The San Francisco 49ers still have three games left in the regular season, but much of the talk has recently pivoted towards the 2025 offseason, as the team’s playoff hopes are all but eliminated at this stage of the year.
“It was a disappointing season for San Francisco, as injuries plagued the team and prevented them from finding a rhythm with their top players on the field.”
Now, they face a tough offseason where a number of key contributors are set to be impending free agents, leading to some hard decisions as the 49ers navigate the salary cap.
Two of those free agents are safety Talanoa Hufanga and linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who both missed significant chunks of the season due to injuries.
Hufanga missed the first few weeks of the season while recovering from a torn ACL sustained in 2023. He then dealt with ankle issues and torn ligaments in his wrist, keeping him out for over two months.
Greenlaw, on the other, only just returned from his torn Achilles injury that he sustained in the Super Bowl, making his season debut this past weekend against the Chicago Bears.
Both players are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents, and could be in a position to earn some good money this offseason if they can finish the year strong with consistent play.
Should San Francisco make a push to retain both players this offseason?
“[Greenlaw and Hufanga] are two of the better players I’ve been around, and two of the better players on our team, and two of the main reasons we’ve had the success here we’ve had,” head coach Kyle Shanahan affirmed this week. “So hopefully we can do everything we can to keep them here because they are [as] much examples of 49ers as anyone I can think of.”
Both players came in at key positions over the past two weeks and helped set the tone for the 49ers defense, taking over for struggling players with a bigger veteran pressure at the position.
“I think Huf going out there the Sunday before, and I think our safeties have played pretty good this year too, but just Huf the person and his communication and just having him out there I think was very inspiring,” Shanahan said this week. “And then adding Dre the next week, or four days later, one, how good of a player he is and how big of a difference he makes just from that, but the style of how he plays really adds to our defense and makes everyone else better around him, not just adding a good player.”
The 49ers will certainly have some tougher decisions this offseason. Some players who are considered starters will probably hit free agency and move on elsewhere.
But, given the injuries they both faced this season, San Francisco could be in a good position to retain both Greenlaw and Hufanga, likely on one-year deals, allowing them to build up their value again before earning lucrative deals on the free-agent market in 2026.
If both are looking for opportunities to build their value up as high as possible, the 49ers make the most sense as their destination, given the opportunity to start, comfortability with the role, and opportunity to win in 2025.
There will be a lot of questions to answer this offseason for San Francisco. But, one of the goals should be to entertain bringing back Greenlaw and Hufanga, who can slot into starter roles at key positions on the defense.
