4 trades 49ers absolutely won’t make entering 2022 offseason
By Peter Panacy
While it’s fun to speculate and guess what trades John Lynch and the 49ers may make this offseason, let’s cross off the deals they won’t do.
San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch has never been shy about making blockbuster trades, and the Niners have been involved in two of them the last two offseasons, moving defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the Indianapolis Colts in 2020 and then aggressively trading up in the 2021 NFL Draft to grab quarterback Trey Lance.
San Francisco is expected to trade quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason to one of the many QB-hungry teams out there amid a weak quarterbacking market.
That’ll go down as a blockbuster. But there won’t be a shortage of other proposed blockbuster deals that could potentially be discussion points between now and training camp later this summer.
Those will be fun to speculate about. Yet let’s pay some attention to some of the other trade scenarios thrown around out there and break down the specific reasons why they won’t happen this offseason.
49ers won’t-happen trade No. 4: Trey Lance to Vikings
Nope. Not a chance. File this away under the “wish I never fathomed it” category.
But it has been discussed.
Our friends over at The Viking Age put together a list of possibilities the Minnesota Vikings could explore to solve their own quarterbacking shortcomings with Kirk Cousins. One of the proposed deals (and we’ll give credit for at least thinking out of the box) was the Vikings trading with the 49ers in a deal that’d send Lance back to his home state of Minnesota.
A crux to the argument was Garoppolo still giving the Niners their best chance at winning in 2022, but here’s the statement:
"What if, instead, the 49ers trade Trey Lance to recoup some of the draft picks they gave up to go get him in the first place and build a roster that can continue hiding some of Garoppolo’s flaws? Lance is a Minnesota kid with the size, athleticism, and arm to be a star in the NFL if he puts it all together."
If there’s one glaring problem, it’s the fact retaining Garoppolo and trading Lance would prevent San Francisco from retaining the remaining core of its roster, one that’ll include needing to extend star players like wide receiver Deebo Samuel and EDGE Nick Bosa this year.
A $27 million contract versus a rookie-contract deal matters here, and the 49ers won’t financially budge on their offseason plans even if they weren’t wholly set on Lance in the first place.