Would you make these three 2018 trades if you were the 49ers?
By Peter Panacy
Trade No. 1: Offensive Guard Joshua Garnett for a Third-Round Pick
NFL teams want to trade from a position of strength to address a position of weakness. Or, in the latter case, stockpile draft capital if possible.
The 49ers offensive line isn’t exactly a position of strength, though, so it doesn’t quite make sense for John Lynch to move third-year guard Joshua Garnett.
San Francisco 49ers
Or does it?
For starters, Garnett is a carryover from the previous regime under former general manager Trent Baalke. Garnett missed all of 2017 while recovering from a knee injury, and the Niners wanted Garnett to reshape his body to become a better fit in head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense.
Garnett is probably more ideal in a power scheme, rather than the zone-style offense Shanahan operates. So the fit is a question mark.
Additionally, the Niners’ pickup of Laken Tomlinson early last season might have more long-term implications than initially thought. Tomlinson struggled over the first 10 weeks, or so, but ended up finishing the year with a respectable 70.7 overall grade, per Pro Football Focus.
Tomslinson is signed through 2018 too.
Meanwhile, Garnett is still playing on his rookie contract — making for a cheap but potentially promising addition in a power-run offense. And with so many teams struggling with O-line production last year, a cheap former first-round pick might be worth the add.
This would, of course, put more pressure on the Niners to acquire guard help via free agency or the NFL Draft this offseason. But at least they’d be selections from the current front office. Not holdovers.
So, if you were John Lynch and could get a third-round pick or better for Garnett, would you make the move?
If you could move #49ers OG Joshua Garnett for a third-round pick this offseason, would you?
— Niner Noise (@SFNinerNoise) February 18, 2018