ESPN's Michael Smith reports that the 49ers and Justin Smith agreed to a six-year, $45 million contract that included $20 million in guarantees. Looks like Nolan and Smith's fancy date went well.

Smith is known for having a great motor and solid athleticism. If the team stays with the 3-4, he'd likely play outside linebacker, as he did show great athleticism (ran in the 4.5s) seven years ago helping him get taken fourth overall. He is coming off a career-worst season, 2 sacks, but does have a career total of 43.5 sacks. 3-4 guru Dick LeBeau has always thought highly of him as a potential linebacker. Smith also said a month ago that he feels he could fit in well as a linebacker in the 3-4 scheme. Matt Maiocco disagrees and believes he was signed to be a defensive end, and plays at 280 lbs. Could we be changing to a 4-3?

Update on Javon Walker: Matt Maiocco says the 49ers' interest was "lukewarm" for Walker, who signed a contract with the Raiders.

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Adam Schefter reports that the 49ers have signed Isaac Bruce to a two-year, $6 million deal, reuniting him with offensive coordinator Mike Martz. Bruce, who will be 36 in November, should be able to help supplement and mentor a poor receiving corps and probably will jump right into the starting lineup. John Clayton reports that the Niners will probably be in serious pursuit of freshly released Javon Walker, regardless of the Bruce signing.

Matt Maiocco reports that Justin Smith and Mike Nolan went on a helicopter ride together and fancy dinner date. Nolan is said to be wearing his best suit for the occassion. The 49ers are pulling out all the stops in courting the former first-rounder, who had only two sacks last season. We're hearing that Kathy Nolan is feeling very jealous and upset.

On the Alan Faneca front, he is expected to sign with the Jets on a rumored 4-year, $32 million contract with $23 million guaranteed. Quite a lot for an aging veteran. It's probably better if the 49ers finally give their talented young guards (Baas, Snyder, Wragge) a starting job finally. And Calvin Pace has signed with the Dolphins.

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Free agency begins! The 49ers have agreed to terms with free agent LB Dontarrious Thomas, RB DeShaun Foster, QB J.T. O'Sullivan and return man Allen Rossum.

They have also contacted pro bowl guard Alan Faneca will have DE/OLB Justin Smith in for a visit today. Faneca is mulling over his primary options of the 49ers, Jets and Rams and won't make any visits until Sunday. Smith is also being pursued by the Vikings. Word is that Isaac Bruce may be on the way here and the team is out of the running for Calvin Pace, Lance Briggs and Bernard Berrian. They are also eyeing Giants free safety Gibril Wilson.

Auburn product Thomas was a 2nd round pick and has played sparingly over the past four seasons with the Vikings and signed a two-year deal. He's only had 10 starts and his best season was as a rookie with 59 tackles. He'll likely be competing with Brandon Moore for the starting TED inside linebacker spot next to Patrick Willis.

Foster was a huge impact player for the Panthers in their Super Bowl run and has started the past two seasons, but was cut in a cap saving move. The former UCLA star will team up with Frank Gore for a very impressive one-two punch on a very affordable two-year, $1.8 million contract.

O'Sullivan is a Martz favorite and a local kid from UC Davis. He's been all over the league as well as NFL Europa, and will likely compete for the third-string job, possibly with a rookie from the draft. His contract is one-year, $645,000.

Rossum agreed to terms a few days ago and is signed to one-year, $870,000.

Internal moves
The 49ers also gave Alex Smith a vote of confidence by exercising his multi-million dollar buyback clause. He's been awful so far in his three years here and looks like he's well on his way to being a #1 bust. Hopefully he can finally show something and stop wasting cap space. The team also inked special teams star Michael Robinson to a three year extension and are still in contact with Larry Allen about a potential return. Scot McCloughan said, "If he wants to stick to the price we think he's worth, we'd love to have him back." Probably will pend on Faneca's decision though.

Ex-Niners
Justin Smiley and Kwame Harris are outta here. Smiley agreed to a five-year, $25 million deal with the Dolphins, including $9 million guaranteed. Smiley played extremely poor this past season, eventually got injured, replaced and outplayed by David Baas. Harris, butt of all 49ers fans' jokes, is on his way to the Raiders after reaching an agreement on a rumored five-year, $25 million deal with $10 million upfront.

Marques Douglas is visiting Tampa Bay today. He'd likely be one-gapping in the three-technique at undertackle for the Tampa-2 scheme ala Warren Sapp.

Stay tuned for more FA excitement!

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The 49ers Agreed today on terms with defensive tackle . Terms of the deal have not been disclosed at this time.

Matthew Barrows reports that there is a "good chance" that Sopoaga would replace at left end this season.






Contract detail updates:
Sopoaga's extension was for 5 years, $20 million;

Rod Green

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's for 1 year, $605,000.

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Matt Maiocco reports that the 49ers have extended and may be in hot pursuit of Cardinals free agent Calvin Pace as well as the previously mentioned Justin Smith.

Green might very well have the best pass-rush ability of anyone on the current roster and has always produced in limited playing time. Pace, who has experience at 4-3 DE, OLB and 3-4 OLB, could be a fine replacement in the starting lineup for the relatively mediocre and the team is supposedly willing to throw at least $14 million guaranteed at Pace.

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ESPN's John Clayton reports that the 49ers have contacted DeShaun Foster's agent. Foster would certainly be a great addition to the running game, not only being able to competently spell , but also be a solid starter if Gore ever were to go down.

ProFootballTalk reports that the 49ers are also rumored to have already worked out a deal to sign Justin Smith as soon as free agency begins on March 1st. Smith would likely play weakside OLB in the 3-4.

Paraag Marathe is currently negotiating with 's agent on a contract extension. If one is not reached by the March 1st deadline, Sopoaga's agent has said that they will be on a plane immediately. He has said already that he wants to stay a 49er.

Bears WR Bernard Berrian keeps saying that he wants to play for the 49ers. He'd make for an ideal fit in Mike Martz' offense.

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Per NFL Network, the 49ers have reached an agreement with former Pro Bowl return specialist Allen Rossum. Rossum, who also can serve as a reserve cornerback, is one of the league's fastest players and has returned 7 kicks and punts for touchdowns in his career. He's had 20 kick returns of 40 yds or more, and 32 punt returns of 20 yards or more. In 2005, Rossum won the Pro Bowl "fastest man" contest. He was released by the Steelers on Friday.

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Collected from various sources around the net. Take it for what it's worth. Rumors, gotta love em.

- The 49ers are rumored to be interested in QB Byron Leftwich. If he were to be signed, he'd likely get a veteran minimum salary contract to come in and compete for the starting job. There is also word that the team is looking at JP Losman as well.

- Shaun McDonald is on the trading block, and the 49ers might come calling. He is one of Mike Martz' favorite receivers and Martz signed McDonald right after joining the Lions. Probably could be had for a late round pick. Another one of Martz' old buddies that is believed to be on the cutting block is Rams receiver Isaac Bruce.

- Chicago Bears Bernard Berrian and Lance Briggs have both been mentioned to be on the radar. Berrian did not receive the franchise tag like many believed would happened. The Briggs issue has also gotten the Bears to file tampering charges due to the 49ers allegedly trying to discuss an extension with his agent without him reaching free agency yet. The NFL has not made a ruling yet.

- Wideouts Troy Williamson and Javon Walker are both on the outs with their respective teams and are on the trading block and the 49ers have been mentioned to have interest. Latest word is that Walker might be on his way to Tampa Bay.

- Matt Maiocco reported that we are interested in Bengals DE Justin Smith. Not really sure where he would fit in the front 7 if the team sticks with the 3-4 scheme. He's nowhere near strong or big enough to play end and not really athletic enough to move to outside linebacker. Rumor is that Steelers' defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau believes that Smith might have the potential to play OLB in the 3-4 and may have interest as well.

- DTs Shaun Rogers and Kris Jenkins are names being floated out there on the trading block and could be had for a mid round pick. They would both make for excellent nose tackles for any 3-4 team if they stayed motivated in Rogers' case, or healthy in Jenkins' case.

- DraftDaddy.com reported that Auburn's Quentin Groves has been quoted at the combine, saying to Mike Nolan that the 49ers were "going to be sorry you traded the 7th pick for Staley after I run a 4.4 forty!"

- At the same time, Scot McCloughan mentioned that this "draft class of offensive tackles is the best he's seen in a long time," while the Steelers' Director of Football Operations Kevin Colbert said that "It's the best group of tackles I've seen in 24 years, collectively. The majority of them can play on the left side or play both sides. It's unusual to have that many guys that big and that athletic and that productive." Hopefully becomes great, as the amount of value we gave up last year to move up for him was ridiculous, especially given that if we held onto the pick, we could have a shot at Vernon Gholston with #7 AND a schmorgusboard of higher graded tackle prospects than Staley at #29 (if we didn't take Tony Ugoh in the 2nd round and traded to the Colts).

The team also signed kicker Ricky Schmitt, most likely as a preseason leg.

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After many years and millions of dollars wasted on mediocre play, has been released by the 49ers. Smith, who has racked up plenty of tackle stats for the 49ers over the years (and in the process giving up countless yards from missed, dragged and broken "tackles," will not be missed, at least on the field. Quite a snipe from us at Smith, but its deserved, as his play on the field the past 3 to 4 years has been amongst the worst of any NFL starter. Nice guy, somewhat decent lockerroom leader, but as mediocre a player as this team has had over the past decade.
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The 49ers and agreed to a 3 year deal today. Hill, who was an impending unrestricted free agent, showed poise, accuracy, instincts, smarts and a quick release - a far cry from what quarterbacks and showed before going down with injuries.

The deal is believed to be worth $6 million, including a signing bonus of about $2 million and playing-time incentives that could push the total to $11.5 million.

The team also hired former Dolphins RB coach Tony Nathan and promoted Trent Baalke to director of player personnel.

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49ers sackmaster and two-time Super Bowl champion, defensive end Fred Dean was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame today. Dean, a four-time pro bowler and two-time all pro, tallied approximately 100 sacks (sacks were not an officially tallied stat until 1982) in his 141 game career, including a 17.5 sack season in 1983. He was known for being extraordinarily strong and quick, with a solid contemporary comparison being Shawne Merriman.

Congratulations to the 49ers' "Dean of Defense"!

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The Associated Press has named rookie linebacker and punter to the NFL All-Pro Team. Willis led the entire league in tackles by a large margin and did a spectacular job making impact plays constantly throughout the season. Lee had arguably finest season ever for a punter, leading the league in net average, punts, yardage and pins within the 20.

Congratulations to them both!

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NFL Network's Adam Schefter reports that the 49ers have hired Mike Martz as the new offensive coordinator.

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The 49ers have informed QB Shaun Hill's agent to expect a contract offer in the near future. Hill is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in seven weeks when the free agency period begins.

In 10 quarters this season, Hill has completed 68% of his passes and posted a 101.3 quarterback rating, winning two out of two starts.

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After leading the league in tackles in his rookie season, Patrick Willis was recognized as the Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the year.

Willis garnered 48 out of the 50 votes, the only other two going to Carolina LB Jon Beason

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