SANTA CLARA — The negotiating window for free agency opened Tuesday morning, and presumably general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan are on the phone with agents eager to take a bite out of the 49ers’ approximately $93 million in salary cap space.
No signings can take place until Thursday, but expect a flurry of first-day signings league-wide based on negotiations during the so-called “tampering” period.
The 49ers have only 58 players under contract after Monday’s release of wide receiver Torrey Smith and can carry 90 in the off-season. As Lynch noted during the NFL scouting combine, “We need players.