The San Francisco 49ers pulled off a huge signing early in free agency. Knowing they needed to upgrade the interior of their defensive line, they signed the best one available. San Francisco and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave agreed to a massive four-year, $84 million deal shortly after the legal tampering window opened.
Given how little cap space the 49ers have left, signing Hargrave was their biggest move of the offseason. But, it could very well have been overshadowed had they gotten beyond the preliminary stage of monitoring Lamar Jackson.
During Tuesday’s episode of “The Dan Patrick Show”, the veteran sports host shared that the 49ers had looked into potentially trading for Jackson this offseason. Jackson remains unsigned after the Baltimore Ravens placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on him earlier this offseason.
“I was told this yesterday — the Niners have monitored everything, including Lamar Jackson,” Patrick said (h/t Dov Kleiman). “They’ve explored that, or at least looked at it. They kicked the tires on that. And of course, you should do that. Always try to improve.”
Adding a player of Jackson’s caliber to this 49ers team would have been real-life Fantasy Football. Throughout his career with the Ravens, Jackson has lacked weapons around him at the skill positions. San Francisco has that in spades with running backs Christian McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell, wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, and tight end George Kittle.
49ers general manager John Lynch spoke during his pre-draft media availability on Monday. Reading between the lines, you can take away a confirmation the team looked into possibly acquiring Jackson, but nothing more than that.
“You look into everything, and we seem to be linked to everything,” Lynch told reporters. “I can tell you, I think it’s how convicted we are on Brock, on this current group of guys. You’re not doing your job if you don’t look into things. A lot of those things I think you’re limited by the way our roster is set up and the other thing is, what’s your motivation?
“And there’s more than just Lamar, there’s tremendous players, MVP-type players. We really like our guys and we like where we’re at. We like our complete roster and how they fit for multiple reasons and we’re excited about that group. So, I’ll just leave it at that.”
San Francisco has been involved in trade rumors this offseason, but they have centered around their quarterback, Trey Lance. There is still a chance that he is traded during the 2023 NFL Draft, but it more than likely won’t be in a deal that brings Jackson back.
Happy with the progress that Brock Purdy is making on the UCL surgery he had on his right elbow, the 49ers likely won’t be looking to add more than another late-round pick or training camp body to the roster at quarterback. With Sam Darnold also on the roster, San Francisco looks ready to roll with that trio as their options under center.
