The NFL’s free agent negotiation window has begun. While free agents cannot sign officially until 4 pm on Wednesday, this 52-hour window of negotiation beforehand is when players agree to the deals that they wind up signing just a few days later.
The 49ers got in on the action pretty quickly this afternoon by agreeing to a deal with linebacker Kwon Alexander.
The deal is for 4 years at $54M with $27M of that guaranteed.
Kwon Alexander, who turns 25 in August at the outset of the preseason, will join the ACL rehab club with Jimmy Garoppolo and Jerrick McKinnon. Alexander tore his ACL in October but expects to be back in time for the 2019-20 season.
Kwon Alexander is an interesting case. While he outplayed his 4th round selection, his flashes of superior potential never showed enough for him to ever become an impact player in his four seasons in Tampa Bay. He was always a decent player that showed enough to warrant being a starter, but he was never an elite player by any stretch, even though it appears he will get paid as such.
The other issue with him has been injury trouble. He missed nearly half of last season and has missed time with other injuries in previous seasons as well. He was also suspended 4 games for PEDs. So he has missed quite a bit of time over his career as well.
But as I said, Alexander has a lot of potential and if he can realize that and stay out of injury trouble for the most part, he could be a really solid addition.
One other thing to note of good for him is that he is respected by his peers and is touted as a very nice guy. He is also seen as a terrific presence in the locker room. So he should fit in perfectly with the locker room culture the 49ers have worked to build over the last couple of years.
The biggest problem people see with this deal is the money fore sure. At $54M over 4 years, it averages $13.5M per year, which a lot of people find to be a major overpay. But we know NFL contracts aren’t so cut and dry.
We will await the structure of the deal, which should be out on a few days, to decide on how the money actually works in this deal because money and cap space can always be manipulated. The $27M in guarantees is the big number that matters at this point, and only half of it being guaranteed gives the 49ers some peace of mind. Paraag Marathe is one of the better guys at making contracts wind up being more friendly for the 49ers than what they look like when the initial numbers come out.
So yes, they are giving a risky player a lot of money. However, they do fill a need with this move. Alexander will be a good run-stopping cog in the middle of the defense and a decent coverage linebacker. He will line up next to Fred Warner to build the new middle of the linebacker core. Those two will be able to fly around the field and compliment each other well. And with the amount of cap space the 49ers have, I don’t think there is room to worry too much about this, especially if the contract is structured like a lot of the other contracts they’ve done.
Overall, it is a worthwhile risk to take on a player that has loads of potential and could benefit from a better fit. He is still young enough where he can grow as a player as well. He also fits in well to the locker room culture, and he should become a very likable player in San Francisco almost instantly. This pickup could be one that the 49ers could drastically miss on, but they could just as easily wind up hitting big on it too.
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