The NFL Annual Meeting takes place this week from Palm Beach, Florida, and on Monday, 49ers’ President of Football Operations and General Manager John Lynch sat down with the Bay Area media, providing updates on Brandon Aiyuk’s health, Brock Purdy’s contract extension and more.
On Expectations for 2025
“I’d say the cash spending’s down. The year’s not over. We’re also trying to do our quarterback and hopefully when and if we get our quarterback done, we’ll probably be a top two or three spending team in terms of cash. So like I said, the year’s not over. You have to account for those things. We’re trying to make this thing sustainable for now into the future. I look at our roster and while we’ve seen a lot of great players leave and that’s hard…that’s hard to watch…I think there’s a tremendous core that we can go be competitive, really competitive with and add some young players and I think it will be exciting for our roster and necessary.”
On Brock Purdy’s Contract Extension Talks
On Brandon Aiyuk
Lynch said the wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. who is coming off an ACL injury, met with Dr. Neal ElAttrache last week and “did well” regarding benchmarks, though Lynch did not have a timeline for when he’ll be able to get on the field.
Regarding the trade rumors, Lynch said, “We’ve always been interested in Brandon being a part of the Niners. We made that decision when we signed him and it’s good to hear that he’s tracking well with his progress. He’s working really hard to do so, and I expect fully that Brandon Aiyuk will be a part of us moving forward.”
Lynch went on to say that the there is “no regret” about last year’s contract extension.
On Losing LB Dre Greenlaw to the Denver Broncos
“It was a complicated case, because he’s such a game-changing player. There’s not many needle movers in football. He’s a needle mover. It’s hard. Same thing happened to me in Tampa. Mike Shanahan was fine to take me after I had some surgery on my neck because he hadn’t watched all the carnage go on. But the Bucks were done with me. And we weren’t done with Dre, but we had to go through the process and other teams were aggressive in their pursuit of him and we were I guess forced to be somewhat reactive.
“And then when a market was set, we just wanted to go have a conversation with our guy who we have a lot of respect and love for, and we had a good discussion with him. He made a decision, we respect that decision. We’re grateful to Dre for all the great work he did for us and we wish him the best in endeavor.”
Dre Greenlaw sustained numerous injuries in his time with the 49ers, part of which was due to the physicality with which he plays. Greenlaw was out most of 2024 but returned to the lineup on Dec. 12. He played two great quarters but was injured again. Based on Lynch’s comments about his own situation, it seems that San Francisco had to factor that into their decision-making process.
In terms of a player that is returning, Lynch said “it’s a win” getting Kyle Juszczyk AND Kristin Juzczyk back with the team.