Fullback Kyle Juszczyk Is The Latest Casualty Of A 49ers Roster Purge – But Will It Pay Off?

The San Francisco 49ers made the Super Bowl last year, losing a heartbreaker in overtime. Deebo Samuel had touches, as did Kyle Juszczyk. On the defensive side of the ball, Charvarius Ward performed and Dre Greenlaw, as always, played the anchor.

Now, after a lackluster 2024 that saw the Niners finish at 6-11, each of those players are gone.

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Seven of San Francisco’s free agents left on Monday, with the beginning of free agency, including Lenoir and Ward. Juszczyk, a nine-time Pro Bowler who had just 24 touches this past season, was released.

The release wasn’t a surprise. The team asked Juszczyk to take a pay cut last season, and general manager John Lynch was tight-lipped when asked at the NFL Combine about the fullback’s future in San Francisco.

“We’ll see,” Lynch said at the time. “We’re thinking of a lot of things right now. We’re trying to make everything work.”

With the inevitability of Brock Purdy no longer playing on a sub-million dollar contract, the 49ers ultimately decided to undertake a roster overhaul, letting veterans (and their cap hits) go while focusing on the Draft to maximize their championship opportunities.

“We have a lot of good players,” Lynch said. “One of the things that comes with a lot of good players is it’s hard to feed everyone. You’ve got to make tough decisions. We’re certainly at a point where we’ve had a five-year run with four NFC championships, two Super Bowls. You have to go back to the fundamentals of really building the thing. The lifeblood of your organization needs to be strong drafts.”

Releasing Juszczyk saves San Francisco $2.9 million against the cap in 2025. But if the organization doesn’t hit on its picks, as they’ve grown accustomed to doing, the situation in San Francisco could spiral out of hand – and fast.

As far as Juszczyk goes? He’s going to keep playing somewhere that will take him.

“I want to win a ring,” Juszczyk said in January. “I want to win a ring here. But again, if I’m forced to do it somewhere else, I’ve still got so much football left in me. I still love the game so much. I’m still playing at a high level and I know there’s teams out there that can use me.”