The San Francisco 49ers‘ quest to keep defensive tackle Javon Hargrave in the Bay Area was unsuccessful.

According to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero, Hargrave is joining the Minnesota Vikings after just two seasons with the 49ers.

San Francisco signed Hargrave in free agency ahead of the 2023 season in hopes of bolstering their interior pass rush. His first season was underwhelming, then he suffered a season-ending triceps tear in Week 3 of the 2024 campaign.

The 49ers reworked his deal this offseason to make it easier for him to be released with a post-June 1 designation. Despite the altered contract, 49ers general manager John Lynch told reporters at the NFL combine the team hoped to retain Hargrave, although he wasn’t optimistic about their chances.

“I think that the D tackle market’s going to be, it’s a premium position and they typically do well,” Lynch said. “And even Javon who’s coming off the triceps, I think he’s well on his way to being healthy and I think it’d be a robust market, but we’ll see. And we’ve had good discussions with Javon. When we kind of talked about the transaction we were going to make that yeah, we’d be interested in a scenario where he comes back and hopefully we can be involved in that. We’ll see.”

The 49ers this offseason have aimed to recalibrate financially while getting younger overall. Hargrave is entering his age 32 season and will cost the 49ers $7.4 million in dead money this year with another $17,485,000 in dead money next year. His release saved the 49ers $2,312,353 in cap space in 2025.

Hargrave played in 19 games across two years with San Francisco. He posted 51 tackles, nine tackles for loss and 8.0 sacks.

This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Javon Hargrave turns down return to 49ers, agrees to deal with Vikings