49ers Trade UPDATE: Trey Hendrickson gets closer | Jeffery Simmons, Thibodeaux, Bradley Chubb

49ers Trade UPDATE: Trey Hendrickson gets closer | Jeffery Simmons, Thibodeaux, Bradley Chubb

All right, the 49ers have the best record in the NFL and it’s time to talk about how they might address a glaring weakness at pass rusher, especially with the recent loss of Gross Moss. Tack that on to the Nick Bosa ACL injury and the 49ers have lost both their most productive exterior rusher and in YGM their most productive interior rusher. So, how about we discuss Trey Hendrickson and Jeffrey Simmons. We can use this as a trade cell guide. This is our NFL team tier chart. So, the stronger teams are in the upper right. The weakest teams in the league are down in the bottom left. And as you can see here, the Bengals and the Titans, the two weakest teams in the league. And I just mentioned players on the Bengals and the Titans. Trey Hendrickson, the edge rusher for Cincinnati. Jeffrey Simmons, defensive tackle, who also works against tackles, so he’d be able to to flex, I think, from the inside out. He plays for the Tennessee Titans. But if you want to look at other potential teams who might be sellers, stay in the bottom left. The Raiders have a couple edge rushers. Although, and I’m not talking about Max Crosby, they just resigned him. That would never happen. But uh maybe nothing with the Raiders will happen because Mark Davis has refuted refused to trade with the 49ers before. And you can’t ignore the New York Giants down here in the bottom left. Also, Bradley Chub, Jaylen Phillips, both with the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins are down here at the bottom. The the offense has been okay, but the defense is the worst in the league, and things are not looking good for Mike McDaniel and company in Miami. So, as we start to figure out who’s buying and and and who’s selling, well, the sellers are going to be in this bottom left band of the team tier chart. Now, as far as the Bengals go, people are saying, well, they’re two and three. They got blown out by the Lions yesterday. They’ve got a game against the Packers coming up, and the Packers are an upper right team. They’re one of the four top teams in the league right now. Then they turn around and they play the Pittsburgh Steelers. And right now Cincinnati is only a game behind. One game in their division in the AFC North. If they lose both of these next two games, all of a sudden you’re going to be looking at a two and five team with the Jets coming in. And the Jets aren’t very good. As you could tell that the Jets, they’re they’re 0 and5. They’re the last uh team remaining in this NFL that has yet to pick up a win. I would think that if the Bengals keep on losing and it turns into a good six losses in a row, including a loss to the New York Jets, well, that’s before the trade deadline on November 4th. I would think that they would be highly highly incentivized to trade Trey Hendrickson. So, you know, a lot of people will be talking about potential 49ers targets, but it takes two to tango in the trade market. And that’s why right now, early October, we could start to see who might be in that sell mode by the time that the trade deadline hits on November 4th. So, uh, this is one of those things where the 49ers can can monitor, but they can’t pull a trigger on a trade until somebody actually decides that they are waving the white flag on this season. With Trey Hendrickson, he becomes $1 million cheaper each week. I think that’s another very important thing to remember. $17 million base salary this year. That means that the Bengals are paying him 117th of that weekly to the point where if you go half the season, then you divide 17 million, divide it by two, it’s going to be 8.5 million for the second half of the season. The 49ers took out an insurance policy on Nick Bosa’s contract, which will pay them anywhere between 7 and 9 million in 2025 salary cap credit. Jeffrey Simmons, the big defensive tackle, 28-year-old of the Tennessee Titans, falls into a similar contractual boat, about 17.5 million base salary this year, but it is prrated. So, if the 49ers are in a tight salary cap space, we know that. We don’t know exactly what their spending limitations are, but we do know that Bosa missing the rest of the season has opened up some more room for the 49ers. Obviously, they’d rather have Nick Bosat healthy, but that’s not the case. So, you got to deal with the reality as it stands and and that is that the 49ers do collect on some of that insurance money. So, before you think that some of these contracts would be prohibitive in terms of the finances, they they actually wouldn’t be, at least the two that I’ve talked about so far. But then you got to talk about trade compensation. And you know, Von Miller was what, a 31-year-old pass rusher who went to the Rams in 2021, helped them get over the top and win the Super Bowl. The price there is a two and a three. It’s a relatively steep price for a rental, right? Uh Hendrickson wouldn’t necessarily be a rental for the 49ers, although he’s only under contract this year. We’ve talked about a potential conditional structure of a trade that if he ressigns with the 49ers, uh the pick owed to the Cincinnati Bengals would be greater than uh if he didn’t resign with the 49ers. So maybe you’d be able to work something out that uh took into advant took into account the multiple different possibilities of this moving forward. If you take a look at somebody like Jeffrey Simmons, he remains under the contract of If you look at somebody like Jeffrey Simmons, he remains under contract through 2027. But in 2026, only 6.5 million is guaranteed. So, it’s not like it would be a contract that the 49ers were firmly tethered to. It could be something that is reworked moving forward. I think that it is important to look at San Francisco’s defensive line and and just how decimated it is at this moment. I mean, Matthew Stafford, everybody’s sitting here worshiping Matthew Stafford for the long throw to 22 Atwell. I get it. Nice throw, but it would not have been possible if the 49ers had any semblance of pass rush. Matthew Stafford was at 4.8 seconds from the time of the snap to the time of release. And one of the reasons they didn’t have a pass rush is because they lost Kalia Davis. One of their starting defensive tackles, broken hand. He’s going to be out for two games. That’s not a long-term loss, but you still have to factor it in, especially when you consider this showdown coming up against fellow 4-1 team Tampa Bay on Sunday. Then they lost Gross Moss. And you know, Gross Moss was already on a pitch count for San Francisco about 20 snaps a game. the knee was bothering him. I’m guessing the hamstring might have been related to the knee. Even if it wasn’t, it’s probably going to sideline for a few weeks and it’s not going to improve uh his availability from the pitch count that he was already on. U a good outside in player was one of the 49ers best interior rushers. The most productive one for sure. The pass rushing productivity score about 8.1 which is actually really solid for a player coming in over the inside. So Bosa down, Gross Moss down, Robert Beiel Jr., that’s more of a depth piece, but he was also out this past game. I don’t know exactly where Alfred Collins is health-wise. We’ll see a practice today, and then we’ll see a practice on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, but it sounded like a minor knee sprain for Alfred Collins after the big punch out for San Francisco against the Rams. So anyway, you got healthy edges and Bryce Huff and Mike Williams. It’s a three-man rotation with Sam Okawanu. You could definitely use another edge. We already knew that ever since the 49ers lost Nick Bosa. Then your healthy defensive tackles. The veteran Jordan Elliot is not a pass rusher. He’s a he’s a run stopper. Good utility guy. Blocked the extra point. It was a nice play for the 49ers. A necessary play for the 49ers against the Rams. And CJ West, the rookie. I mean, you you might be seeing Evan Anderson and maybe even Sebastian Valdez called up soon from the practice squad, but that doesn’t necessitate the uh 49ers search for more defensive tackle firepower when it comes to pass rushing. And that’s why I bring somebody up like Jeffrey Simmons. You know, it the most obvious 49ers need is on the exterior opposite Bryce Huff, who’s got the second fastest get off in the league this year. He’s been everything that the 49ers thought that he could be, but they’d want to pair him opposite a more robust guy. I, you know, I can’t necessarily say premier guy. Bose is a premier guy. They don’t grow on trees. You could try to go get Trey Hendrickson, but maybe it won’t be possible to Cincinnati. you still want to have something that is very solid on the opposite side of Bryce Huff and it that’s the most logical spot for an addition. But I think that just like the 49ers acquired Justin Smith from the the Bengals back uh way back when this was 15 years ago already at this point and it helped unlock the edge rushers. We talk about Alden Smith with the 49ers in that Harbaugh day. You have to think about the line cumulatively. You can’t just think about the uh defensive line in terms of edge rushers, defensive tackles. No, think about the fact that somebody like Jeffrey Simmons, if the Titans, who are terrible, are willing to part with him and the 49ers are able to get a player in his prime, 28 years old, who’s that kind of wrecker on the inside, even without the flexibility to to the outside. I saw him rushing against tackle. I posted it on X yesterday. even without that flexibility, he can open up outside edge rushers so he can make your defensive ends better by extension. You know, some other names to to keep an eye out for right now as the 49ers work through this. Kavon Thibido is somebody who I brought up uh much earlier right after they lost Nick Bosa. I I think that you know Burns just got Brian Burns just got paid by the the New York Giants, but Dibido, it’s a fifthear option player. Uh it could be somebody who who who doesn’t survive with the New York Giants moving forward as that team does try to remake itself. Decent football for Tibido this year. I think that he has taken a stride. I think that is a rising stock. And again, when you went back to the team tier chart, you saw that the Giants are in the second to last tier. They did lose yesterday to the New Orleans Saints. There’s also the possibility that the Saints a little bit higher up in the pecking order than the Giants might be sellers. They’ve got Carl Granderson. They’ve got Cam Jordan for the Saints. It’s interesting though because they’ve been in salary cap hell for a while now. And anytime you trade one of these players who has a lot of pr-rated money that’s going to hit the books later, it accelerates and hits your books now. And the Saints only have $8 million in salary cap space. Would they even be able to trade one of their guys like a Carl Granderson and financially fit it into their salary cap picture? because it would incur a good $20.3 million in dead money to trade Carl Granderson. That’s how much they have pushed into the future that hasn’t hit yet. That’ll hit now. And with only $8 million in salary cap space, I’m not sure that that would be a feasible move for the Saints. Then there’s the veteran Cam Jordan who’s been with them his whole career. He’s been around since 2011 when the Saints played the 49ers in Candlestick in that great divisional playoff game. I think you know Cam Jordan would love to finish his career with New Orleans. It seems like a lifer kind of guy. But if he were to go somewhere for the very end of his career, Cam Jordan might want to go back to the Bay Area where he played his college ball for the Golden Bears. And looking at Cam Jordan’s contract right now, if he is traded, it would incur Wow. Well, that that that’s not good. That would incur 27.2 million in dead money. I don’t know if the Saints could do it. I think they would have to shuffle a bunch of things around and they’ve already been doing a lot of shuffling around. Cam Jordan might be in New Orleans to stay. So, Tibido more realistic. New York Giants. So, we talk about Jeffrey Simmons. Maybe another Titan is more realistic than Simmons. Ardan Key, the former 49er blossomed under Chris Caceric in 2021. Malcolm Counz of the Raiders if Mark Davis is willing to to trade. Tyrie Wilson as as well. Uh, back in 2018, the 49ers offered the Raiders more than the Bears did for Khalil Mack and the Raiders traded with the Bears and not the 49ers. So, I don’t know where Mark Davis is now, but I know that in the past he has refused to trade with San Francisco. So, uh, I maybe that has changed ever since that the Raiders moved to Las Vegas. Maybe it hasn’t, but that’s always something to keep in mind. And then there’s Miles Murphy, who’s a 23-y old younger defensive end for the Cincinnati Bengals. So, if you’re talking about teams that are really really struggling, Miles Murphy, it’s it’s somebody who hadn’t really played all that much in 2023. He had three sacks. Uh, so potentially the 49ers could see some pass rushing juice there. You know, they can make a couple moves and maybe that’s what’s it’s going to take. Maybe it’s going to take a couple smaller moves. Uh they’ve made big and small moves over the years. The last one for a defensive end in particular was Chase Young in 2023. He’s now also actually part of the New Orleans Saints. But when you look at the 49ers roster at that defensive line position, it is very very decimated right now by those injuries. They did not get a whole lot of pressure on Matthew Stafford. He had way too much time to throw. That is something the 49ers must rectify if they I think want to avoid, you know, best case scenario with the current roster the 49ers have right now. Who’s in the building right now? They can get a lot of returns on offense and they could turn into a damn near elite offense. I think if you get Iayuk back at some point, KD is a big one. Probably not going to be back this week, but I would expect him against Atlanta. Ricky Pieraw, Jawan Jennings, Ben Barge at left guard to help out the offensive line. You get all these guys back with the final bow on the present being Brock Perie, you can field an elite offense if you’re the 49ers. The Detroit Lions were an elite offense last year, but then Detroit lost in the divisional round at home to Washington because they couldn’t play defense. Then if you don’t have that pass rusher on the edge to complement Bryce Huff like the Lions didn’t have with Aiden Hutchinson after he broke his leg last year, this can go downhill really, really quickly for the 49ers when the games truly truly matter. So I think that you could win a whole heck of a lot of games. You could be squeaking by teams. Then you could even start blowing some teams out once you get guys back as the 49ers. You know, if you look at the team tier chart, they’re a team tier four team, but they’re two and one against tier three. They play another tier three team in Tampa Bay. But then the question is, can they compete with the guys at the top such as the Lions, the Packers, and the Bills? Well, they get to actually play the Colts uh once December rolls around. And the Colts right now have been the most efficient team in football. I I really think to beat teams like that, especially in a playoff situation, uh the 49ers do need to add some firepower up front to the defensive line. Maybe it’s more than than one piece that that’s clearly materialized as uh the the spot of weakness for the 49ers. So, uh it’s just a it’s a matter of the market, right? It’s a matter of who’s selling and it’s a matter of what the 49ers are willing to pay. Remember the two and the three the picks for Von Miller that the Rams paid in 2021. And then you consider what the 49ers have done so far. They are four- one despite not having an interception. They there are some crazy stats now on the 49ers lack of of picks. They they haven’t had one since last year in November. 12 consecutive games. The longest streak in the league since 1932 without an interception for the 49ers. They don’t have a rushing touchdown. They rank number 32 in yards per carry. Yet somehow someway they are four in one. So they have shown what I mean aside from showing that the near impossible statistically they have shown that they know how to scrge out wins with the short-handed staff that they have and if they can get a little bit more firepower I think that they’ve shown that they can be statistically prolific in some of the ways that they’ve lacked and then the sky’s is the limit at least offensively. So, you kind of owe it to the locker room to to complete the circle to to to make sure that that this team has the firepower necessary to to compete because they’ve shown the fight that is necessarily that is necessary to truly compete. And uh I think that it is one of those things where that fight is not something that grows on trees. That fight is not something that every single team has. But but the 49ers at 4 and one, they have it. John Lynch can be buoied by that knowledge. He can have some confidence based on what the 49ers have done so far. All right, so Trey Hendrickson, Jeffrey Simmons, who’s it going to be for the 49ers? Maybe a familiar name that is not as known leaguewide like Ardan Key, maybe a couple names. Expect the 49ers to be active this

49ers Trade UPDATE: How Trey Hendrickson gets closer | Jeffery Simmons, Kayvon Thibodeaux

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David Lombardi covers the 49ers for The SF Standard.

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