The San Francisco 49ers nearly made a trade they didn’t need to make in this year’s NFL draft. General manager John Lynch on Day 1 of the draft said the club tried moving up to select defensive end Mykel Williams, who they eventually took with their original No. 11 overall pick.

Lynch wouldn’t say which team the 49ers tried moving up with, but ESPN’s Dan Graziano provided that information in a piece published Wednesday.

According to Graziano, there was buzz the New Orleans Saints were in on Williams, which spurred the 49ers to try and trade up. He also reported there was a second player San Francisco was going to move up for if he slid down the board.

Via ESPN:

Whispers of trading up persisted closer to and around the draft. The 49ers discussed trade options with Carolina at No. 8 that ultimately didn’t materialize. I talked to a few teams picking high who wondered whether San Francisco would move up for a playmaker such as Tetairoa McMillan or Colston Loveland. And the Saints (No. 9) had been linked to Mykel Williams, San Francisco’s pick at No. 11, so a trade with Carolina would have allowed the Niners to get ahead of New Orleans, to be safe. But staying put worked out. And No. 5 pick Mason Graham considered the 49ers a potential landing spot if for some reason he slid into the back half of the top 10.

While a trade didn’t come to fruition for the 49ers, everything still worked out for them. Graham was out of the picture early after he went No. 5 overall to the Cleveland Browns.

Carolina stood pat at No. 8 and grabbed McMillan out of the University of Arizona. New Orleans may have coveted Williams, but they went in the trenches on the other side of the ball instead and snagged University of Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr.

Once the Chicago Bears picked University of Michigan tight end Colston Loveland at No. 10 overall, the 49ers were in the clear to snag Williams without dealing any additional draft capital to move up.

It’s interesting to consider the world where the 49ers did trade up to the No. 8 pick. They likely would’ve given up one of their third or fourth-round picks in that move. Perhaps that would have catalyzed another trade or two to recoup the last capital and we’d be looking at a very different draft class for the 49ers.