As you’d imagine, the San Francisco 49ers are active with the NFL’s trade deadline looming. We found out what the asking price was for a pair of potential edge rushers earlier this morning.
Let’s talk about
a team that has been linked to the Niners in more ways than one. Ever since the 49ers lost Nick Bosa for the season, Trey Hendrickson has been a popular name. However, a hip injury has made Hendrickson doubtful for Week 9, and that same injury limited Hendrickson to eight snaps in Week 8 after missing Week 7.
Coming into this season, nobody had more sacks in the NFL than Trey Hendrickson. But a soon-to-be 31-year-old with a lingering hip injury isn’t all that appealing when you consider the 49ers’ injury history.
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini wrote an article with 18 trade deadline nuggets about what she’s hearing. The 49ers are among “many teams” to have inquired about three Cincinnati Bengals:
Many teams, including the Rams, 49ers, Lions, Colts and Eagles, have called the Bengals on numerous players, including LB Logan Wilson, CB Cam Taylor-Britt and, of course, DE Trey Hendrickson. For now, some teams don’t believe Cincinnati has any real interest in moving its core pieces.
Hendrickson is a free agent after this season. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport shared the asking price for Hendrickson on October 17:
I would expect Hendrickson to be a big-time trade target. As far as what it might take, we’ll, I am told it is a young player who would help the Bengals this year and into the future, and a future mid-round pick if the Bengals are even willing to do it.
The Bengals are 3-5 with a -79 point differential, which is the second-worst in the NFL. Sure, they’re in the AFC North race as of today, but the product they’ve put on the field isn’t close to what a playoff team looks like. Even when Hendrickson has been healthy, nobody has watched Cincinnati and come away thinking that was a stout defense. All that is to say, it would be a surprise to see the Bengals hold onto Hendrickson, or any other player they’re considering trading.
Wilson went from starting to not playing to being back in the rotation the past two weeks, although it’s been a total of 43 defensive snaps. For what it’s worth, PFF graded Wilson a 29.1 last week against the Jets. On the season, Wilson has allowed a passer rating of 125.8 on 25 targets with only six run stops.
At least Bethune can hang his hat on being a plus run defender. Per Sports Info Solutions, Bethune has been a better player than Wilson this season across all fronts.
The final player mentioned, Taylor-Britt, has been in the 49ers’ sights seemingly since the 2023 NFL Draft:
Taylor-Britt’s contract is up after this season, so he’d be another “temporary fix” the 49ers would need to extend after the season if they were to give up a draft pick.
The question is, where would Taylor-Britt play? Under a new defensive coordinator this season, 222 of Taylor-Britt’s 270 snaps have come outside at cornerback. That’s where he’s primarily played as a pro. The 49ers could theoretically kick Deommodore Lenoir back inside at nickel and move Upton Stout to safety.
That would take Ji’Ayir Brown, who has one year remaining under his contract, off the field. But it would give the Niners a significant boost in athleticism across the secondary. Taylor-Britt would provide the Niners with options, and you can never have enough of those at defensive back.
Nickel and safety are somewhat interchangeable in Robert Saleh’s defense. In college, Stout played all over the place, from the slot to out wide to both safety spots. But would you want to put even more on his plate after learning one position in half a season and ask him to learn another position on the fly? That feels like a big ask and a way to have Stout’s head spinning even more than it already is.
Unless there is a different type of reshuffling in the secondary, that’s how things would shake out if the team acquired Taylor-Britt.
