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They have the money and the momentum. They have the brand name, the coaching, the healthy and healing stars, the quarterback — and they’re due, 31 years after last grasping the Lombardi Trophy and nine full seasons since Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch took charge of this franchise.
Yes, if the 49ers embrace this offseason moment, everything is set up for them to go big in 2026. Big improvements, big spending, big steps forward, and potentially enormous results.
What would be the best way for the 49ers to show the world how big this all could and will get? How about doing everything possible this offseason to land potentially very available Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby?
And not stopping there. Actually, accelerating from there. After cleaning out a big chunk of their depth chart and payroll last March, the 49ers don’t have to hesitate or guard their bank account this offseason. After falling a few star players short against the Seahawks in two lopsided games in the last few weeks, the 49ers have the target right in front of them for 2026.
They can go and go. Which they owe to the players who pulled them through the season — and surprised even Shanahan and Lynch by winning 12 regular-season games and knocking off the Eagles in Philadelphia in the wild-card round.
The 49ers owe it to themselves after they endured all the slashing and budgeting last March and jumped ahead of schedule by making that playoff run.
So they can try to validate all of this by flying to the top of the potential trade market and making the Vikings an offer they might not be able to refuse for multiple-time All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson to top off a true Super Bowl-level roster.
Yes, Justin Jefferson. It’s not out of the question. And right now, the 49ers have the gravity to try to bend everything their way in this situation.
(This idea was first suggested to me by ESPN’s Nick Wagoner on my podcast, and I was intrigued the moment I heard it. Jefferson and Christian McCaffrey probably are the two ideal playmaking fits for a Shanahan offense, and that’s enough to wonder how many first-round picks the 49ers should offer for Jefferson. I’d say at least two.)
Crosby seems to be on his way out in Las Vegas and he’s long been one of the 49ers’ favorite players. But if the 49ers can only get one of the two superstars, I’d circle Jefferson, because the 49ers’ need for a game-breaking receiver is greater than for another elite edge, and because Jefferson is easily one of the best 10 players in the league and, at 26, should remain there for many years to come.
Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk were both very good for the 49ers for a few years, but Jefferson would be the most dangerous WR Shanahan has had since he was running Atlanta’s offense in 2016 and Julio Jones helped that team get to the Super Bowl. And of course, the 49ers’ list of signed, proven receivers for next season is essentially: null and void.
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By the way, Shanahan and Lynch were interested in drafting Jefferson out of LSU in 2020, but he went three picks before the 49ers ended up drafting Aiyuk 25th. And ESPN reported a year ago that the 49ers called the Vikings about trading for Jefferson early in 2024 (when the Aiyuk turmoil was just starting) and were rebuffed.
No, the 49ers’ interest level would not be hard to piece together.
This is what Shanahan said about Jefferson before playing the Vikings in 2024 (when Jefferson crushed the 49ers with a 97-yard TD reception): “There’s not an angle he can’t really run at — at full speed and drop his weight. He’s also fearless in how he plays. His hands are as good as anyone. From what I’ve heard from people who have been with him, they say he’s one of the smartest players that people have been with. He’s the full package.”
Jefferson has 42 touchdown receptions in six seasons with the Vikings. | Source: Bruce Kluckhohn/Associated Press
It’s also fitting that earlier in Jefferson’s career, Shanahan once compared him to Emmanuel Sanders, the WR the 49ers acquired in the middle of 2019 as the last necessary piece for their first Super Bowl appearance in this era. If Jimmy Garoppolo had been able to hit Sanders running open late in that game, the 49ers might have held a parade in February 2020.
And Jefferson is much, much better now than Sanders was back then. He’s also signed through the 2028 season at fairly reasonable prices (for a top-10 player), though, as in most star trades, the 49ers most likely would need to be ready for almost immediate extension talks.
Why not? He’s worth it. And after Aiyuk blew up his guaranteed money for next season, the 49ers have plenty of cash to spend.
As it stands, the 49ers project to be about $40 million under the 2026 cap line, thanks in large part to the money Aiyuk forfeited. And the 49ers can create more space by adjusting/extending the deals for Nick Bosa (currently set for a $42 million hit next season) and Trent Williams ($38.9 million).
So this is the time for a big move. Lynch and Shanahan didn’t exactly say it that way on Wednesday, but they sort of suggested it.
“Yes, we will have a little more flexibility this year and we’re excited about that,” Lynch said.
So why would the Vikings trade Jefferson — and take a gigantic dead-cap hit? Their timeline is all screwed up by J.J. McCarthy’s slow development at quarterback, which means getting back into contention seems, at best, a few years away. How long does Jefferson want to wait around for decent QB play?
Jefferson hasn’t hinted about wanting to move on, but the idea is bubbling around the league. And the Vikings might need to start hoarding first-round picks to be able to move to the top of a future draft and land their next QB. The best way: Get a few of them for Jefferson and restart the clock.
And if the bidding starts, the 49ers should be ready to toss in their best chips.
I mean, I presume the 49ers would’ve scored more than 0 combined TDs in those Seattle losses if Jefferson was their WR1 and getting 10 targets a game from Brock Purdy. (49ers wide receivers totaled one catch for one yard — by Demarcus Robinson — at Lumen Field last Saturday.)
Then add a healthy Bosa, Fred Warner, and George Kittle next season … I think any upcoming games against the Seahawks or anybody else would feel a lot different. And the 49ers need it to be different.
So I’ll say it: If both Crosby and Jefferson are traded this offseason and the 49ers don’t land either, it’ll be a failed offseason, given the 49ers’ resources and incentive to win immediately.
Why else did Shanahan and Lynch go along with last offseason’s dispatching of Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga, Javon Hargrave, Samuel, and many, many others? On Wednesday, Lynch called it “a reckoning,” and both men noted that the 49ers had been going so hard financially for so long that they needed a reset.
Well, that happened in March. And, despite the landslide of injuries to Bosa, Warner, and others, and the abandonment by Aiyuk, that locker room held together. The leaders led. And the 49ers got to 12-5 and then beat the Eagles in a memorable wild-card game in Philadelphia.
The 49ers also aren’t getting any younger — how many prime seasons are left for McCaffrey, Williams, and Kittle (who won’t be back until next midseason after his Achilles injury)? Who will be the offensive star alongside Purdy whenever McCaffrey can’t carry it 300 times?
And the Shanahan/Lynch era isn’t getting any younger, either. The two men are going into their 10th seasons together running this team; while they certainly seem ready and able to go another 10, there is always some amount of accumulating fatigue for any leadership group.
While I don’t sense any irrational pressure from Jed York for Shanahan and Lynch to deliver a Super Bowl win very soon (it’s hard!), sometimes the pent-up emotions show up all at once, as Sean McDermott and John Harbaugh recently found out.
But I don’t need to tell Lynch, York, and Shanahan any of that. They don’t need extra pressure to get a Super Bowl. They’ve been putting it on themselves for this entire era.
They’ve aggressively traded for Sanders, Williams, and McCaffrey when they were in this mood in previous years. Then they sat it out last March. I don’t think the 49ers are sitting out anything in this cycle, now that they’re only one or two steps away from the big prize.
Justin Jefferson or Maxx Crosby to get the 49ers over the finish line. Maybe Jefferson and Crosby. Once you’re this close, finally completing the chase is the only thing that matters.