How They Were Built: 49ers made adjustments
Truthfully, this 49ers team came together by accident.
The 49ers had a plan, and it’s part of the reason they’re in the Super Bowl just three years after John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan joined the organization, but not the whole reason. Not even close.
The plan was meticulous. Lynch and Shanahan replaced almost all the players they inherited from the previous regime - only seven remain. The new general manager and head coach prioritized fast players who are smart, coachable and easy to get along with. That’s the personality of the team. Lynch and Shanahan created that.
But their plan failed in certain ways, because life has its own plans that get in the way of mere human plans. So Lynch and Shanahan reacted on the fly, and reacted well. And that’s why they’re in the Super Bowl.
Here are the top five moves Lynch and Shanahan fell into - brilliantly.
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Trading for Dee Ford
The plan was to trade for wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
The 49ers tried to trade for him before the 2018 trade deadline, and again during the 2019 offseason. But the Giants instead traded Beckham to the Browns for a first-round pick, a third-round pick and safety Jabrill Peppers.
“The 49ers were stunned,” according to an ESPN report. “It’s strongly believed the 49ers would have been willing to offer more (than Cleveland) for a wide receiver of Beckham’s stature, according to a league source.”
Meaning they would have traded multiple first-round picks for him.
Good thing they didn’t. Less than an hour after Beckham went to the Browns, the 49ers traded a second-round pick in 2020 for Dee Ford. Call Ford Plan B.
The 49ers had to feel somewhat disappointed when Plan A fell through. Did Ford feel disappointed to come to the 49ers, a four-win team in 2018? “Records don’t bother me,” Ford said. “What I saw was the potential. I knew the potential of this team. I knew how young the D-line was. And I knew that they had a really good chance of getting Nick Bosa. And I knew the impact I could make.”
Ford helped make the 49ers defense elite, while Beckham helped the Browns offense rank just 22nd out of 32 teams.
Plan B was the way to go.
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Trading for Emmanuel Sanders
After missing out on Beckham, the plan was to start Marquise Goodwin and Dante Pettis at wide receiver.
In 2018, the 49ers had given Goodwin a three-year, ?$19.25 million contract extension through 2021, and had traded up in the second round of the 2018 draft to take Pettis. Big investments. The 49ers also had spent their second- and third-round picks in 2019 on wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Jalen Hurd, respectively, plus they had Trent Taylor, Kendrick Bourne and Richie James Jr. on the roster already. The 49ers thought wide receiver was one of their deepest positions.
But by November of this season, both Goodwin and Pettis had lost their starting jobs, Taylor and Hurd were injured and the 49ers’ best receiver was Samuel, a rookie who hadn’t yet come into his own.
The 49ers didn’t have good enough receivers to win the Super Bowl. So they traded their third-round pick in 2020 to the Broncos for Sanders, a 32-year-old receiver coming off a torn Achilles who will be a free agent in 2020. This after the 49ers had already traded their second-round pick in 2020 for Dee Ford.
Mortgaging the future for Ford and Sanders wasn’t the plan, but both moves were necessary. Sanders instantly upgraded the offense and became the mentor the wide receivers needed in their meeting room.
“I had a strong feeling I would end up here,” Sanders said.
Turns out the 49ers didn’t mortgage the future. They improved the house.
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Keeping Raheem Mostert
The plan was for anyone but Mostert to start at running back.
Mostert is one of the seven players the 49ers kept from the previous regime. But they kept him to play special teams, not running back.
The 49ers wanted Joe Williams to be their starting running back - they drafted him in the fourth round of 2017, one round before they drafted George Kittle, their All-Pro tight end. But Williams was a bust. Never played a down in the regular season. Washed out of the league.
Jerick McKinnon was the backup plan. They gave him a four-year, $30 million contract in 2018. But he tore his ACL before the season started and still has never played a snap for the 49ers.
Tevin Coleman was the backup to the backup plan. The 49ers gave him a two-year, $8.5 million contract in 2019, and he played well enough to start 11 games for the 49ers. But he averaged only four yards per carry.
Mostert averaged 5.6 yards per carry as Coleman’s backup. Mostert was the backup to the backup to the backup plan. He didn’t become the full-time running back until Coleman separated his shoulder during the NFC championship game against the Packers fewer than two weeks ago. Mostert replaced him and rushed 29 times for 220 yards and four touchdowns. Now he’s one of the most important players on the 49ers.
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