In perhaps the least surprising 49ers news of the offseason, the team will exercise its club option on fullback Kyle Juszczyk for the 2020 season according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
He’s due a base salary of $5.05 million next season, and carries a $6.7 million cap hit in the final year of a four-year deal he signed in 2017. He remains, by far, the highest-paid fullback in the league.
Juszczyk’s large salary looks like a misappropriation of funds by the 49ers given the relative lack of need for a fullback in most modern offenses. However, head coach Kyle Shanahan uses Juszczyk’s diverse skill set to generate a lot of the deception that makes San Francisco’s offense tick.
If Juszczyk was instead classified as the 49ers’ No. 2 tight end, he’d come in ranked No. 19 in average annual salary among tight ends. That’s a bargain for a player that effectively acts as a fulcrum for the entire offense. He’s what allows the 49ers to operate effectively in 21 personnel (two running backs, one tight end) more than any other team in the league.
He was also very good in Super Bowl LIV when he posted three catches for 39 yards and a touchdown.
There wasn’t any doubt that Juszczyk would be back in San Francisco for the 2020 season, and it’s hard to imagine he won’t receive an extension sometime soon that keeps him around beyond this year.
