2011 NFL free agency officially begins
Jul 29, 2011 at 3:00 PM
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It is 6 PM on the east coast and that means that free agency has officially started. While teams have been able to negotiate with free agents since Tuesday, they have not been able to sign anyone until now.
In the NFC West, all the franchises, other than the San Francisco 49ers (not yet at least), have been working hard to improve their teams.
With the start of free agency officially here, things could move even faster and more furious than they have been over the past few days.
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49ers' free-agency pursuit surprised Javon Hargrave
Javon Hargrave was nervous heading into free agency. He knew he would get paid but was concerned that he might have to sacrifice success in the process. The defensive tackle had just been to a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles. Often, the teams with the most money to spend are the ones that are rebuilding.
Things appear to have worked out beautifully for Hargrave.
"Sometimes when you're trying to go get the money, you have to go to a team that's in a rebuild mode," Hargrave said. "But if you've got a chance to go to a team that was just in the NFC Championship, that's kind of an easy choice for me. So I was real happy about it.
"It really made me happy because I was real nervous about free agency, on where I was going to have to go. But I feel
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(Episode 222) - Al Sacco and Zain Naqvi discuss Sam Darnold's best case scenario, some of the smaller names that joined the 49ers defense, how important bolstering the offensive line is, grading the current free agent class and more!
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You can listen to the latest "No Huddle Podcast" episode above, from our dedicated podcast page, on
Assessing the 49ers roster and needs after one week of free agency
The first wave of free agency has come and gone, and the 49ers have had to say goodbye to a number of familiar faces while welcoming a few new ones. There's been a good amount of shuffling over the past week, but one thing remains clear -- the 49ers still have one of the best rosters in the NFL.
There's still more players to be added in the weeks ahead, both in the draft and in free agency. The 49ers still need depth and competition in a few areas, and maybe a new starter in a key spot on special teams. But with the way things look now, the 49ers could be looking at a fairly complete roster with very few weaknesses once they're done with their offseason moves.
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Courting Hargrave
The most significant free-agent addition was former Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, bolstering the interior of new coordinator Steve Wilks' defensive front.
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