The 49ers aren’t afraid to trade off players no longer fitting in the long-term scope of things, and these three should at least be on the trade block.
Two things can be equally true with the San Francisco 49ers:
- Head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch often display loyalty towards players who aren’t always seen as deserving of it
- Head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch never shy away from trying to improve the team wherever possible.
Case in point, Shanahan stuck to his support of wide receiver Marquise Goodwin, despite the speedster being mostly a non-factor due to injuries and off-field obstacles the past two seasons. Yet the Niners ultimately traded Goodwin to the Philadelphia Eagles in the middle of the 2020 NFL Draft, moving up in a pick swap in Round 6 to select rookie the tight end, Charlie Woerner.
Shanahan was also highly supportive of runninig back Matt Breida, who was a major factor in 2017 and 2018, yet fell out of Shanahan’s good graces late last year. And that ultimately led to San Francisco shipping Breida off to the Miami Dolphins during the draft, too.
The proverbial “writing on the wall” was there for both Goodwin and Breida, as their usage diminished and other players assumed larger roles on the depth chart above them.
With the 49ers’ 90-man offseason roster all but set ahead of training camp, there aren’t likely to be too many moves with other squads, if any at all. But that doesn’t mean Shanahan and Lynch should avoid the trade block altogether, potentially putting some of their own players on it to see if there’s any interest.
As such, these three could make for notable trade-bait pieces between now and the start of the regular season.