The 49ers’ willingness to trade tight end Vance McDonald didn’t materialize due to an offer San Francisco general manager John Lynch couldn’t refuse.
Instead, it came about because there was simply an offer on the table.
As the preseason concludes, San Francisco is in the final stages of evaluating its roster, and determining which 53 players it would be best served carrying into the regular season.
On Tuesday morning, the 49ers ultimately decided McDonald was not worth keeping.
A holdover from the Trent Baalke era, McDonald signed one of the most player-friendly contracts Baalke offered during his tenure as the 49ers’ general manager, inking a three-year deal worth $19.6 million after the 2016 season. Initially, McDonald’s contract was reported as a five-year, $35 million deal, but the fourth and fifth seasons called for team options that a new 49ers’ regime likely wouldn’t have picked up.
The new regime featuring Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan did make a concerted effort to give McDonald an opportunity to prove his value in the 49ers’ new offensive scheme, but as August comes to a close, it became increasingly apparent that McDonald wasn’t an ideal fit.
McDonald has value in the NFL as a versatile pass catcher, and he’ll have the chance to open up a Pittsburgh Steelers passing game he’s better suited for anyway, but in San Francisco, he wasn’t a clear-cut starter. The 49ers didn’t stand to gain much by having McDonald battle better schematic fits like fifth round draft choice George Kittle, a blocking-first tight end like Logan Paulsen and veteran Garrett Celek, so they found a willing trade partner and did well to score a fourth round pick in return. Of course, they also gave up a fifth round pick, but this is the type of trade that I figured might result in a swap of sixth and seventh round picks instead.
Since taking over this spring, Lynch and Shanahan have insisted that their decisions on dealing with the roster they were handed wouldn’t be financially motivated. And because they entered a situation in which the 49ers had built up tremendous cap space, it was easy to take them at their word. Even the franchise’s decision to cut Ahmad Brooks last week, one of the most productive 49ers’ defensive players in recent memory, came about because Shanahan felt Eli Harold had done enough to win a starting job ahead of Brooks.
This decision, though, surely includes at least some financial motivation. Had Lynch been unable to find a trade partner, it’s possible McDonald would have started the season atop the 49ers’ depth chart, and if not, McDonald still would have received a significant share of playing time. There’s use for a player like McDonald in a system like Shanahan’s that relies heavily on play-action, but that doesn’t mean that McDonald was the type of long-term solution at the position that Shanahan was looking for.
By trading McDonald, San Francisco clears his contract off the books, and frees up at least $5 million in cap space over each of the next three seasons. In Brooks’ case, his contract was only slated to count against the cap for one more season, so it wouldn’t have created financial constraints had the 49ers elected to keep him as a backup this season.
With McDonald out of the fold, San Francisco’s tight end unit isn’t as deep or versatile as it once was, but it still has the pieces to form a reliable grouping. Kittle, Paulsen and Celek aren’t going to stun fantasy leagues with their pass-catching production, but they do form a trio of players who can help set the edge in the run game, sneak out on play-action fakes, and aid the offensive line as big-bodied blockers when they stay in to pass protect. There’s now an opportunity for each player to carve out a well-defined role, because McDonald isn’t around to steal away reps.
Ultimately, the 49ers’ tight end unit isn’t as talented as it was a day ago, but this move has the potential to help San Francisco build for the future, while helping Shanahan mold his offense with players whose skill sets are more closely aligned with his vision. It may take until 2018 or 2019 for the 49ers to find the type of tight end they’re looking for, but it became clear over time that McDonald was never going to become that player.
When an opportunity to unload McDonald –a former second-round draft choice who signed a generous extension under the previous regime– presented itself, Lynch took it. McDonald wasn’t hand-picked, and though it will take time, eventually, the entire roster will be.