SF 49ers: 5 bold trades to help free up cap space in 2021
By Peter Panacy
No. 3: SF 49ers send off Weston Richburg to Broncos
San Francisco has a good trade history with the Denver Broncos, who owned Pro Football Focus‘ 25th-ranked offensive line in 2020 and could be in the market for a better-performing center over their starter last year, then-rookie Lloyd Cushenberry, who was ranked the worst starting center among qualifiers.
Center is of extreme importance to head coach Kyle Shanahan. So, on the surface, trading away Weston Richburg might not make sense. But after Richburg’s late 2019 knee injury, the SF 49ers received adequate production from backup center Ben Garland, a 2021 free agent, which lasted into the early phases of 2020 before Garland, too, missed the rest of the year with a calf injury.
Richburg hasn’t played since late 2019, and he’d need to be cleared as healthy before any trade could take place. That’s an obstacle.
Should that happen, though, and the Niners can wait until after June 1 to execute a trade with Denver, the move would free up $7.95 million in cap space against only $3.51 million in dead money. The Broncos would get an upper-echelon center, while San Francisco could use perhaps a mid-round pick to stockpile O-line depth.
That money could then be used to re-sign Garland and/or go after another perfect fit in Shanahan’s offense, soon-to-be free-agent center Alex Mack, who played under Shanahan with the Atlanta Falcons in 2016 and 2017.