Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk mentions that “some believe” the San Francisco 49ers will make a run at signing Seahawks free agent DE Michael Bennett in the coming weeks.
- Florio adds that the 49ers could be showing interest in Bennett just to increase the amount it would take for Seattle re-sign him.
- ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Thursday that Bennett will test the free agent market.
Teams can begin meeting with Bennett tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see how fast things develop with one of the best available free agents.
The 49ers are projected to have around $10 million in available cap space, so it could be hard for them to sign Bennett and still address other players like QB Colin Kaepernick and S Donte Whitner.
Bennett, 28, was forced to sign a one-year contract worth $5 million with the Seahawks, despite coming off of a decent 2012 season for the Buccaneers in 2012. The floor seemed to fall out of the defensive end market last year, which led to a number of players accepting limited contracts including: John Abraham, Dwight Freeney, and Shaun Phillips.
Bennett did his best to increase his market value this year by recording 8.5 sacks for the Seahawks defense. Pro Football Focus actually has had him rated as a top-10 4-3 defensive end for the past two years, so he has clearly earned a long-term deal.
We have him listed as the No. 5 player in our Top 50 Free Agents list.
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