As other teams scrambled to make moves Tuesday ahead of the NFL trade deadline, the 49ers and general manager John Lynch stood pat.
But San Francisco wasn’t quiet on the trade market earlier in the season. Lynch and company made many moves to bolster a team battered by injuries at nearly every position group.
Lynch explained why the 49ers stayed relatively inactive at the deadline in an interview with KNBR 680’s “Murph & Markus.”
“The deadline is just an end point, we’ve been making trades. We’re top four in the league in terms of trades made this year,” Lynch explained. “… We’ve done a lot to try to improve our team, and we did right to the end.
“We’ve always said we’re going to stay true to our process of putting a value on players. And when the players a complete difference maker like Christian McCaffrey, you might keep going. But at some point, you have to have a discipline, and that’s what we did. We weren’t going to make an overpayment, and we like our group.”
In the wake of rookie defensive end Mykel Williams’ season-ending ACL injury, the 49ers might have felt additional pressure to reinforce the defensive line. But, with star defensive end Nick Bosa going down early in the season, San Francisco already made moves to shore up the position group.
“It looks like we’re going to get Bryce Huff back, if he continues to get through this week of practice. We [added] Keion [White], and he’ll continue to add in his contributions to our group,” Lynch said. “They’re a well-coached group and that’s what we have. We got a lot of belief in that group and we’ll move forward.”
The 49ers already have sent out a plethora of draft picks in their previous trades this season, something Lynch was conscious of heading towards the trade deadline.
“That’s the needle you have to thread. We’ve done it a lot in the past, where we’ve given up a lot,” Lynch noted. “We made a bunch this year, but you have to stay true. That’s not to say we weren’t going to do anything, but we weren’t going to get fleeced. We weren’t going to overpay. That’s just not good business.”
As Lynch has stated in previous weeks, the 49ers were wary of giving up draft capital for a short-term return. He and his front office stayed true to that.
“We were in on a lot of different players. Sometimes it was just a one-year rental, and we didn’t really want to get involved in that. Not to say that we wouldn’t,” Lynch said. “And then, is the player a true needle-mover – a difference maker? And if you can’t say that, [for] really good draft picks? That doesn’t make much sense either just to throw somebody else in the mix, because we like the guys we have.”
Lynch and the 49ers feel like they’re in a good spot to compete with a 6-3 overall and undefeated division record. With the trade deadline in the past, now is the time to see what this iteration of the Red and Gold can do.
“We’ve acquired a lot of players to help this team,” Lynch said. “And now, you throw them all out there and we say this is our team and we’re a really good team, and let’s keep forging ahead.”
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