JUNE 6: Thomas will receive the veteran’s minimum ($1.21MM) on his 49ers accord, Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 notes. That total includes $300K guaranteed. Thomas’ cap hit will be $985K, a manageable figure if he can effectively serve as a backup tight end for San Francisco.
JUNE 3: Seeing a previous effort to add a backup tight end thwarted by the Lions matching a restricted free agency offer sheet, the 49ers are circling back to the position months later. Logan Thomas is on his way to the Bay Area.
The 49ers and the recent Commanders starter are finalizing a deal, according to NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo. This will end a lengthy free agency stay for Thomas, whom Washington released before free agency’s outset. A converted quarterback, Thomas will have a chance to play an 11th NFL season.
San Francisco lost Charlie Woerner and Ross Dwelley to Atlanta in free agency and has 2023 third-round pick Cameron Latu coming off a season-ending knee injury. The team’s Brock Wright offer sheet did not bring the Sam LaPorta complementary piece to San Francisco; Detroit matched the three-year, $12MM deal. Thomas is now ticketed to be George Kittle‘s top sidekick.
Considering the recent developments, tight end depth became a need for the 49ers. Thomas, 32, stands to fill that void. Despite coming into the league as a Cardinals backup QB, Thomas did not present evidence of being overmatched as a blocker. Pro Football Focus rated the veteran pass catcher 17th in run blocking at the position last season. The 49ers’ offense certainly requires its tight ends to play key roles in the run game, and it will be interesting to see if the 6-foot-6, 250-pound performer can work his way into two-tight end sets alongside Kittle.
Set to turn 33 in early July, Thomas is coming off a four-season Washington tenure. The first of those featured a career-high 670 receiving yards, giving the team a surprise supplementary option alongside Terry McLaurin. Thomas also hit his career high with six touchdowns that season. The showing earned the former Virginia Tech QB a three-year, $24MM deal in July 2021. That turned out to represent important timing for Thomas, who suffered a torn ACL during a six-game ’21 season.
Thomas struggled to regain his form in 2022 but showed signs of promise in Eric Bieniemy’s offense last year. Eclipsing 40 receiving yards in seven games, Thomas finished with 55 receptions for 496 yards and four TDs last season. This effort did not prompt the Commanders’ new regime to sign off on keeping Thomas in the final year of his contract. The team added ex-Kliff Kingsbury charge Zach Ertz and used a second-round pick on Ben Sinnott.
The 49ers did not draft a tight end and came into OTAs with some questions at the position. Most recently, 2023 seventh-rounder Brayden Willis appeared in the lead for the team’s TE2 role, though Latu will probably be heard from at some point ahead of the season. The team also has veteran Eric Saubert on the roster. Thomas’ presence will create some competition among the team’s lesser-known tight ends.
The 49ers have seen Kittle play through injuries in recent years, though he has not missed more than three games in a season in that span. Thomas stands to provide a veteran option for Brock Purdy — in an offense loaded at the skill positions after the draft came and went without Brandon Aiyuk or Deebo Samuel being traded.
Doesn’t this guy get hurt every year for the past 5 years. Why bother?
They’ve been looking for A te2 for years, closest they came was Jordan Reed. He was even more injury prone, but looked really good in his short time there
When this guy is on the field he is a good player. His contract thus needs to reflect “when he is on the field”.
Availability is part of the package. If you can’t stay healthy, you should be paid less.
Excellent pickup for the 49ers, and they won’t require him to play but 20 snaps a game.
This should help keep Thomas healthy, and it’ll significantly help the 49ers versatility using 2 TE sets that Kyle loves to run.
He just hasn’t had a consistent receiving compliment to Kittle, but the few times he has like Jordan Reed for a little bit, they looked VERY good together. Kyle is an amazing X’s and O’s coach, and he’ll be able to get excellent value out of this deal.
49ers adding another weapon on offense is not good news for the rest of the NFC. Good luck stopping these guys, despite the NFL handing them an awful schedule.
Yeah, that NFL schedule has the 49ers playing 8 games with less rest than their opponents which is rather absurd. San Francisco has the oldest roster in the league too so it will be interesting to see how Shanman allocates playing time.
Yeah least rest, and I think they have the 3rd highest travel rate
Yeah, it is insane this is two years in a row, and they’re one of only six teams tied for the most Thursday games with two, on top of it all. While the league also thought that was perfectly fine while having SIX other teams with ZERO Thursday night games…
NFL definitely did them zero favors yet again…
@ Tiger
The travel milage I’m seeing for the 49ers is 24,575 but both the Seahawks and Rams have a number in the same range so that shouldn’t give anyone a divisional edge. The Chargers top out at 26,803 while the Commanders are at the low end with 10,550.
Washington fan here. Great low cost valuable pickup. Kyle knows how to use him and will be great having him again. Soldi blocker and still can get open downfield. Tough contested ball catcher as Kittle needs a soldi guy to give him breathers
Niner fan in Virginia, Logan was good for the WFT. Caught a few commies games cause that’s all I could watch. I like this signing
Thomas was good for the Washington Redskins, who don’t know how to identify and keep top talent.
Were there not better options than the concussion king?
His concussions are nowhere near Jordan Reed, and that worked pretty well for a short time