The San Francisco 49ers are heading into Tuesday’s trade deadline needing more than a minor transaction.
They don’t need a single, solitary move — they need to be wheeling and dealing like an over-caffeinated auctioneer. It will take four or five trades to replace all that this roster has lost over the past few weeks.
Big-time players — the kind that can change a playoff game. Role players — the type who can execute a basic assignment without blowing a gasket. Yes and yes. This roster needs everything it can get.
But here’s the harsh reality: I don’t expect John Lynch or Kyle Shanahan to deliver. Why?
While the Niners have an obvious need(s), they lack the currency to strike any deals that matter.
They’re trying to use Monopoly money in a high-stakes poker game.
Sorry, but you can’t land a player like Trey Hendrickson for a smile, a future Day Two pick, and an IOU.
So, prepare for the spin cycle: I fully expect Lynch and Shanahan to sell the old “we already have one of those at home” line, praising the guys set to return (eventually, maybe): Brock Purdy, Brandon Aiyuk, Ricky Pearsall, Bryce Huff, and even Ben Bartch and Jake Brendel.
Will that group turn this depleted but still-decent 6-3 squad into a genuine Super Bowl contender? Not a chance.
Look at the aforementioned list—there’s one defender. The Niners need a whole lot more than just Huff on that side of the ball.
If only San Francisco could pair those returning bodies with serious outside muscle.
We’re talking a premium pass rusher. A true secondary stud. Hell, even just a linebacker, seeing as they have zero interest in getting their most recent third-round pick — No. 75 overall— off the bench. It’s bad luck, yes, but it’s also an indictment on the construction of this team.
This is where the 49ers’ trade-deadline predicament really lives, not with one specific player, but a roster that’s been patched with duct tape since July.
In their frantic, ill-conceived scramble to get a cogent 53-man group together this past August, they’ve already made two mid-season trades (Brian Robinson and Skyy Moore, both costing late-round picks). Add in the Bryce Huff deal from earlier in the offseason (fourth or a fifth-round pick, locking up both) and last year’s minor move for Khalil Davis, and Lynch has essentially cleaned out his piggy bank of Day 3 selections.
There was a tradable, non-top-100 pick the team had —a sixth-rounder— but Lynch shipped that to New England for Keion White last week.
It leaves the Niners with just three tradable picks in the upcoming draft: their first, second, and third-rounders. Yes, they have some projected compensatory fourths, but you can’t trade those — they’re imaginary until they’re officially awarded in March.
And the Niners absolutely cannot trade those top three picks. Top-100 selections are the lifeblood of a sustainable NFL franchise; they’re supposed to be future impact starters. The rest of the league — the smart teams, anyway — treats them that way.
The trade market is hot right now. Parity is everywhere. There are a dozen teams — at least — who think they’re a contender. Kansas City, the oddsmakers’ favorite, isn’t even in the current playoff bracket. Meanwhile, the cellar dwellers are truly horrendous, and they’re demanding top dollar for their few good players.
They’ll get it, too.
The Niners, at 6-3, are forced to act like a contender. But they aren’t one. And even if they went all-in, sending all three tradable picks to the Titans for, say, defensive tackle Jefferey Simmons, I’m not sure it gets them into the Super Bowl discussion. The holes are too plentiful.
So, what’s left? The only smart move is the same low-risk gamble they’ve made five times in the last year: buy a player on the cheap with a pick so far out it’s basically meaningless.
Who are you getting for a 2027 Day Three pick? A guy who was about to hit the waiver wire anyway. Think the poor-tackling defensive end Micheal Clemons from the Jets, a reunion with Arden Key, or maybe even Raiders bust Tyree Wilson. (Though Wilson might even cost too much.)
That’s the best the Niners can do, and they should do it. But not a single ripple — much less a wave — will be made by those transactions.
Does it stink that the Niners can’t push some chips into the middle of the table to maximize this season? Absolutely.
But this is a predicament entirely of their own doing.
And now’s the time to walk away. Take the L. Because the 49ers cannot afford to mortgage what’s left of their immediate future for the fanciful, reckless notion of turning this successful yet cursed season into something truly memorable.