{"id":790881,"date":"2026-03-04T06:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T06:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/790881\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T06:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T06:57:11","slug":"49ers-connected-to-dpoy-sack-artist-in-trade-projections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/790881\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers connected to DPOY sack artist in trade projections"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 3, 2026, 8:45 p.m. PT<\/p>\n

The San Francisco 49ers<\/a> are looking for several things this offseason, including some help on the edge, after finishing with the fewest sacks in the NFL in 2025.<\/p>\n

While San Francisco should get Nick Bosa and 2025 first-round pick Mykel Williams back from their torn ACLs that they suffered last year, they could still use more help for the group to make an actual impact in 2026.<\/p>\n

The 49ers could sign a veteran or take a top prospect in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft, but Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport suggests<\/a> that San Francisco calls up the Pittsburgh Steelers and sends a 2027 first-round pick to the AFC North for T.J. Watt.<\/p>\n

“There was a time when the idea of trading edge-rusher T.J. Watt would seem like blasphemy in the Steel City. But Watt is coming off an injury-marred season in which he logged the second-fewest sacks of his career, he turns 32 in October and fellow edge-rusher Nick Herbig is entering a contract year….The San Francisco 49ers<\/a> could be one of those teams (to take on his contract)\u2014the Niners are in win-now mode, were dead last in the league in sacks last year and the team’s top two pass-rushers are both returning from ACL tears,<\/p>\n

“The key to this deal could be patience\u2014if the Steelers wait until after June 1 to trade Watt, the amount of money the team saves\u00a0under the cap\u00a0in 2026 balloons from $12 million to $32 million. The question is whether that extra $20 million in wiggle room would be worth waiting until next year to receive pick compensation.”<\/p>\n

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

Watt, 31, has been one of the top EDGE defenders in the league since the Steelers took him in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft (No. 30 overall) out of Ohio State. He’s made eight Pro Bowls, earned All-Pro honors six times and earned Defensive Player of the Year honors once.<\/p>\n

Watt has the second-most sacks (115) of any player in the NFL since he entered the league in 2017, only behind Myles Garrett (125.5), who just broke the single-season record this past year.<\/p>\n

Paying both Bosa and Watt would be a huge commitment at one position, and if they did decide to trade for Watt, that would probably stop them from addressing the clear need for a wide receiver or two this offseason. That might keep San Francisco from pulling the trigger.<\/p>\n

More 49ers: 49ers pending free agent projected receive huge payday this offseason<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 3, 2026, 8:45 p.m. PT The San Francisco 49ers are looking for several things this offseason, including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,95878,7,6,1161,252,2624,2623,96189,96190,95882,96505,95896,95888,95895,96125,98490,95899,96090,95883,97193,95881],"class_list":["post-790881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco-49ers","tag-49ers","tag-accessfree","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-sanfrancisco","tag-sanfrancisco49ers","tag-sstssportsnflniners","tag-sstsnniners","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagmyles-garrett","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagnick-bosa","tag-tagnick-herbig","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagsan-francisco-49ers","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagt-j-watt","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116169608937375744","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790881","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=790881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}