The San Francisco 49ers find themselves in a unique spot entering Week 9.
Despite having plenty of needs (pass rusher, secondary, and receiver, to name a few), the 49ers are sitting pretty at 6-1 with a three-game advantage in the loss column in the NFC West.
San Francisco has already made a splash and cleaned up a need by bringing in another old friend in DeForest Buckner, but it can’t hurt the 49ers to make at least another move or two.
So here’s my wishlist. Some bigger asks than others, but all
within different realms of possibility. If the 49ers can acquire one of the below names, I’ll be happy. Two, I’d be ecstatic. And three or more, I will be thinking about the route for the Super Bowl parade.
With the trade deadline right around the corner, here’s my list of the players the 49ers should be looking at:
WR Garrett Wilson, Jets
Wilson would be that high-end item you put on a wishlist that you know is too pricey to ask for, but you ask for it just in case.
It would be hard to imagine the 49ers acquiring a better player at any position (let alone a position of need). The 49ers need a receiver, even with a few coming back from injury over the next few weeks, and Wilson would be the perfect complement across from Mike Evans. Wilson started his career with three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons with Zach Wilson, Mike White, Joe Flacco, Trevor Siemian, and Aaron Rodgers throwing passes to him.
Now with Geno Smith as his quarterback, Wilson has 527 yards, pacing for another 1,000-yard season. You can’t blame 49ers fans for imagining what Wilson could be with Purdy as his quarterback.
If the price is too high on Wilson, John Lynch and Co. would be smart to inquire about Adonai Mitchell before hanging up on the Jets.
S Jessie Bates III, Falcons
Your guess is as good as mine if Bates will even be available. Some weeks, Atlanta is good enough to beat a 6-0 49ers team, but others they’re bad enough to lose to a team that doesn’t complete a pass. With the state of the NFC South, you can’t blame the Falcons if they choose to stand pat, but if they are taking calls, Bates would be an ideal trade target for San Francisco.
The 49ers have flirted with the idea of Bates, both when he was available for trade when he played for the Bengals and when he was a free agent before he signed with Atlanta. The safety play for the 49ers has been inconsistent this season, and Bates would add stability. Plus there’s already a connection there with Bates playing under 49ers defensive coordinator Raheem Morris in 2023 and 2024, earning a second-team All-Pro nod in the latter year.
Bates would be pricey and might need an extension to make a deal work, but he could be a long-term fix to one of the 49ers’ shakier position groups.
WR Josh Downs, Colts
The Santa Clara-Indianapolis pipeline has already been tapped once with the Buckner trade, so negotiations will be familiar waters for Lynch if he wants to return to that well.
If the Jets hold onto Wilson or the 49ers miss out, Downs wouldn’t be a bad consolation. Per NFL Next Gen stats, Downs is a better separator than Wilson, averaging 3.0 yards of separation per route run compared to Wilson’s 2.6. Downs has used that ability to separate to lead the Colts in targets (51), receiving yards (330), and first downs (19).
Downs would have a lower cost to acquire than Wilson (although Wilson would be a long-term fix and future replacement for Mike Evans) and would be a clear No. 2 in an injured but crowded wide receiver room. If I had to pick the likeliest player acquired by the 49ers before the trade deadline, I would wager on Downs.
DE Josh Sweat, Cardinals
An inter-division trade feels unlikely, and the Cardinals can drive the price as high as they want with two more years of control of Sweat, but if the 49ers want to make a huge swing for the fences, Sweat would be the guy.
Sweat’s 40.5 sacks career total ranks 12th among all defenders (with only a sack more than Nick Bosa), with 12 sacks in 2025 after signing a four-year, $76.4 million deal with the Cardinals. He hasn’t quite had that success yet this season, recording just three sacks in eight games so far this season.
But while his production has been down in 2026, Sweat gives something the 49ers don’t see too often in their pass rushers: a clean bill of health. Sweat has missed only three games since 2021 and hasn’t missed a game since signing with Arizona.
The price would be high, but Sweat would be a true 1B to Bosa’s 1A, and if a trade for the Arizona pass rusher is the catalyst for the 49ers’ pass rush becoming elite again, how high is too high?
DE Khalil Mack, Chargers
A more logical choice would be Mack, but the Chargers don’t seem convinced that an 0-7 start in the AFC West is an impossible task to overcome. If Los Angeles comes to its senses and starts selling, the 49ers should be all over the veteran end.
The 49ers have been tied to Mack since he donned the Silver and Black, but the two sides have narrowly missed several times. San Francisco was also interested in Mack when he hit free agency after his time with Chicago,hicago but he went to Los Angeles instead. Maybe the third time will be the charm.
Mack isn’t the elite defender he was once, but his 5.5 sacks in 2025 would have led to the 49ers, and his three sacks would be only behind Keion White this season. But unlike in Los An,geles where Mack is the No. 1 pass rusher, he’d be behind Bosa and would draw more favorable matchups than he’s currently facing.
San Francisco has flirted with Mack a few times already; maybe the match is finally made before Tuesday’s deadline.
DE Jadeveon Clowney, Texans
The 49ers have had a need for a second pass rusher for as long as Bosa has been with the franchise. Clowney has been on seven different teams over his 13-year career and four teams over the last four seasons. Somehow, the two have never come together.
The Texans enter Week 9 with a 2-5 record, and with Clowney on a one-year deal, there’s no reason to think the veteran can’t be had for cheap. And Clowney has shown he can still go, even on the wrong side of 30. Clowney, at age 33, ranks 12th of all active players with 25.5 sacks after turning 30, but ranks behind only TJ Watt and Danielle Hunter on the list as the only players in their age-33 season or younger.
Clowney to San Francisco has made almost too much sense for too long, and if San Francisco doesn’t land Sweat or Mack, Clowney would absolutely work.
WR Chimere Dike, Titans
Allow me to pull one completely out of left field. But let’s say the 49ers’ plan to get better at receiver is to wait for the returns of Demarcus Robinson (which feels sooner rather than later) and De’Zhaun Stribling (which feels later rather than sooner). Or let’s say the 49ers even try to rebuild a bridge with a certain player who is reportedly showing up to work on Friday.
Let’s just call it a choose-your-own-adventure to why the 49ers opt not to go after Wilson, Mitchell, or Downs. But maybe they remember what Rashid Shaheed not only did for the Seahawks last season, but what Shaheed did to the 49ers in the playoffs. So what if, instead of going for the big fish at receiver, they instead use the position to solve the long-standing returner issue?
The Titans would have no motivation to move Dike with him only in his second season, but with Jeffrey Simmons already gone, it would cause no harm for the 49ers to at least call. If San Francisco does pull the trigger, Dike would become one of the best returners in 49ers history on day one if he continues his pace he’s shown in Tennessee.
Dike has 94 kickoff returns so far in his season and a half with the Titans. Only five players in 49ers history (Super Bowl era) have taken more than 75 kickoff returns (Vic Washington, Ted Ginn, Maurice Hicks, Carl Monroe, and Dexter Carter), and Dike’s 25.7 yards per those 94 returns would rank second behind only Washington.
The same would apply for punt returns as well. Dike has 34 of those to his name, and while plenty of 49ers (Super Bowl era) have taken at least 30 punt returns (23 to be exact), none are better than Dike’s 15.7 yards per punt return.
Dike could add something to the receiver room (59 receptions for 579 yards on 88 targets), but man, wouldn’t it be nice to have a good returner one time in Santa Clara.
