The biggest surprise of the offseason for the 49ers isn’t necessarily who they lost, it’s who they kept.
We knew the 49ers would let lots of expensive veterans leave this offseason as they prepare to make Brock Purdy one of the highest-paid players in the NFL. But we didn’t know they would keep defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos of all people.
The 49ers signed Gross-Matos last year. He started zero games and missed six with a knee injury. In the 11 games he played, he recorded four sacks, but three of those came against the Chicago Bears who gave up a league-high 68 sacks last season. Plus they had just fired their head coach.
In the other 10 games, Gross-Matos had merely one sack. In addition, he received a terrible run-defense grade from Pro Football Focus for the season.
You’d understand the 49ers keeping Gross-Matos for another season if he were cheap because he’s only 27. But he’s not cheap. His salary cap hit for 2025 is $9.473 million, which is the sixth-highest cap hit on the team. Meaning he has a higher cap hit than Christian McCaffrey, Deommodore Lenoir and Brock Purdy.
So the 49ers must expect him to start this year. Why else would they pay him so much money when they’re cutting costs virtually everywhere else?
Expect Gross-Matos to start at defensive end opposite Nick Bosa and play there on first and second down. Then, on third down Gross-Matos will move to defensive tackle and rush from the interior.
If Gross-Matos stays healthy, he will play more than 800 snaps this year. Unfortunately for the 49ers, Gross-Matos has been durable for just one season in his career, and that was 2022.