The 49ers were close to acquiring one of these WRs.
The San Francisco 49ers GM John Lynch was on KNBR this morning. The topic came up about free agency and the moves that didn’t happen. The two blockbuster trades that the 49ers were rumored to make involved Odell Beckham Jr. and Antonio Brown. Both wide receivers have since moved on to other teams. How close were the Niners to making a deal? Here’s what Lynch had to say about Brown:
“We took a quick look and then we just said, ‘Hey, we’re not interested in that for our team.’ That’s where we are. I think we feel pretty good about our receiving corps. I know a lot of people don’t share our sentiments.”
That sounds like Lynch wasn’t interested in the player. Brown sounded off all season. He was not happy with his situation in Pittsburgh and how the QB there never was held accountable. The way Brown went about it was not the correct way to handle it, but he certainly had some points.
Here’s Lynch on OBJ:
“I think, ironically, the fact that we had the No. 2 pick made it more difficult because they wanted that badly. They wanted two No. 1s. And we weren’t willing to part with that. It was too valuable of a pick.”
The team picking so high worked against them here. That is ironic. Beckham Jr. makes so much more sense to pursue as a player. He’s 26-years old with a lot of good football left. I feel pretty good about him being the best receiver in the game next year. We haven’t seen how good he is because of the QB he’s been playing with. Which is saying something because he’s been really, really good.
Mike Garafolo of NFL network also chimed in.
This is why you can’t just say a player is worth, say, two first-round picks. Because not all picks are created equal. No. 2 overall >>>>> No. 17 obviously. The Giants wanted to increase their volume of picks, and that eliminated a possible deal with the Niners. To add to this, word was the Niners would’ve been amenable to moving from 2 to 6 as part of a deal for Beckham. The problem was what would the rest of the compensation have been? That’s where it broke down.
So many moving parts on this OBJ deal. A swap of firsts would have made sense. Completely parting for a pick that high? Man, that’s rich.
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