The San Francisco 49ers paid heavily this offseason for their Reuben Foster gaffe. The team replaced the former first-round draft pick by giving former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Kwon Alexander a four-year deal worth up to $54 million.
While the deal is team-friendly, it's a costly fix the 49ers hope pays off.
The 49ers cut ties with Foster after yet another off-the-field incident occurred in November at the team hotel before a road game against the Buccaneers. The young linebacker's future was bright, but he continued to show a pattern of embarrassingly poor decision making.
After four seasons in Tampa Bay, Alexander, who happens to be four months younger than Foster, will be matched up with impressive second-year linebacker Fred Warner.
When you make mistakes in the draft, it usually sets a team back or forces it to pay heavily to fix the errors via free agency. General manager John Lynch is fully aware that his team had to pay up to correct this specific draft mistake. He joined 49ers Live on Thursday afternoon and discussed the Alexander signing.
"Let's be honest, we had a void that we thought we had filled with Reuben Foster," Lynch said. "Things transpired there, and we had a void there. That stinks, but you can't just sit there and pout. You've got to say, 'OK, let's go do something.'
"We needed a dynamic football player at that position. It's a very critical position in our scheme, and this became the guy. Kwon became the guy that we wanted to be that guy. Like I said, it continued to gain momentum. The more we watched him, the more we liked, and there's a lot to like.
"Free agency is a little different. It's not like the draft process where you get to talk to these guys throughout the process. You've got to kind of wait, but you do your due-diligence. You do your homework, and we all felt very good, and we're thrilled that we were able to come to an agreement with Kwon."
Lynch sounds excited about the future potential of the Alexander-Warner duo.
"With Fred and Kwon, we really feel like we have a formidable group for years to come," he added. "They're both young players. The cool thing about Kwon is Kwon has played for quite a while, but he's a young dude. He came in early, so he's seasoned, and he's hungry. He's coming off that ACL. He's hungry and ready to be a part of something special here."