49ers' Top Players to Avoid in 2023 NFL Free Agency

The San Francisco 49ers need to do work on their interior during the NFL offseason.

Offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey and seven defensive linemen are set to hit the free-agent market.

The 49ers could opt to bring back the 28-year-old McGlinchey, but he will command a large contract in free agency. San Francisco has $3 million of salary cap space to work with right now, per Spotrac.

John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan need to evaluate every potential offensive line replacement for McGlinchey if he departs for another franchise.

San Francisco needs its offensive line to be in fantastic shape to protect Brock Purdy and block for Christian McCaffrey from the start of the 2023 NFL season.

Defensively, the 49ers need some help to take some of the pass-rushing pressure off Nick Bosa.

Only three players on the 49ers roster had more than three sacks, and there was a difference of 13.5 sacks between Bosa and Samson Ebukam on the team stat chart.

San Francisco can't afford to miss on those positions in the offseason, and there are some clear players to avoid when looking into the offensive and defensive line markets.

Isaiah Wynn

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FOXBOROUGH, MA - NOVEMBER 6, 2022: Isaiah Wynn #76 of the New England Patriots looks to block during a game against the Indianapolis Colts at Gillette Stadium on November 6, 2022 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)

Isaiah Wynn's profile could be interesting to the 49ers.

The Georgia product came out of college as a guard and transitioned to offensive tackle with the New England Patriots.

Wynn could be looked at as a McGlinchey replacement, or as an addition to a unit that brings back the veteran right tackle.

But Wynn's name might get crossed off the list of potential signings early on in the process because of his injury history.

Wynn played nine games for the Patriots in 2022, and he started only seven of those contests.

He missed parts of the 2019 and 2020 seasons with injuries as well. He started eight games in his rookie campaign and 10 contests in his sophomore season.

After the year it had, San Francisco can't justify adding a player with injury issues in free agency. The last thing it needs is for key parts of its offense to be unavailable for long stretches again.

Marcus Davenport

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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - NOVEMBER 07: Kenyan Drake #17 of the Baltimore Ravens is tackled by Marcus Davenport #92 of the New Orleans Saints during the third quarter at Caesars Superdome on November 07, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

A Marcus Davenport-Bosa pairing on the defensive line seems exciting in theory.

The 26-year-old pass-rusher is one season removed from a nine-sack campaign for the New Orleans Saints.

The former first-round pick has 60 quarterback hits, 25 tackles for loss and 21.5 sacks over his five seasons in New Orleans.

However, those totals could have been higher if Davenport was on the field much longer.

Imagine how high his totals would have been in 2021 if he stayed on the field. He recorded those nine sacks in just 11 games.

Davenport played more than 13 games in a season once. He only had a half-sack in 2022, the year in which he played the most.

The injury history and sudden drop in production of 8.5 sacks from 2021 to 2022 should scare off the 49ers in their pursuit of help for Bosa.

Any Quarterbacks

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PITTSBURGH, PA - DECEMBER 24: Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) throws a pass during the national football league game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 24, 2022 at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA. (Photo by Mark Alberti/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The 49ers have been mentioned all too often in the potential offseason quarterback carousel over the last 12 months.

San Francisco will enter 2023 with Brock Purdy and Trey Lance on the roster. The franchise does not need to seek a new signal-caller.

Purdy showed plenty of promise across his five regular-season starts and three postseason appearances to be trusted with the starting job.

The 2022 seventh-round pick still needs to refine some parts of his game, but no rookie is perfect when he enters the NFL.

Some people could suggest that the 49ers need an elite quarterback to replace Purdy in order to take the team to the next level in the postseason.

But the 49ers are a unique case in which the quarterback does not need to be a superstar to succeed, as we saw with Jimmy Garoppolo in previous seasons and Purdy in 2022.

San Francisco surrounded its quarterback with a ton of top-tier offensive players, like Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle. The system worked well until Purdy got hurt at the start of the NFC Championship Game.

Derek Carr, Daniel Jones, Lamar Jackson and even Garoppolo should not be mentioned in many conversations involving the 49ers as they move forward with Purdy.