The San Francisco 49ers didn’t make a trade at the deadline Tuesday, a sign they believe in their players and coaches and didn’t want to mess with the chemistry of a 6-3 team.
Nah?
Not buying that one?
How about this one? The 49ers were never really in an all-in mode this season, and that certainly wasn’t going to change after losing defensive stars Nick Bosa and Fred Warner for the year, not to mention a dozen other injuries, including first-round rookie Mykel Williams’ tearing up his knee on the MetLife Stadium turf Sunday.
The 49ers desperately need a pass rusher — they have seven sacks in the past seven games — and they made calls to the Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets and Miami Dolphins about Trey Hendrickson, Jermaine Johnson and Jaelan Phillips, league sources told Dianna Russini, Matt Barrows and myself.
But the “price was too high” and “nothing was close.”
The Jets apparently wanted a second-round pick for Johnson, and it seems the Bengals wanted a first-rounder to even consider moving Hendrickson. The oft-injured Phillips cost the Philadelphia Eagles a third-round pick, which probably made the 49ers hang up immediately, given he will be a free agent in March (as will Hendrickson).
One of the rules general manager John Lynch made for himself this season was to make a deal only if that player is on the books for next season. Rentals don’t make a lot of sense for a roster split between older players and rookies or second-year players. The Niners are trying to win now, but it’s more of a two-year window when you look at the contracts of the team leaders.
Just look at the trades Lynch has already made this season for Bryce Huff, Brian Robinson Jr. and defensive end Keion White, which happened last week.
“We like whoever we trade for to be here for more than just the end of this year,” Lynch said last week on KNBR.
And yeah, they gave up some picks already in those other trades this season.
“We also want to keep our draft,” Lynch said. “We don’t want to eat into that too much but also wanted to bolster our team for this year.”
The glaring need didn’t make the 49ers more desperate. Coach Kyle Shanahan said as much when he was asked about the effect of Williams’ injury Sunday.
“No, that hasn’t changed anything,” he said. “I know (the front office is) working around the clock on just any possibilities and stuff as they do every single year. But no, this happening hasn’t changed anything.”
The good news is Huff is set to return this week from a hamstring injury. He has four of the team’s nine non-Bosa sacks. We realize Ricky Pearsall was “set” to return a month ago and Brock Purdy two weeks ago, but let’s all be optimistic for a change. And hey, Clelin Ferrell is averaging a sack per game since his return to the 49ers.
Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh has a pretty good track record. But that’s not the main reason 49ers fans should remain positive instead of firing off tweets that the brass quit on the season. It’s that the offense scored a season-high 34 points Sunday, and with George Kittle back and Jauan Jennings starting to look like his old self, the unit could be pretty good when Pearsall comes back. (Brandon Aiyuk is a lottery ticket at this point.)
Christian McCaffrey is on pace for 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving, and he hasn’t gotten a lot of help from the interior offensive line. Purdy finally took some first-team reps in practice last week, but there has been no need to rush him back from a nagging turf toe injury because Mac Jones has been everything Shanahan dreamed he would before the 2021 NFL Draft: a quick decision-maker, accurate and a tough guy unafraid to stand in the pocket and deliver before taking a big hit.
Add in still-elite left tackle Trent Williams, Jones’ effective best friend in Kendrick Bourne, sledge-hammer backup running back Robinson Jr. and yeah, sure, Aiyuk, and the 49ers could have an offense that could outscore teams and keep the ball away in December and January.
“I don’t want to say pressure, but there is a ton of opportunity for the offense to go out there and score a bunch of points and have a bunch of guys involved,” Kittle said after Sunday’s game. “Our offense can put up 30 points a game, which would really help out our young defense.”
And that is why the 49ers didn’t spend any more draft picks to make a deal Tuesday.
