DeForest Buckner is the latest familiar face to find his way back to Santa Clara, and his return only adds to a pattern the 49ers keep reinforcing: this is a place players don’t seem eager to slam shut on the way out.
Buckner now joins Dre Greenlaw, Deebo Samuel and Kendrick Bourne on the list of players who left San Francisco, whether through free agency or a trade, and later came back. That kind of reunion doesn’t happen often around the league, but it keeps happening with the 49ers.
There are a couple ways to read it. One is that San Francisco runs a top-tier operation. George Kittle, for one, helped sell Mike Evans on the idea of playing with Brock Purdy by pointing to the things the 49ers do differently, from more modern technology to personalized nutritionists instead of a team nutritionist, along with other details that cost real money but never show up on a salary cap sheet.
The other explanation is simpler: the grass isn’t always greener.
That doesn’t mean the returning players left with no hard feelings. Greenlaw had plenty to say about Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton, but his situation was less about the 49ers being perfect and more about San Francisco doing something right.
Greenlaw signed a three-year, $35 million deal with Denver, played eight games, and was released after one season. He felt the release was handled poorly.
Samuel’s departure was different, but the theme was the same. He was traded to the Washington Commanders and ended up with a crowd-pleasing 17 carries, a sharp contrast to the roughly 45 carries per season he averaged over his previous four years with the 49ers. The change in usage was so brief that Samuel said it felt like he never left.
Buckner’s return carries the same message. The Bears were reportedly interested in the defensive tackle during this week’s NFC arms race, but Buckner wanted San Francisco.
Reports said he was unhappy with the extension offer, which makes his push to return all the more telling. If the bridge had truly been burned in 2020, would he have been so determined to come back?
Probably not.
That matters for the younger players in the building, too. When contracts come up, the lesson isn’t that they should take whatever the 49ers put on the table.
It’s that they can chase better money or a different role, leave, and still know the door is open if they want to come back later. The 49ers now have three players in the locker room, minus Bourne, who returned for 2025 only, who have lived that experience.
It also gives the team a useful counterpoint when the conversation turns to Brandon Aiyuk. His offseason stance of never wanting to do business with the 49ers has helped create the image of an organization players should avoid.
And players notice that kind of thing. Free agents and draft prospects can look at Aiyuk and wonder if something is off.
But Buckner, Greenlaw and Samuel make that case harder to sell. They left, they had their reasons, and they came back anyway. Buckner, in particular, made his position clear: it was San Francisco or nowhere.
There’s no reason to argue against a player getting paid. In a league called “Not For Long,” players have to look out for themselves and their families.
Still, the 49ers’ willingness to keep the door open - and the fact that players keep walking back through it - says plenty about the organization. It also gives those veterans a voice younger players can trust when it’s time to figure out what life looks like after they sign somewhere else.
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