{"id":733127,"date":"2026-02-06T09:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/733127\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T09:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:46:17","slug":"49ers-mac-jones-listed-as-top-trade-target-for-nfc-west-rival-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/733127\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers’ Mac Jones listed as top trade target for NFC West rival in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 5, 2026, 8:45 p.m. PT<\/p>\n

The San Francisco 49ers<\/a> have several decisions to make over the coming months now that they’ve officially entered the offseason following a division-round loss to the Seattle Seahawks<\/a>, who are representing the NFC in the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

Among those decisions is what to do with backup quarterback Mac Jones, who led the team to a 5-3 record in his eight starts while completing 69.6% of his passes for 2,151 yards, 13 touchdowns and six interceptions.<\/p>\n

With Brock Purdy locked in on a huge deal and Jones with just one year left on his contract, many have speculated that the 49ers<\/a> will try to trade the former first-round pick to get some value back in return before he leaves in free agency in 2027.<\/p>\n

While there are a few teams that could be interested in acquiring Jones this offseason, Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine recently suggested<\/a> that Jones could be a top trade target for the Arizona Cardinals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The Cards could look at Jacoby Brissett as the bridge quarterback who can get them through 2026, but there’s no upside there,” Ballentine wrote. “Targeting a quarterback like Mac Jones could ostensibly result in a Sam Darnold or Geno Smith-like resurgence after initially struggling to catch on in the league.”<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

San Francisco could send Jones out in a trade, get a draft pick or two in return and move on with Purdy as the starter and 2025 seventh-round pick Kurtis Rourke as his primary backup.<\/p>\n

However, with a $3.07 million cap hit in 2026, Jones is the best insurance policy that money can buy. The 49ers will have to decide what’s more important to them – the potential picks or the safety that comes with having a reliable backup.<\/p>\n

More 49ers: 49ers TE George Kittle shocks fans with impressive street performance<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 5, 2026, 8:45 p.m. PT The San Francisco 49ers have several decisions to make over the coming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,95878,7,6,1161,252,2624,2623,96189,96190,95882,95890,96537,95946,97156,96064,99096,95944,95888,95895,95899,95906,96090,95977,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-733127","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-accessfree","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-san-francisco","13":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","14":"tag-sanfrancisco","15":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers","16":"tag-sstssportsnflniners","17":"tag-sstsnniners","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagarizona-cardinals","20":"tag-tagbrock-purdy","21":"tag-tagcalifornia-gold-rush","22":"tag-taggeorge-kittle","23":"tag-tagjacoby-brissett","24":"tag-tagmac-jones","25":"tag-tagnational-football-conference","26":"tag-tagnfl","27":"tag-tagnfl-hub","28":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","29":"tag-tagoverall-positive","30":"tag-tagsan-francisco-49ers","31":"tag-tagseattle-seahawks","32":"tag-tagsports-news","33":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}