49ers Cut Three Players, Officially Sign LB Mychal Kendricks

The San Francisco 49ers announced Monday that they’ve officially released LB James Burgess Jr, LB Donald Payne and DL Eddie Vanderdoes.

The 49ers also signed LB Mychal Kendricks to a contract.

Kendricks, 30, is a former second-round pick of the Eagles back in 2012. He was entering the fourth year of his five-year, $29.896 million contract that included $16.4 million guaranteed when the Eagles designated him as a post-June 1 release back in 2018. 

The Browns later signed Kendricks to a one-year contract only to cut him loose shortly after the news of the insider trading charges surfaced.

From there, Kendricks signed a one-year contract with the Seahawks in 2018 and returned to Seattle for the 2019 season. The Washington Football Team signed him off the Seahawks’ practice squad back in December and appeared in one game. 

In 2019, Kendricks appeared in 14 games for the Seahawks and recorded 71 tackles, three sacks, one forced fumble, one interception and four pass defenses.

Payne, 27, originally signed on with the Ravens as an undrafted free agent out of Stetson back in 2017. He was waived coming out of the preseason and later claimed off of waivers by the Jaguars.

Jacksonville elected to cut Payne loose last May. He signed with Baltimore in  August only to be cut loose coming out of the preseason. After a short stint on the Ravens practice squad, Payne was released again. He rejoined the Jaguars to finish out 2019. 

He signed on with Washington last offseason and later joined their practice squad but was cut loose in October of last year. He briefly signed on with the Dolphins’ practice squad a month later. 

The 49ers signed him last week. 

In 2019, Payne appeared in nine games for the Jaguars and recorded 61 tackles, one sack, one fumble recovery and one pass defense. Pro Football Focus rated Payne as the No. 89 linebacker out of 89 qualifying players.