{"id":753833,"date":"2026-02-15T12:53:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T12:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/753833\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T12:53:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T12:53:34","slug":"what-swing-for-the-fences-move-should-the-49ers-make-this-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/753833\/","title":{"rendered":"What \u2018swing for the fences\u2019 move should the 49ers make this offseason?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier in the week, ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter posted on Twitter<\/a>, \u201cWith teams considering the upcoming free-agent and draft classes to be subpar, there could be an uptick in trade activity this offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Popular names in the free agent class include 32-year-old Trey Hendrickson, 33-year-old Mike Evans, 33-year-old All-Pro Kevin Byard, and the rights to overpay Tyler Linderbaum, Alec Pierce, Jaelan Phillips, Kyle Pitts, Odafe Oweh, and Kenneth Walker.<\/p>\n

The draft is deep, and you will be able to find starters in the third round, but they will be of the mid-tier variety. If you are looking for a superstar, you\u2019re going to need to trade for one.<\/p>\n

The same is true for a quarterback, which bodes well for the San Francisco 49ers. A team might be willing to part ways with a second or third round pick for a year of an inexpensive Mac Jones. The Niners could turn around and use that pick in a deal for a potential star.<\/p>\n

Speaking of trade value, the 49ers publicly saying they had buyer\u2019s remorse a year after paying Brandon Aiyuk tanked what was probably a second-round pick in 2024 to a conditional pick\u2014and that\u2019s if a team really wants Aiyuk. Realistically, Aiyuk is a cut candidate.<\/p>\n

There are some obvious trade candidates we\u2019ve discussed, like Maxx Crosby<\/a>. Adding him would be the definition of a \u201cswing for the fences\u201d move. The same is true for A.J. Brown, who has waffled about wanting to play elsewhere. The Eagles would need to be willing to incur a $43 million dead cap hit if they move Brown before June 1.<\/p>\n

The 49ers have options; the question is what they\u2019re willing to give up. One buy-low option would be Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. The 2024 first-round pick saw his target share drop nearly six percent under a new coaching staff, which was fourth on the team. The new regime has no ties to Thomas Jr. and has proven it can win without featuring him.<\/p>\n

Looking back at these wide receiver rankings<\/a>, the fear was that Thomas Jr. wasn\u2019t as far along as his counterparts as a pure route runner and that his lack of precision would cost him in the NFL. That wasn\u2019t the case as a rookie when he had 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns. ESPN\u2019s wide receiver metric<\/a> ranks Thomas Jr. 160th out of 160, despite a 707-yard season. Thomas Jr. would check multiple boxes for the 49ers. He\u2019s young, 6\u20193\u201d, fast, and still has multiple years left on his rookie deal.<\/p>\n

If I\u2019m John Lynch, my \u201cswing for the fences\u201d move would be resetting the wide receiver room. I sweeten the pot for the Eagles and include Ricky Pearsall in the A.J. Brown deal. That allows me to trade only a third-round pick, since I\u2019m doing you a favor by trading away a rookie contract and a former first-rounder.<\/p>\n

This upcoming season is technically the first year of Brown\u2019s new contract. It\u2019s a hefty $29 million guaranteed in 2026, but there are no other guarantees in his salary after that. Brown is a legitimate No. 1. Assuming Aiyuk is cut, the 49ers do not have a No. 1 on their roster.<\/p>\n

With the pick netted in the hypothetical Mac Jones trade, we\u2019ve decided that two more years of Brian Thomas Jr. makes more sense than guessing correctly on a wide receiver in this draft, so another pick is going for a high upside, big-bodied wideout. After careful consideration and watching all of the receivers in the upcoming draft, the front office believes Thomas Jr. is a better fit compared to what\u2019s in the draft pool, which gives up their late first-rounder while getting back a pick in return. It\u2019s a deal Jacksonville makes since they do not have a first-rounder.<\/p>\n

So, San Francisco can recoup a pick they gave up when they acquired Brown, and walk away with two big, fast wide receivers who will thrive in Kyle Shanahan\u2019s offense. The team no longer has a first-round pick, but has multiple Day 2 picks and can fill out the depth on its roster at key positions, all while upgrading at wide receiver<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Your turn. Scroll down below in the comments and map out a \u201cswing for the fences\u201d scenario where the 49ers make a massive move or two this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier in the week, ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter posted on Twitter, \u201cWith teams considering the upcoming free-agent and draft…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,7,6,1161,252,9323,2624,2623],"class_list":{"0":"post-753833","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-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-san-francisco","12":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","13":"tag-san-francisco-49ers-rumors","14":"tag-sanfrancisco","15":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116074748973176098","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753833","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=753833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}