There’s no question the San Francisco 49ers will look different in 2017.
They’ve produced three different iterations in each of the last three seasons, as Kyle Shanahan is the fourth different head coach to lead the team in the past four years, so change is nothing new for this franchise.
After San Francisco cut ties with Jim Harbaugh following the 2013 season, Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly lasted a season apiece, as neither coach was able to implement a long-term vision with the 49ers.
All signs point to San Francisco giving Shanahan and new general manager John Lynch more leeway in their attempt to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, so it’s no surprise that the pair has largely cleaned house and overhauled a roster that will feature dozens of new faces when the 49ers take on the Carolina Panthers in week one.
Yet still, it’s difficult to process what the 49ers will look like without Ahmad Brooks rushing the passer off the edge this season.
On Friday afternoon, the franchise announced it released Brooks, who was owed upward of $6 million in the final season of a six-year, $40.4 million contract.
“We would like to thank Ahmad for his nine years of service and contributions to the 49ers,” Lynch said in a press release published by the 49ers. “In that time, he played a significant role on some formidable defensive units that helped this team achieve great success. We feel good about the depth and competition along our defensive front and believe that by making this decision now it will give Ahmad a head start on exploring his options with other teams. We wish him and his family nothing but the best.”
A 10th-year veteran NFL veteran who has spent all but two seasons of his career with the 49ers, Brooks became one of the franchise’s most productive defensive players during the Harbaugh era, and carried over his production under Tomsula and Kelly. But this year, the 49ers, who have transitioned from a 4-3 to a 3-4 under new defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, don’t have the same need for Brooks as Saleh’s predecessors.
Throughout August, Brooks battled third-year linebacker Eli Harold, a much younger and cheaper player, at the SAM linebacker position in Saleh’s front seven. Shanahan insisted he didn’t care about the burden of Brooks’ contract compared to Harold’s, he just wanted to make sure the best player won the job. And on Friday, Harold officially won the starting job.
For a 49ers team that has worked to shrink its payroll, it’s hard to believe the decision is not financially motivated. But, with a surplus of cap room and just one year left on Brooks’ contract, San Francisco shouldn’t have had any concerns about paying Brooks had he outperformed Harold. At the end of the season, his contract was coming off the books anyway, so the 49ers would have started fresh.
Instead, the decision to cut Brooks is a sign that the 49ers are motivated to get younger while building for the future under Shanahan and Lynch, even if Harold won’t match Brooks’ production in the short-term. It’s possible that Harold is already a more competent SAM linebacker than Brooks, especially because Brooks has spent much of his career as a 4-3 edge rusher, but it’s likely that San Francisco sees the benefit of inserting Harold into the starting 11 and watching him grow into a valued contributor.
A byproduct, of course, of making this decision, is that the 49ers are ending another era. Brooks was the second-longest tenured player on the team behind tackle Joe Staley, and one of only a handful of players who have endured the fast-changing landscape of the franchise over the past few seasons.
By releasing Brooks, the 49ers are also releasing a player who was charged with sexual battery back in 2015, which is an off-the-field distraction previous regimes were willing to deal with. Perhaps the Shanahan-Lynch combo would have been willing to work with Brooks regardless of his past, but the decision to release him clears the 49ers of discussing that situation.
On Friday, the 49ers made another decision that reflects the changing of the guard down in Santa Clara. Shanahan and Lynch are going to run the team their way, and that way didn’t call for Brooks to start. Though it’s possible the decision could have been impacted by Brooks’ salary or legal history, Shanahan and Lynch have already built a reputation that suggests they’re motivated by what players can do on the field.
On Friday, they decided Harold can give the team more than Brooks. It’s another chance for Lynch and Shanahan to be evaluated, and it’s another sign that the new regime is doing things its own way.