If you’ve stood back and watched in amazement as one of the top teams of recent years was systematically dismantled this offseason, you’re not alone.
Those who got caught up in the dismantling were as well.
Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith said it was “crazy” watching how many players and coaches followed him out the door in San Francisco the last few years.
“I knew, for sure, some of those defensive players we wouldn’t be able to keep around, just contract-wise and years-wise, like Dashon [Goldson] and Justin [Smith],” Smith said, via Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News. “You knew some of that wasn’t going to last forever. We weren’t going to be able to hold it altogether from a cap standpoint and the years standpoint. You knew that was going to change.”
Smith left in 2013, followed by Goldson, Randy Moss, Delanie Walker, Isaac Sopoaga and Ricky Jean Francois. The 2014 purge was milder, with Jonathan Goodwin, Carlos Rogers, Tarell Brown and C.J. Spillman.
This year was when they dropped the plunger on the TNT, with free agents such as Frank Gore, Mike Iupati and Michael Crabtree leaving, the retirements of Patrick Willis, Chris Borland, Justin Smith and Anthony Davis, and oh by the way, the departure of head coach Jim Harbaugh and a lot of his staff.
Only seven starters remain from their 2012 team that reached Super Bowl XLVII, and from the looks of the current roster, the 49ers won’t be back to that level any time soon.