. Restructuring the contract of McKinnon while placing a high-round tender on Breida seems to suggest that Tevin Coleman could be out of a job.

He’s set to count $4.9 million against the cap in 2020. San Francisco can get out from said deal without a dead cap hit. Whether it is a trade or release, Coleman might not be long in Northern California.

While expected, San Francisco showed its hand by placing a second-round tender on Bourne. This shows us how much Shanahan and Co. values him.

Could this mean Emmanuel Sanders is departing in free agency? Maybe the 49ers are not expecting to land another veteran in free agency or the trade block. It’s certainly an indication that veteran receiver Marquise Goodwin will in fact be traded.