This past Sunday, just prior to kickoff of Week 17 morning games, Over The Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald posted a ranking of teams who could lose the most snaps in free agency this coming March. The San Francisco 49ers showed up No. 3 on the list prior to their season finale.

Teams with the most potential snaps to lose in free agency



1 Cardinals- 36%

2 Redskins- 31%

3 49ers- 29.5%

4 Texans- 28.3%

5 Jets- 27.4%

6 Colts- 27%

7 Bills- 26.4%

8 Lions- 26.3% — Jason_OTC (@Jason_OTC) December 31, 2017

The percentage likely changed a little bit, but you get the general idea. They are potentially giving up a lot of snaps to free agency, but it comes with some notable caveats.

Here is a list of the 49ers free agents and their total offensive or defensive snap counts for 2017. It is followed by the percent of offensive or defensive snaps for the year, and then their rank on offense or defense. This does not include special teams snaps, although that is obviously of note. For example, Dontae Johnson led the team with 1,027 defensive snaps, and was also seventh with 197 special teams snaps. Brock Coyle was sixth with 649 defensive snaps, and eighth with 191 special teams snaps. Other notable special teamers included Logan Paulsen (154 snaps) and Cassius Marsh (118 snaps). The remaining free agents who played on special teams finished with less than 100 such snaps.

One of the notable names would of course be Jimmy Garoppolo. He did not appear in a game until Week 12, and did not start until Week 13. Obviously his snap total would be higher had he played all season long. That being said, there is a pretty good chance we can expect to not lose his snaps this offseason.

Dontae Johnson, Carlos Hyde, and Eric Reid are the big three free agents, and Brock Coyle is right behind them. Coyle had surgery on a torn labrum this past Tuesday, and will not be 100 percent until this summer. I could see the 49ers bringing him back for depth, but they can likely afford to wait to sign him.

Here is the full list of 2017 offensive and defensive snap counts for pending 2018 free agents.

QB Jimmy Garoppolo: 353 (32.1 percent - 17th)

RB Carlos Hyde: 783 (71.1 percent - 5th)

WR Louis Murphy: 227 (20.6 percent - 20th)

TE Logan Paulsen: 147 (13.4 percent - 22nd)

OT Garry Gilliam: 39 (3.5 percent - 23rd)

OG Brandon Fusco: 1,085 (98.5 percent - 2nd)

C Daniel Kilgore: 1,100 (99.9 percent - 1st)

C Tim Barnes: 0 snaps

DE Cassius Marsh: 190 (16.8 percent - 23rd)

DE Tank Carradine: 214 (19 percent - 20th)

DE Aaron Lynch: 156 (13.8 percent - 24th)

DE Leger Douzable: 221 (19.6 percent - 19th)

DT Chris Jones: 0 snaps

LB Brock Coyle: 649 (57.5 percent - 6th)

CB Asa Jackson: 1 snap (0.1 percent - 39th)

CB Dontae Johnson: 1,027 (91 percent - 1st)

CB Leon Hall: 209 (18.5 percent - 21st)

SS Eric Reid: 740 (65.6 percent - 3rd)

S Antone Exum: 40 (3.5 percent - 33rd)