5 bargain deals SF 49ers can make before trade deadline

No. 2: SF 49ers think long term with offensive line and grab Jets’ Chuma Edoga

San Francisco’s offensive line has been problematic for much of 2020, and there are reasons to believe more problems are on the horizon next season.

Left tackle Trent Williams, for whom the SF 49ers moved two mid-round picks to acquire last year, is a pending free agent in 2021 and might be too expensive to re-sign. Right tackle Mike McGlinchey has also underwhelmed in his third season as a pro and might not be tabbed as a long-term option when his rookie deal runs out after 2021, pending his fifth-year option not being picked up.

Either way, it wouldn’t be a bad move for the Niners to guard against some long-term departures at tackle, and going after the NY Jets’ likely fire sale ahead of the NFL trade deadline wouldn’t be too bad a route to take.

One player potentially available is right tackle Chuma Edoga, New York’s third-round selection from the 2019 NFL Draft. ESPN’s Rich Cimini doesn’t think Edoga is “a fit with the current regime,” making a deadline move more possible. Edoga is, however, a more natural fit in a zone-style system, which is precisely what the Niners want in their tackles.

What makes this kind of move more likable for a team like the SF 49ers, even if it meant parting ways with a Round 4 pick, is Edoga has two more years remaining on his rookie deal.

That means two years beyond this season of a rookie contract on the O-line, which might be overly necessary for San Francisco in the coming seasons.