While San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch seems to pour cold water in the notion that the team could land free-agent edge rusher Joey Bosa, that has not stopped speculation or hopes the Niners will sign the former Pro Bowl talent.
Maybe there is a chance that Lynch’s answer that Bosa would be too expensive was a subtle way of playing chess with Bosa’s camp to get them to come down off their asking price.
It’s questionable whether that strategy would work, but it’s worth a shot.
The Niners clearly still need help at edge rusher. They had the least sacks of any NFL team last season, and with Bryce Huff retiring and both Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams coming off ACL tears, they could really use some depth at the position.
The elder Bosa brother had five sacks with the Buffalo Bills last season, which is a far cry from the numbers he used to put up with the Los Angeles Chargers. But he could still be a valuable asset for a defensive line that clearly needs help getting to the quarterback.
With a new defensive coordinator in Raheem Morris, the 49ers have to try to get him a little help up front. If they don't, they will essentially be setting him up for failure if he does not have enough weapons to try to get after the quarterback.
It seems pretty likely the 49ers will draft an edge rusher later this month at the NFL Draft, but they have a pretty spotty record when it comes to drafting edge rushers as of late.
There are other free-agent options out there to be had, but Bosa makes the most sense given he is related to someone on San Francisco's roster and has been rumored as a target for years and years.
The Golden State Warriors finally got the Curry brothers together on the court at the same time for a recent regular-season game, so it just would feel right for the Niners to get those the Bosa brothers to play together even if it was just for one season.
Maybe Lynch was being serious and the 49ers have decided to turn off the free-agent spending spigot for now, but they have some room to make a move. So, if they could get Bosa on a one-year, $10 million deal or something like that, it would be a smart addition.