The San Francisco 49ers have already started the evaluation process for next season. The futures of players like defensive tackle Earl Mitchell, wide receiver Pierre Garçon, and linebacker Malcolm Smith are uncertain. Mitchell and Garçon are on the wrong side 30 and Smith will be 30 at the start of next season.
The healthiest of the group is Mitchell. While his $4.45 million salary cap hit next season isn't devastating by any means to the financially comfortable 49ers (estimated to have over $66 million in cap space), his presence could be impeding the progress of younger players.
It makes sense that head coach Kyle Shanahan and the coaching staff want to figure out what they have with the younger talent behind Mitchell on the depth chart.
The healthy Mitchell played just two snaps, both on special teams, during Sunday's 20-14 victory over the Denver Broncos after playing 31 on defense the week before. Second-year defensive tackle D.J. Jones played 32 defensive snaps in place of Mitchell on Sunday.
"I think Earl has been better this year than last year, and I think Earl played good last year," Shanahan explained to reporters on Monday. "It's very hard to get a number of [nose tackles] up on game day, so having Earl up throughout the year is why D.J. hasn't been up very much.
"If Earl ever fell off and D.J. was doing a lot better, we would've made that change. But, Earl's played well throughout the year. But, it came time to sit Earl down and tell him it was nothing against him, but we needed to see what D.J. can do.
"Earl has done well throughout this year, but in order to get D.J. some playing time, we told Earl that he was probably going to have to sit down."
The other two players, Garçon and Smith, have had injury-plagued stints in San Francisco. Garçon, who will head to injured reserve this week and undergo arthroscopic knee surgery, has been plagued by his injury for the majority of the season.
The knee injury forced Garçon to miss five of the last six games, and the 49ers decided this week that it was finally time to shut him down for the second-straight year.
"We've waited on Pierre for a bit. It was going very positive for a while," Shanahan said. "That's why we felt real good about it. But, came back from that bye week and it had gotten worse.
"We tried our hardest last week. He went out and went full-go Wednesday. It swelled up on him, caused him a lot of pain.
"After having that same thing through almost most of the year, especially it was the week before the Green Bay game that it really started coming, it was just lingering too long where P knew he had to get something done, a scope. So, we had to shut him down."
Garçon played just eight games last year after a neck injury forced the 49ers to place him on injured reserve. His contract makes the situation a bit easier for San Francisco should it decide he is not part of the long-term (or even short-term) plan. It contains a potential out after this season. With the emergence of rookie Dante Pettis, Garçon's run with the 49ers may be over.
"Those guys understand the business, and they understand how it works," Shanahan said.
The salary cap hit for Garçon next season is scheduled to be $8.4 million.
Smith has been struggling this season with an Achilles injury. The 49ers signed him to a five-year deal at the start of free agency last year, thinking the former Seattle Seahawks and Oakland Raiders linebacker could be a key defensive piece moving forward.
Smith spent the entire 2017 season on injured reserve after suffering a torn pectoral muscle in August of that year. He has started just five games this season while appearing in 10. After being in on 58 snaps during Week 13, he wasn't on the field on Sunday against the Broncos. Instead, Elijah Lee played 74 snaps on defense.
"When it came to Malcolm, I think you guys are aware of what Malcolm has been battling all year," Shanahan explained to reporters. "That's why he has been coming out a lot during games, regardless of who is in just because it's tough for him to play for four quarters.
"We thought it would get better over the bye week after we did some things. It hasn't, and he came to us a couple days before the game saying he was really struggling to get through it. We agreed with him. So, we went into it starting Elijah for that reason."
Like Garçon, Smith has a potential out in his contract. However, it isn't until after the 2019 season. Smith will carry a salary cap hit of $5.45 million next season.
Shanahan said he believes each player can, and intends to, continue his NFL career. The 49ers just need to decide if that will be in San Francisco.
"Hopefully, they can get healthy this offseason and then you've got to make decisions," Shanahan said. "You don't just get rid of people to get rid of people. They're all good players, good people, people we love here."
