The 49ers aren’t picking in the 2022 NFL Draft until late in Round 2, but John Lynch could sure shake things up with one of these four moves.
A year ago, the San Francisco 49ers dominated the headlines by aggressively trading up from the No. 12 overall spot in the 2021 NFL Draft to No. 3 overall, creating all kinds of speculation surrounding which quarterback they’d take in their newly acquired spot.
That chatter didn’t die down until the Niners finally made their move, grabbing quarterback Trey Lance as the presumed future starter for the franchise.
One of the assets San Francisco used, of course, was its 2022 first-round pick, meaning general manager John Lynch won’t be active on day one of the draft this year.
Unless he gets bold again, somehow figuring out a way to trade back into Round 1.
There’s certainly a chance for that to happen, particularly if Lynch moves some massive assets around in an attempt to shake up the draft one more time.
Here are four crazy 49ers trade scenarios that would certainly capture headlines in the 2022 NFL Draft.
49ers NFL Draft trade No. 4: LB Dre Greenlaw to Jets
The Niners have a bit of an excess at linebacker with Fred Warner cemented as the No. 1 option, then Azeez Al-Shaair and Dre Greenlaw vying for the No. 2 backer behind Warner.
Al-Shaair helped make Greenlaw somewhat expendable last year, though, as the latter missed all but three regular-season games because of a groin injury. With it seemingly unlikely San Francisco signs Greenlaw to a second contract after his rookie deal expires after 2022, the thought of moving him makes a lot of sense.
And what better way than reuniting Greenlaw with his former defensive coordinator, now-New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh?
The Jets defense was a mess last season, ranking dead last in the league in both points and yards allowed. While their top picks in the NFL Draft are likely to be spent either on edge rushers or defensive backs, perhaps an offensive lineman or wide receiver, they’ll need to address that second level.
Greenlaw for New York’s third-round pick straight up would be too good a steal from the 49ers’ vantage point, but tossing in the Niners’ own fifth-round pick would be much more workable for both parties.
The Niners clear some excess and turn that Round 5 pick into an early Round 3 selection. Good move.
49ers NFL Draft trade No. 3: Panthers trade EDGE Brian Burns
Carolina Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer made it sound like he wants to build a defense around fourth-year EDGE Brian Burns moving forward:
Fitterer says Panthers will pick up the fifth-year option on Brian Burns, which is a no-brainer. Says he's the kind of player -- like DJ Moore and Donte Jackson -- that Panthers want to build around.
— Joe Person (@josephperson) March 25, 2022
Picking up Burns’ fifth-year option helps indicate that, but let’s be honest here. The Panthers have no chance to contend with quarterback Sam Darnold under center, and they’re certainly not going to be in contention within the NFC South this year. Especially with quarterback Tom Brady returning to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
What Carolina should do, especially considering it has zero picks in the draft between No. 6 overall and No. 137 overall, is send off assets who’ll likely be too expensive to keep around by the time it’s a contending team again, likely no less than two years from now.
Not a good situation to be in for a team going through a rebuild.
Burns, who had nine sacks apiece in each of the last two seasons, is a valuable commodity, and it’d likely take both of San Francisco’s first two picks to grab him.
For a 49ers team ready to win now, pairing Burns with fellow 2019 draftee edge rusher Nick Bosa would be a lethal combination, and those two day-two draft picks would be more than worthwhile.
49ers NFL Draft trade No. 2: Jimmy Garoppolo, Sam Darnold swap with Panthers
OK, now we’re getting into the true NFL Draft blockbuster shakeups.
The Niners wanted to move quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo at the start of the league new year, but there were no bites. The Panthers, sitting on the cold reality Sam Darnold will have to play on his fifth-year option at a fully guaranteed $18.585 million for 2022, per Over the Cap.
Carolina would probably like to use the No. 6 overall pick on a quarterback who could at least sit behind Darnold for a year, then turn into a bona fide starter.
But, what if two (maybe three) quarterbacks end up being selected in the first five picks? It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, as one NFL.com mock draft pointed out?
San Francisco would love nothing more than getting its hands on that No. 6 overall pick, but it wouldn’t be easy. Going bold, though, Garoppolo would be a massive upgrade over Darnold and a move that’d likely save Panthers head coach Matt Rhule’s job for another year. Carolina has cap space to absorb Jimmy G’s cap hit, too, while Darnold winds up serving as Trey Lance’s backup and the 49ers take on that $18-plus million cap hit but still saves $7 million by offloading Garoppolo’s $25.5 million post-trade salary.
Read More: How 49ers can engineer Jimmy Garoppolo trade to Panthers
Sort of an NBA-like deal where teams take on bad contracts.
The Niners’ first two picks would have to be tossed into the fray, too, of course. But for San Francisco, the 2022 NFL Draft would be about quality, not quantity.
It’s the other way around for the Panthers.
49ers NFL Draft trade No. 1: John Lynch gets back into Round 1
Round 1-caliber players aren’t always the ones who are selected in the first round. Sometimes, teams target second-round targets at the tail end of Round 1, if for no other reason than to have the luxury of getting a fifth-year option available on their rookie contracts.
Again, the 49ers shouldn’t be focused on sheer quantity of players in this year’s draft, rather better-quality players anyway, so the idea of John Lynch trying to work some magic to get up from No. 61 overall into the tail end of Round 1 wouldn’t be a bad move in itself.
The Detroit Lions own the Los Angeles Rams’ first-round pick this year, thanks to last offseason’s move for quarterback Matthew Stafford. Yet the Lions already own the No. 2 overall pick, too, and they’ll nevertheless not hurt for additional draft assets over the next couple of years to help stockpile a rebuild.
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Especially with quarterback Aaron Rodgers returning to the Green Bay Packers, thereby putting a ceiling on contending within the NFC North.
While there’s no perfect mathematical equation to determine this, Pro Football Talk’s NFL Draft pick value trade chart helps dice up the numbers for what the value is on each selection, and Lynch moving the Niners’ first two picks in this year’s draft, plus a Round 2 selection next year, in exchange for No. 32 overall and a fifth-rounder from Detroit would make the math add up enough.
In doing so, San Francisco gets that key-impact player along with a critical fifth-year option, while the Lions add more assets to help stage their rebuild.