The San Francisco 49ers did not make any moves at the 2025 trade deadline in November. That decision may come back to haunt general manager John Lynch with the team surging headed into the postseason.
At the trade deadline, the Niners were 6-3 and their fate seemed unclear. Was this team a legitimate contender with a shot to make the playoffs or had it suffered too many injuries to overcome?
The question still remains, but the pendulum has swung more more decidedly in favor of the view that San Francisco is legit and can make some sort of run in the playoffs even though there are still glaring weaknesses.
The issue that shines brightest on the Niners is their lack of a pass rush. The 49ers have the fewest sacks of any NFL team and were largely unable to get a lot of pressure on 44-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers on Monday night against the Indianapolis Colts.
If anything is going to sink this squad, it seems like the lack of a pass rush may be the thing with the best chance to bite them in the playoffs.
To be fair to Lynch, he did make a trade prior to the deadline for defensive lineman Keion White. He has 1.5 sacks since joining San Francisco, but he is not by any means an elite pass-rusher.
Lynch explained the decision not to make a big move at the deadline by saying that the prices teams were asking for was fairly steep and that sometimes the best deals you make are the ones you don't make at all.
He is right, and judging by some of the other deadline deals that were made, teams were asking for a lot of draft capital in deals, so it seems like it was just more than the 49ers were willing to part with.
But not many peiple would have thought the Niners would go 5-1 since the trade deadline and give themselves a realistic shot to be the No. 1 seed in the NFC. That is the reality now, but the lack of a meaningful pass rush is going to make it hard to do that against two strong teams in the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks to close out the regular season.
Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh is going to have to employ every single trick in his bag to get pressure on the quarterback, and maybe he can squeeze enough juice out of this bend-but-don't-break defense to give them a shot.
Still, there must be some part of Lynch wishing he had made a move at the deadline to give the Niners the pass rush they need.