The San Francisco 49ers enjoyed comfortable surpluses in salary-cap space in previous years. That wasn't the case this offseason. As the contracts of some of their younger stars started to mature, the cap space slowly shrunk.
Many assumed that the signing of defensive lineman Arik Armstead to a long-term deal in March forced the 49ers to move on from DeForest Buckner. It may have been the opposite, though. The decision to move on from Buckner seems to have been made early on, sometime after the Super Bowl.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported in March that the 49ers' decision to begin shopping Buckner had been "quietly in the works" since around the Super Bowl.
.@RapSheet says deal to trade DeForest Buckner was "in the works for, not just several days, but several weeks."
— 49ers Webzone (@49erswebzone) March 16, 2020
.@RapSheet repeats that #49ers' trade of DeForest Buckner has been "quietly in the works since around the time of the Super Bowl."
— 49ers Webzone (@49erswebzone) March 16, 2020
General manager John Lynch confirmed during a KNBR interview on Tuesday that San Francisco had indeed been working to deal Buckner for some time before the trade was finalized, and it was that move that allowed the team to move forward and try to improve.
"DeForest was as good a person as we had in our locker room," Lynch said on the Murph and Mac show. "Also, a tremendous player. But we realized that we weren't going to be able to keep DeForest and do all the other things we wanted to do in terms of keeping our team together.
"We gave his agent permission to go out and (said), 'Hey, if you can go get him what you think he deserves elsewhere, have at it, but you better bring back a really good pick.' And not only did he do that, he brought back the 13th pick in the draft. And so we had to make a tough decision."
Lynch later reiterated similar words during an interview with Andrew Siciliano on NFL Network. The general manager added that the 49ers gave Buckner's agent permission to seek a trade and new contract right after the NFL Scouting Combine in February.
"The last thing we wanted to do in letting DeForest Buckner go, all of a sudden became a reality," Lynch told Siciliano. "And we felt it was a way, as you start to put the puzzle together, we can re-sign Armstead, we can re-sign Jimmie Ward, we can re-sign Ben Garland. We can start to make some of those decisions to keep our team intact, knowing that we would have a big void [following the loss of] DeForest Buckner."
The 49ers filled that void via the draft, selecting defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw with the No. 14 overall pick and hoping that move is enough to maintain the level of productivity from the defensive line that the team benefited from last season.
As for the KNBR interview with Lynch, you can listen to the entire conversation below.
