San Francisco 49ers: Carlos Hyde, Trent Brown deserve extensions

After strong starts to the 2017 season, the San Francisco 49ers should already be looking at extending running back Carlos Hyde and tackle Trent Brown.

The San Francisco 49ers have decisions to make over the of a number of key members of their roster come the end of the season and two players have made significant cases for new contracts with their play through the first three weeks.

Indeed, while the 49ers offense had struggled up until Week 3, running back Carlos Hyde and right tackle Trent Brown have looked like players who need to be locked down to extensions sooner rather than later. Hyde’s future with the team was questioned throughout the offseason following the arrival of rookies Joe Williams and Matt Breida, with talk he could be traded or even cut.

The durability of a player who has never finished a full season in the NFL has also been consistently scrutinized. But Hyde responded to the pressure put on him by dropping weight and quickly cementing his grip on the starting running back job and he has gone from strength to strength since. Hyde averaged five yards per carry in the opener with the Carolina Panthers, but game flow and the 49ers’ significant deficit limited his impact.

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His influence has been more keenly felt in the last two weeks, with Hyde ripping off a 61-yarder as he racked up 124 yards on just 15 carries against the Seattle Seahawks before running for 84 yards and two scores versus the Los Angeles Rams. Only Kareem Hunt and Dalvin Cook have more rushing yards than Hyde in the entire league and the former Ohio State Buckeye also has 12 catches to his name.

There will have been some concern when Hyde went off the field with a hip issue in Week 3 but the fact he played through it should lend credence to the argument that his questionable injury history is solely down to bad luck. Any doubts over Hyde’s ability to fit Kyle Shanahan’s zone running game have been quickly dispelled, as he has succeeded with his one-cut ability, burst, agility and power.

There will be many who want to see Hyde do it for a full season before offering him a new contract. However, with Hyde a free agent at the end of the campaign, that risks letting him hit the open market and losing him to a team possibly in a better position to contend.

And, while there are a number of extremely promising running backs in the next draft class, the 49ers have substantially more pressing needs at quarterback, edge rusher, in the secondary and on the interior of the offensive line. The right move for the 49ers would be to an extend a player in Hyde who is performing to the highest standard of his pro career and is one of the more underrated tailbacks in the league.

Brown’s contract is not up until 2019, but an extension should also be on the horizon for a player who is primed to become one of the best right tackles in football.

Brown’s impressive athleticism and footwork for a man of his 6-8 and 355-pound size has helped him develop into a skilled pass protector and, prior to the defeat to the Rams, he had not allowed a pressure this season. He still has improvements to make as a run blocker but Brown is a key building block on an O-Line that remains a work in progress and will eventually require a new left tackle when Joe Staley’s play eventually tails off.

The 49ers’ downturn came about not just a result of a spate of retirements, but following a 2015 offseason in which key players, including guard Mike Iupati, were allowed to walk in free agency.

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They should do everything in their power to avoid Brown leaving at the end of the next season and the way to do that is to lock him down as early as possible. The 49ers are not in a position to let two of their more talented players leave and at some point in the coming months, the front office needs to open discussions aimed towards keeping both Hyde and Brown for the long term.