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With three days until the NFL’s first-ever all-virtual draft, general manager John Lynch virtually welcomed reporters into his home via a Zoom call, and was about as open as you could hope a general manager to be. He said the NFL’s trial run through of the draft, which happened a few hours prior, went well, aside from a few early hiccups.
The 49ers, with two first-round picks and are going to have to trade back in this year’s draft. Lynch did all but explicitly admit that, with a caveat.
“I think we’re open to trading,” Lynch said. “I’m comfortable saying that we’re currently, and we will right up to the draft, let people know there’s scenarios where we’re going to be open at both of those picks to moving back. I mean it’s out there for everyone to see, we have two firsts and then we don’t have a pick until the fifth where we have two picks, and you know a sixth and then two sevens. With those picks there’s a big gap in there.”
Lynch said the criteria for not trading back is that you need to find a “foundational type of player,” which is how he defined DeForest Buckner. If you trade away Buckner, and draft at pick 13, you have to find a foundational player. Maybe the 49ers move back for multiple picks and increase their odds of hitting on a player like that.
“If you can find a foundational player at 13, that’s something you have to weigh,” Lynch said. “Can you find two more foundational players later on? But I don’t think you pass up on a guy that you think is a difference maker at those spots.”
Lynch said the 49ers have no “hard offers” in place, but that the 49ers have been “very forthright with other teams,” because there are legitimate scenarios where San Francisco will hold onto the 13th pick, and those conversations about trades will likely go down to the time the 49ers are on the clock.
Who wouldn’t San Francisco trade away No. 13 for? At least six “foundation players,” decided upon by Lynch and Shanahan in ongoing, joint discussions. A far cry from the Baalke-Harbaugh days.
“As to the number of foundational players, it’s difficult because there’s certain guys that you’re prepared if they were to fall but as we anticipate, I would say about, about six guys,” Lynch said. “It’s kind of boiled down to that process where Kyle and I are really zeroing in and challenging each other, ‘Okay, is this a guy we’re not moving from?’ And we’ve got the answer on most of those. We’re playing out a couple more scenarios in our head but we’ll be prepared come draft day.”
As for Marquise Goodwin, pencil him in as gone. That much was obvious from the moment the season concluded. His contract, at $4.91 million, is hard to justify, coming off his least productive season (12 receptions, 186 yards, 1 TD) since his third year in the league. He’s fast, with one standout year. A deep threat who the 49ers haven’t been able to use, which makes him not all that useful. He has 13 TDs in seven NFL seasons, with an average of 331.9 yards and 1.9 TD per year.
Lynch was open: yes, the 49ers are trying to trade him.
“The one thing I feel comfortable saying that the one guy where there’s actively discussions going on right now is Marquise Goodwin,” Lynch said. “That’s something we’ve been clear on but there’s a scenario where Marquise can help us. He brings a lot to the table and so we have been in discussions that came close a couple times.
“There’s a lot of different aspects to being able to close these deals, and he’s a guy, because we know he has value we continue to hang on and we’ll see if something happens here. When there’s a deadline or something that causes them to happen, and I think the draft is often one of those things, so Marquise is the one guy out of that group that you mentioned where there’s active discussions going on.”
San Francisco would be lucky to get a sixth-round pick or more for Goodwin. He may well be best valued as a booster in a trade up (i.e. swapping pick 156 with 140, with Goodwin attached).
As for Dee Ford, Kwon Alexander and Jaquiski Tartt being on the trading block, according to a Monday report by The Athletic’s Michael Lombardi, Lynch was dismissive.
“The other guys we love and are really looking forward to playing with moving forward,” Lynch said.