The 49ers love midseason trades — here’s a possible target list

If there ever was a trade season almost perfectly set up for a couple of fortifying 49ers moves, it’s in this fragile moment, with the team sitting at 4-4 going into the bye, and trying to summon a gallop through the second half of this season.

Of course, the Kyle Shanahan–John Lynch 49ers always go into trade season aiming to make a few key and careful swaps that could turn the tide in November, December, January, and February. And maybe even for years after that.

The 49ers think this way when they’re 0-8 (their record in 2017 when they traded for Jimmy Garoppolo). They think this way when they’re 6-0 (as they were in 2019, when they traded for Emmanuel Sanders). And I’m sure they’re thinking this way now that they’ve barely survived an early wave of injuries and could really use some reinforcements for the stretch run.

The 49ers will get Christian McCaffrey back in a few weeks, which will send an electric jolt throughout the franchise. But the 49ers have been through a few emotional and physical wringers already; they need all the adrenaline boosts they can get.

Also, the question that has to be pounding in Shanahan and Lynch’s heads: What if the 49ers suffer several more crucial injuries between now and January? The season-ending injuries to Brandon Aiyuk, Javon Hargrave, and Elijah Mitchell, plus the extended McCaffrey absence, have already burned through most of the depth they built into this roster last off-season. The 49ers will undoubtedly suffer more injuries. So they really could use more bodies at a couple of important positions.

A caveat: There has already been a lot of movement in the last few weeks, well ahead of the Nov. 5 deadline, and the 49ers haven’t been part of it. If Shanahan and Lynch were dying to make a move, they probably would’ve already done it. Instead, the 49ers have sat quietly while players like Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins, Amari Cooper, Josh Uche, and Ernest Jones have all moved.

But, again, knowing how Shanahan and Lynch think, it’s more likely than not that they’ll do something by next Tuesday to show their players that all energies remain directed at a return to the Super Bowl and that they still believe they have every chance to do this.

I don’t, however, believe that the 49ers will be trading for a wide receiver, even after losing Aiyuk. The best available WRs have already been traded; and there’s a reason Shanahan and Lynch drafted Ricky Pearsall and Jacob Cowing last April. The rookies have been thrust into bigger roles than anticipated, but Pearsall in particular looks like he can handle even more. And I’m not the only one curious to see what Cowing might do with more playing time. Also, the 49ers already have so much money sunk into the position with Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel that it’s hard to see adding much more.

I also don’t see Shanahan and Lynch making a significant deadline trade for a running back (all bets are on McCaffrey), tight end (same for George Kittle), offensive lineman (not the 49ers’ style), cornerback (they’re as deep at that spot now as they’ve ever been), linebacker (also not the 49ers’ style), safety (definitely not the 49ers’ style), or, of course, quarterback (Brock Purdy is QB1 probably for the next eight to ten years).

Which leaves the same position Shanahan and Lynch have landed on just about every trade deadline: the defensive line, with a hard tilt to edge rushers.

Yetur Gross-Matos is out for at least a few more weeks, they’ve lost Hargrave and Drake Jackson for the season and haven’t fully replaced Arik Armstead after they cut him in a salary constriction last off-season. Defensive line coach Kris Kocurek is basically going with a three-man rotation at defensive end — Nick Bosa, Leonard Floyd, and Sam Okuayinou, who has been a depth godsend — but there isn’t much behind that group.

Yeah, I think Shanahan and Lynch will be shopping for defensive linemen, which, again, is not a new situation. Just last year, the 49ers acquired two DEs around the deadline: Randy Gregory for a sixth-round pick and Chase Young for a third-round pick.

(Some 49ers’ trade-deadline trivia: In 2021, they traded for Charles Omenihu, giving up a 2023 sixth-round pick that Houston traded to Green Bay, which used it to draft … Anders Carlson, the 49ers’ current emergency kicker. In 2020, when the 49ers were pretty much dead in the water with all the injuries, they traded Kwon Alexander to the Saints for a fifth-round pick that turned into … current rising star Deommodore Lenoir.)

This year, the 49ers have an extra third-round compensatory pick in 2025, earned when DeMeco Ryans left to take the Houston Texans job. But they forfeited their fifth-rounder as a penalty for a payroll miscalculation. My guess is that they won’t want to give up anything more than a sixth-round pick for any player who isn’t likely to be around past this season.

Meanwhile, the Lions also figure to be heavily in the DL market after losing star Aidan Hutchinson for the season. There might be a bidding war or two. But the Patriots only got a 2026 sixth-round pick from the Chiefs for edge rusher Josh Uche earlier this week, so the prices haven’t gotten too high. I thought the 49ers might be interested in Uche, but clearly, they weren’t — he’s a little too small to be an every-down player in the 49ers’ system.

The 49ers are probably shopping for true defensive ends who can rush and also set the edge against the run or bigger guys who can play both inside and outside. Let’s take a look at some of the top options, in order of their likeliness (according to me) to be 49ers by next Tuesday.

Smith is a true DE (6-foot-4, 270 pounds) who can get to the QB (65 career sacks, 5 this season) and is signed at a reasonable price for another season. So he checks a lot of boxes for the 49ers, even though, at 32, he’s not a youngster.

There could be salary-cap complications with the Browns because Smith got a bonus to re-sign with them earlier this year. But if that can be worked out, Smith is one of the few realistic names left on the market who’d be worth something as high as a fourth-round pick.

Another Browns’ D-lineman to consider: DT Dalvin Tomlinson.

A Browns’ D-lineman I don’t think the Browns will consider trading: superstar DE Myles Garrett.

Since the 49ers didn’t make a move for Uche, I’m not sure they’d have a ton of interest in Ojulari, another talented but smaller edge rusher/linebacker.

Still, the 49ers just saw Ojulari rack up two sacks against the Steelers on Monday night — he would look good in the 49ers’ third-down rush lineup, at least as a rotating sub.

Ojulari is a pending free agent, so the price tag likely won’t be high. And, at 24 years old, he might be a guy the 49ers would want long-term, too, if he ends up here and produces in November and December.

Would Jacksonville general manager Trent Baalke really deal Walker, the 2022 No. 1 overall pick, to Baalke’s old team? Maybe not, but it’s amazing Baalke still has a job there and maybe he’s not the one deciding things anymore, anyway. It just feels like there’s a roster clear-out coming soon and Walker’s not likely to survive it, whenever this happens.

Walker’s still only 23, he’s under team control for two more seasons, and he’s quite talented — he has 6.5 sacks in this dismal Jaguar season. Would the 49ers offer that third-round comp pick for Walker? I could see it. Would Detroit bid higher? We shall see.

A solid 29-year-old player who had a brief stint with the 49ers last season. He was signed near the end of the regular season and played in all three playoff games, including the Super Bowl, and he is in a similar situation on this terrible Tennessee team as …

If the 49ers do something relatively under the radar at the deadline, it could revolve around their relationship with Tennessee GM Ran Carthon, who was one of Lynch’s lieutenants before he left to take the Titans’ job.

I wouldn’t rule out the 49ers trying to acquire both Joseph-Day and Key for DL depth. Of course, Key is fondly remembered in the 49ers’ building for his 2021 contributions, which included 6.5 sacks playing multiple positions on the line. Key’s still only 28 and had two sacks last Sunday in the loss to Detroit.

The 49ers were willing to spend the draft choice to acquire Young as a rental last October because they knew they’d get a 2025 comp pick if and when he left as a free agent last off-season. Could they do that again, now that the Saints are spiraling and have already paid a big chunk of Young’s one-year, $13 million deal?

Psst: If the 49ers trade for Young and he leaves again as a free agent, they’d get another comp pick in 2026. I don’t think this is the likeliest scenario, but it sure would be interesting.

Put Hendrickson in the same category as Garrett, the Raiders’ Maxx Crosby, and Indianapolis’ DeForest Buckner — all extremely unlikely to be traded because they’re the kinds of players you want to build around, not trade away.

But you never know unless you check. There’s at least one way in: Hendrickson asked to be traded last summer when he and Cincinnati couldn’t come to terms on a big extension. An interested team would probably have to line up a new deal for Hendrickson as part of any trade. Which makes it very difficult to do in the middle of a season, and that’s if the Bengals would even be willing to have the conversation. I also didn’t think the 49ers could get McCaffrey two years ago without giving up a first-round pick, so you should check. I know the 49ers always do.