The 49ers are in a tough spot in the 2024 draft where they’re slated to pick No. 31 overall. By the time the board shakes out they’ll likely be faced with a handful of prospects they’d like better as Day 2 selections. The obvious solution would be to identify a team that might want to jump up into the back of the first round for a chance to snag a quarterback with the fifth-year option that comes with a first-round pick. The problem is that doesn’t happen very often.
Typically the players identified as potential targets in a trade up into the first round are QBs. And it makes sense. A QB slipping that far may need a little development and having that fifth year option could be valuable either negotiating a long-term deal, or in evaluating whether to keep that player beyond their rookie contract. It turns out that idea is a fine one in theory, but QBs slipping that far generally wind up going in Round 2 or later.
Since the fifth-year option was implemented as part of the CBA in 2011, only two teams have traded up into the back of the first round for a quarterback. The Vikings did it in 2014 when they sent pick Nos. 40 and 108 to the Seahawks in exchange for the No. 32 selection where they picked QB Teddy Bridgewater.
The Ravens executed a similar deal in the 2018 draft to select QB Lamar Jackson. Baltimore sent pick Nos. 52 and 125, and a 2019 second-round pick to the Eagles in exchange for pick Nos. 32 and 132.
And that’s it. That concludes the history of teams trading up into the first round for a quarterback in the fifth-year-option era. If Bo Nix and/or Michael Penix Jr. slip to No. 31 this year, there’s a much higher likelihood they’re still on the board in Day 2 than there is a team jumps up to pick them at the end of Day 1.
For the 49ers a trade back might come from a club looking to jump the Chiefs for a wide receiver. Or a cornerback might slip that another team values more than San Francisco. There are definitely options and scenarios where a trade up into Round 1 involves a QB, but the 49ers aren’t likely to benefit from that since such a move has been a rarity across the last 12 drafts.
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