Javon Hargrave preparing well for high-pressure second campaign with the San Francisco 49ers
Javon Hargrave is putting in the work to be in the best shape possible for his second season with the San Francisco 49ers. EXOS Sports this week posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) of the Pro Bowl defensive tackle lifting over 500 pounds. Following mandatory minicamp, the 49ers will obviously have given their players […]
Javon Hargrave is putting in the work to be in the best shape possible for his second season with the San Francisco 49ers.
EXOS Sports this week posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) of the Pro Bowl defensive tackle lifting over 500 pounds.
Following mandatory minicamp, the 49ers will obviously have given their players a brief of needing to stay in peak football shape ahead of training camp as San Francisco prepares to try to go one better after coming up agonizingly short in Super Bowl 58.
Hargrave is displaying significant effort to do just that, and will have extra incentive to do so having conceded to needing to improve in several areas ahead of what is a campaign of underrated importance for the former Philadelphia Eagle.
"I feel I could I have won a more in the pass rush stuff and just be better game in the run game stuff and just being in way better shape than I was last year," said Hargrave last month.
Hargrave signed a four-year, $84 million contract with the 49ers in free agency last offseason, but his seven sacks in the regular season registered a significant drop from the 11 he posted in his final season with the Eagles.
He was 17th in pass rush win rate among interior defensive linemen with at least 100 pass rush snaps, per Pro Football Focus. According to Sports Info Solutions, Hargrave was 20th among defensive tackles with at least 10 pressures in pressure rate.
Those numbers were affected by Hargrave dealing with a torn thumb ligament down the stretch, but he will still want to significantly improve on his production from 2023.
Hargrave restructured his contract this offseason, converting over $7 million of his base salary into a signing bonus. In 2025 and 2026, he carries cap hits of $28.1 million and $29.8 million. For those to be anywhere close to palatable for the 49ers with the Brock Purdy extension on the horizon, the Niners will need to see clear strides from Hargrave comparative to last year.
By designating Hargrave as a post-June 1 cut in 2025, the 49ers can save $20.73 million in cap space, though such a decision would come with a dead cap charge of $7.37 million.
It's very early to talk about moving on from Hargrave but, with the 49ers' financial balancing act set to become a lot more difficult, it's certainly not off the table.
The challenge for Hargrave is to turn his efforts off the field into more consistent production on it and remove the thought of an early parting of the ways with the Niners from the equation entirely.
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