In February, as is The Chronicle’s custom, we graciously offered our offseason “how to upgrade the roster” advice to Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch.
And the San Francisco 49ers head coach and general manager followed it. Sort of.
For example, with a nod to their limited salary cap space, we suggested they give their pass rush a jolt by using their free-agency splurge on an edge rusher with some warts.
They did prioritize the pass rush in free agency. However, they shopped at Cartier instead of Costco: The 49ers ponied up for a mega-millions defensive tackle who was among the best players on the market.
We also suggested they insulate their quarterback spot by signing a low-wattage, budget veteran to serve as the No. 3 behind Brock Purdy and Trey Lance.
They did bolster the position. Again, though, they went bigger and bolder: They signed a high-profile veteran — the No. 3 pick in his draft — to a potentially sizable incentive-laden contract to push Lance for the backup role.
Finally, we counseled them to stop their curious recent pattern of investing significant draft capital on running backs from Power 5 programs. And … they listened very intently. Rather than using yet another top-100 pick on the position, they signed undrafted rookies from Conference USA and the Sun Belt.
A review:
Bolster the pass rush: The 49ers’ top-ranked defense ranked 10th in the NFL in sacks last season and only Nick Bosa had more than five. And we offered a cost-conscious plan for adding more juice: Sign the Colts’ Yannick Ngakoue, who has averaged 9.3 sacks a season in his seven-year career but has played for five teams partly due to his porous work as a run defender.
Shanahan and Lynch’s likely reaction when reading that: We don’t skimp on our defensive line, bud.
The 49ers restructured contracts — the NFL equivalent of maxing out the credit card — to create the cash needed to sign Eagles’ Pro Bowl defensive tackle Javon Hargrave to a four-year, $84 million deal.
The all-in move was on-brand for a coach and GM who want their front four to serve as the tone-setters of a back-alley-brawling team. Shanahan and Lynch took immense pride last season in a statistic that highlighted the 49ers’ physicality: Opponents were 0-15 the week after playing the 49ers.
Given that, it galled them that they got bullied in the season’s biggest game.
As plenty of players have noted, the 49ers played much of the NFC Championship Game with a hand tied behind their back. But they were left to finish the game without a healthy QB because the Eagles, owners of the NFL’s best defensive line, had Pro Bowl pass rushers, Haason Reddick and Ndamukong Suh, overpower blockers and deliver huge hits on Purdy and his backup, Josh Johnson.
The 49ers responded by grabbing Hargrave, stealing one of the primary butt-kickers from a team that beat them up while beating them.
Sign a quarterback. And draft a quarterback: The 49ers signed two veteran quarterbacks — Sam Darnold and Brandon Allen — and didn’t use a draft pick on the position after doing extensive homework on college prospects.
We advised signing one of the former 49ers QBs on the free-agent market who was familiar with Shanahan’s system and could fill a No. 3 role: C.J. Beathard, Nick Mullens or Nate Sudfeld. Part of our thought process behind that was that it would be difficult to convince a backup-level QB to sign with the 49ers as a presumptive third-stringer with Purdy and Lance on the roster.
The 49ers’ apparent thought process? Lance’s spot on the depth chart — or the roster — isn’t secure. The addition of Darnold, the third overall pick in 2018, to a one-year deal with a maximum value of $11.5 million was the first sign that Lance’s status could be shaky two years after the 49ers invested three first-round picks in him.
Consider what Shanahan said days after the season about adding another QB to join Purdy and Lance: “I know we have two starters on our team right now that I believe we can win with. So when you have that situation, you’re not that eager to go looking around.”
A month later, less than five hours into the first day of free agency, the 49ers had signed Darnold to a contract with $3.5 million guaranteed. Since Darnold’s arrival, Shanahan has said he’d share first-teams snaps with Lance in offseason practices while Purdy is rehabbing. And Lynch has said the 49ers would consider dealing Lance, who has inspired trade calls, if they received a substantial offer.
We advised the 49ers to sign a QB and draft another to guard against another rash of injuries at the position. The 49ers have done that. However, they’ve also given themselves options in case they receive an offer for Lance they can’t refuse.
You need a running back. Don’t use a third-round pick on the position: We felt very strongly about this.
In fact, we might have gotten carried away while reminding Lynch and Shanahan that the less they’ve invested in running backs, the more they’ve received: “The 49ers should use one of their three seventh-round picks on a back. Or sign an undrafted free agent from Norfolk State. Or ITT Tech. Or the Chevron on Great America Parkway.”
They didn’t take this literally — sources have confirmed the backs they added weren’t from a trade school or a Texaco — but they clearly grasped the spirit of the message. The 49ers didn’t use one of their nine draft picks on the position and then signed two undrafted rookies: Marshall’s Khalan Laborn and Texas-El Paso’s Ronald Awatt.
Never heard of them? That bodes well for their chances. Matt Breida (undrafted, Georgia Southern), Jeff Wilson (undrafted, North Texas State) and Elijah Mitchell (sixth round, Louisiana) have led the 49ers in rushing since 2018 after anonymously entering the NFL.
The 49ers have recently tried using third-round picks on name-brand-school backs. But they waived Trey Sermon (Ohio State, 2021) last year and Ty Davis-Price (LSU, 2022) isn’t guaranteed a spot on the 53-man roster after averaging 2.9 yards on 34 carries last year.
Reach Eric Branch: ebranch@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @Eric_Branch
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