#roster-strategy

#roster-strategy

It's officially the offseason, with franchise tags, the NFL Scouting Combine, free agency and the NFL Draft playing out between now and the end of April. The 49ers are already getting lots of advice on how they should go about the process of remaking their 2026 roster coming off a 12-5 season plus a wild-card playoff win. I'll go the opposite route and suggest what the 49ers shouldn't do, rather than what they should:

The New York Rangers claim to be in a retool, but many believe they are or should be in a rebuild. The major difference is that a retool works to return to contention quickly, while a rebuild is methodically drawn out to develop the best possible long term result, regardless of how long it takes. The question isn't as simple as should the Rangers rebuild or retool.

That's exactly the mindset the Heat's front office needs to have. Even though it may seem to be the right decision to lock up Powell now, whose extension window is now open, it may not be that simple. The Heat can't be in a rush to keep the status quo Sure, it would be ideal if they could lock up Powell and perhaps other players on their roster, but why would they be in such a hurry to lock themselves into future mediocrity?

The Washington Commanders signed Von Miller late into the summer. They had grave concerns about their edge rushing unit, so general manager Adam Peters acquired a future first ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer who could provide some short-term relief as a rotational presence. Miller has flashed moments of quality. He's not the dominant game-wrecker of previous years, but nobody expected him to be. And the fact that Washington is dealing with so many health problems in their pass-rushing unit isn't exactly helping matters either.

Lynch is for the most part off limits during the regular season in terms of media access, except for his weekly appearance on KNBR-680, the 49ers' flagship radio station. He explained on air Thursday morning why things were so quiet at the deadline as the 49ers made no late moves to add to their roster with a 6-3 record but some obvious needs.

They trade from and reshape their roster aggressively at virtually every opportunity in order to keep the team from ever needing to rebuild, and it's a system that's worked for quite some time at this point. From Willy Adames to Tyler Glasnow to Randy Arozarena, most players don't stay in Tampa for long and get traded before they'd actually have a chance to sniff free agency and walk away for nothing.

The back-and-forth between Brewers and Cubs fans has quickly become tiresome - and it's even more prosaic when White Sox fans get involved - but it shouldn't absolve Jed Hoyer. Analytics and voodoo magic aside, Chicago's North Side Baseballers have finished behind Milwaukee in the NL Central in every season since the 2018 tiebreaker game. That has to change. Hoyer may have to re-blueprint his roster as well. The potential loss of Kyle Tucker means finding left-handed power to replace him,

Las Vegas Aces president Nikki Fargas poked a little fun at how challenging it is for WNBA franchises to prepare for the biggest free agency period in league history. "You're going to need to have Plan A, Plan B and Plan 9-1-1," Fargas said. "There is nothing normal about this offseason, so you can't look at it from a normal lens."

The rotation was a natural point of focus, with Elias saying the club wants to add a starter to the front half of its rotation, which could be either a #1, a #2 or a #3. Such distinctions are fairly subjective but the point would be to have another guy capable of slotting in next to Kyle Bradish and Tyler Rogers somewhere in the front half of the rotation.