The San Francisco 49ers have desperately missed Pro Bowl defensive tackle Javon Hargrave since he went down for the season with a torn bicep muscle in Week 3.

But they may be preparing to move on from their big free agent acquisition from the 2023 offseason. Hargrave signed a four-year, $84 million contract with the 49ers last year.

Per Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap, the 49ers restructured Hargrave's contract for 2025 and 2026.

Fitzgerald wrote of the move:

"The 49ers reduced Hargrave's base salary from $19.9 million to $2.1 million, dropping Hargraves salary cap number from $28.105 million to $10.305 million in the process. The original cost to cut Hargrave would have been either $24.86 million on the cap or $28.105 million during free agency if using the June 1. This will allow the team to designate Hargrave as a post June 1 release, count for just $10.3 million on the cap during free agency and then have it drop to and have his cap number count for $8.6 million in 2025 if Hargrave is still hurt and defer $17.485 million to 2026."

Fitzgerald speculated that the move appears to be designed to tee up Hargrave as a post-June 1 release. 

While that would make some sense given Hargrave will be 32 by the time the 2025 season starts and the 49ers need as much cap relief as they can get with the Brock Purdy contract extension likely coming in the offseason, the Niners cannot do so without a Plan B. 

Indeed, the 49ers' interior defensive line has struggled mightily without Hargrave's abilities as an interior pass rusher, while a run defense that was already having issues with him in the lineup has gotten progressively worse.

If the 49ers do indeed move on from Hargrave and designate him as a post-June 1 cut, it will be a clear sign of their likely direction of travel in the draft. 

In short, it's a move that gives the 49ers some extra flexibility, but it doesn't definitively mean San Francisco will part with Hargrave. When healthy, he's still comfortably their best interior defensive lineman, and moving on without a clear plan of how to fill the void would be a very rash and ill-advised decision.

But, as the 49ers near the end of a tough year that looks set to end with them missing the playoffs, Hargrave's future can at least be considered up in the air.

49ers defense surpassed 27-year benchmark in dominant first-half performance against Bears

They need more of this down the stretch.