The 49ers made Kyle Juczczyk the highest paid fullback in the NFL at $5 million per year.
The 49ers also gave Malcolm Smith $12 million in guaranteed money over the next two seasons combined.
According to NFL.com: "It looks like agents smelled blood in the water with new general manager John Lynch and knocked him around at the negotiating table."
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On Friday, the 49ers GM responded.
"We're proud of those signings," Lynch told KNBR 680 on Friday. "We really are ... if you're sitting there reading everything that people are saying about you and taking it personally, you aren't gonna be very successful ... I think the reason they both got nice contracts is because they were wanted. And we weren't the only ones that wanted them. In a lot of our situations, we weren't the highest bidder."
Juszczyk was a fourth round pick in 2013 out of Harvard and reached the Pro Bowl with the Ravens last year.
Malcolm Smith, who was named Super Bowl XLVIII MVP, started 30 games for the Raiders over the past two seasons.
San Francisco 49ers
"Guys came because there's an exciting vibe here; guys want to be here," Lynch added. "None of this means anything until they go play and we go play. But those are two guys we're very excited to have as part of the 49ers."
Lynch then shared the story behind the negotiations with Juszczyk.
"In that period where the negotiating period started, we were doing some traveling and we got a call and they said, 'Here's where it's at now,' and we said, 'Wow,' because we set in with 'Hey, to get this guy, we're gonna have to likely make him the highest paid fullback ever.' And we were willing to do that...
"But then it kind of got to even another step and we had to all stop and kind of look at each other and go, 'OK. This is getting real.' And that's when we kind of came up the philosophy he's not just a fullback; he's an offensive weapon ... I'm gonna trust my instincts on what the guy brings, not necessarily what the rest of the market sees him as.
"You can't go crazy with that, but like I said, we weren't the only ones interested in this guy ... he's still worth it to us."