After watching many of their former stalwarts leave in free agency, the San Francisco 49ers have another former Pro Bowler hitting the open market by their own choice, releasing nine-time Pro Bowl fullback Kyle Juszcyk in the pursuit of saving some money against the cap.
Breaking the news on social media, ESPN's Adam Schefter did note that Juszcyk plans to keep playing; it just likely won't be in San Francisco.
“Source: 49ers informed nine-time Pro-Bowl fullback Kyle Juszcyk tonight that he is being released,” Adam Schefter wrote. “He is set to hit free agency and wants to continue playing.“
Initially drafted in the fourth round out of Harvard, Juszczyk spent the first four years of his career in Baltimore before agreeing to a four-year, $21 million deal to super-charge then-new head coach Kyle Shanahan. From there, the player affectionately known as “Juice” became a fixture of the Bay Area, becoming a Pro Bowler in every single season with the team before earning a new five-year, $27 million deal which was supposed to run through the 2025 NFL season.
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Though the 49ers did consider moving on from Juszczyk last season, the two sides decided to agree to a new deal last spring to keep their pairing alive, bringing the Harvard product back on a two-year, $9.1 million deal at a slightly lower AAV.
Suddenly free to sign wherever he'd like, be that back in San Francisco or with another team that uses a fullback like, say, the Miami Dolphins or the Philadelphia Eagles, Juszczyk will have options to keep his career going if he so sees fit, pursuing the incredible honor of becoming one of the few players in NFL history to go to ten-straight Pro Bowls.
And yet, for fans of the 49ers, this marks a disappointing end to a very successful era, as for the last eight years, no one was a better NFL fullback than Juszczyk.
