Still a big ‘if.’
We’ll shift out of Antonio Brown Watch and head on over to Odell Beckham Jr. Watch, because when one storm calms, another picks up. The Giants have said they aren’t trading Beckham, but that hasn’t stopped the rumors from flying.
The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami wrote an article on the 49ers being faced with a unique decision: Nick Bosa or Odell Beckham Jr. This comes after news that the Arizona Cardinals may be interested in Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray.
Now, there’s a lot of circumstances surrounding this decision. Well, one to be specific: the Giants have to actually want to trade Beckham, and so far there’s been nothing in that besides speculation. Sure there’s predictions and a sense the 49ers would make a run for him but nothing from the Giants saying he’s on the trading block besides the Giants saying he’s not on the trading block.
Kawakami then responded to an inquiry on Twitter on this very same topic and said this:
That’s the NFL chatter, yep. Obviously depends on NYGs’ thought process, but NFL people believe he could get traded and if he does, the 49ers are a top-top-top option. https://t.co/nuO0KPJcNy
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) March 4, 2019
Top-top-top option. Well, if this were to happen at least the 49ers are in it. A lot better than that Khalil Mack trade rumor last year that netted nothing.
Again, this is all hedging on a well defined “if.” No one has stated or confirmed Beckham is on the trading block but rather the 49ers would like to get him. That said, it sounds like an OBJ trade is at least a possibility no matter how distinct it may be.
Of course, if Beckham does get put up in a deal, the 49ers get blessed with the nightmare of all situations: OBJ or Nick Bosa? Kawakami wrote that they would likely either ave to use the No. 2 on Bosa, if he’s available, or use it to leverage a Beckham trade. He suggests it could involve a swap of the two teams’ first round picks, and maybe throwing in a second on the 49ers side.
Is there any chance the 49ers could pull off a near miracle and acquire both? If a deal for OBJ involved a swap of No. 2 and No. 6, the 49ers would likely either have to get incredibly lucky and see Bosa slip, or they would have to package picks to move back up the draft order. The latter seems entirely unlikely in this scenario. The only other way this happens is if an OBJ deal does not cost them their first. That also seems unlikely, but you never know.
In any case, if a decision did present itself, I’d love to be a fly on the wall in the room when this decision goes down. If it even happens.
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