5 insane things the 49ers could do in the 2024 NFL Draft

With the NFL Draft being the world's largest televised poker game, you occasionally get some interesting "all-in" type moves.

The San Francisco 49ers are no stranger to this, given their love of a draft-day trade, particularly under head coach Kyle Shanahan and general managerJohn Lynch.

In their seven-year tenure, they have:

• Traded down one spot with the Chicago Bears in 2017 (to draft defensive end Solomon Thomas, while the Bears moved up for... erm, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky - no winners there)
• Traded back into the same first round in 2017 for linebacker Reuben Foster
• Acquired an extra first-round pick in 2020 by trading defensive tackleDeForest Buckner (some of the fanbase has never got over that one)
• Then promptly traded that further down one spot with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to draft defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw
• Before trading up (again), moving the second first-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings to acquire wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk
• Finally, and perhaps most infamously, trading a boatload of picks to the Miami Dolphins in 2021 to draft Trey Lance (that went well... no sarcasm detected)

All of this is to say that the Niners certainly don't seem adverse to the odd crazy move when it comes to the first round of the draft.

So, let's get our thinking caps on and come up with five insane scenarios for San Francisco in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Proceed with caution and an open mind.

49ers trade up for TE Brock Bowers

This thought is the product of an early-afternoon chat between myself and resident Niner Noise draft guru Jeremy Wohlfart, and oddly enough, it has it's roots in the Lance trade of 2021.

Some of our more fanciful followers were entertaining the possibility that Shanahan might have in fact moved up not for a quarterback, but to add another offensive weapon. That being then-Florida tight end Kyle Pitts.

This probably wasn't particularly likely, but the same logic applies now as then: George Kittle can't go on forever (and has a large contract to boot), so why not fill the tight end void with a true playmaker and potential superstar?

Throw in the uncertainty over Aiyuk (more of him shortly), and adding another offensive weapon to the Swiss Army knife skil set that Shanahan has at his disposal might be an easy one to countenance.

Tight end Brock Bowers would likely have to pass the New YorkJets at No. 10 overall before this would even be possible, but that's not a wild thought given some of the needs they have and the teams in front of them have also.

If Bowers was to fall far enough, could he prove a useful addition?