Dianna Marie Russini reports that the Redskins and Buccaneers are expected to have “strong interest” in 49ers free agent G Mike Iupati.
This comes just a few hours after Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area mentioned that Iupati is likely to reach the open market in the coming week. Maiocco added that a return to San Francisco is still a possibility.
The overall expectation has been that Iupati wound up fielding offers from prospective teams this offseason given that the 49ers are in a tough financial position right now.
On top of that, there are a number of NFL teams with a ton of cap space that needs to be spent, so even if the 49ers are serious about retaining him, teams like the Jaguars, Buccaneers, Raiders and Redskins could easily price San Francisco out of the market.
Iupati has obvious ties to the Redskins now that they’ve hired Scot McCloughan as their new general manager. McCloughan was with San Francisco when they drafted Iupati.
Iupati, 27, finished out his five-year, $15,110,625 rookie contract that included $2,074,000 guaranteed and will be an unrestricted free agent in the coming weeks.
Last year, Iupati appeared in 15 games for the 49ers and was rated as the No. 15 guard in the league, according to Pro Football Focus. It’s worth mentioning that he was PFF’s second highest graded guard in terms of run blocking.
We have Iupati listed as the No. 15 player in our Top 100 Free Agents list.
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Fingers crossed on this one. Would provide immediate help and ability to teach rookies or other young lineman(Moses specifically). Signing iupati allows the Redskins to draft more freely(not solely lineman), taking chances on risky/high potential players Landon Collins(if 1st rd pick traded) or green-beckham (2nd round?) by allowing Moses and others to grow behind a veteran. Hopefully mcloughans ties persuade lower price, I hate being so hopeful for the Redskins before the season, like every year, but this offseason feels different already. Httr
Washington needs to get him
49ers can’t afford to lose Iupati. He’s one of the best guards in the NFL when he’s healthy. I don’t think he comes back if he hits free agency. Jed York seems to be all about frugality this season and Iupati won’t be cheap. Kaepernick is really gonna have to rely on his legs this season as the defenses are gonna be getting lots of pressure.