ESPN’s Bill Barnwell went through each team in the NFL to determine how many players would be worthy of a first-round pick.
This is a roster with several All-Pros and potential Hall of Fame players. But it’s 2026, and each of them has enough question marks at this stage in their career that another organization would wonder whether they are worthy of a first-rounder.
It’s no surprise who Barnwell believes would be worthy of a Day 1 pick plus other picks:
One first-round pick and more: Edge Nick Bosa.
Organizations are used to dealing with players who have torn an ACL, but there’s more reticence in targeting players who have two ACL tears on their résumé. Nobody doubts Bosa’s impact when he’s on the field — he helped win the 49ers each of their first two games last season before tearing up his knee in Week 3 — but he now has multiple ACL tears across the past six seasons.
Even after a pair of torn ACLs, 31 other teams would take Bosa in a trade. Unfortunately for them, John Lynch would hang up the phone and block their number before any discussion of a developed package.
Two players would fetch a first-round pick, according to Barnwell:
One first-round pick: QB Brock Purdy, LB Fred Warner. Warner is also coming off a season impacted by a serious ankle injury, and he turns 30 in November. But he’s also very comfortably the best linebacker in football by my estimation. He would be the exception to a handful of rules, although that might be a tougher sell given the ankle injury than it would have been in years past.
It’s no surprise to see a quarterback. Purdy is 26 and has a 4,000-yard passing season under his belt, along with a couple of deep playoff runs. Teams that haven’t had a quarterback in over a decade would easily give up a Day 1 pick for Purdy.
Fred Warner isn’t just any linebacker, but he’s still a linebacker. At 30, I don’t think I’d trade a first-rounder for him, and that’s acknowledging he’s the best at his position with room to spare.
There was another section that “just missed out” on fielding a first-rounder in a trade:
Missing out: WR Mike Evans, TE George Kittle, RB Christian McCaffrey, WR Ricky Pearsall, Edge Mykel Williams, OT Trent Williams. Oh, just four Hall of Famers in this section, huh? Age and injury hurt here. Evans is 32 and coming off his first injury-ruined season as a pro. Kittle is 32 and recovering from a torn Achilles suffered during the postseason. McCaffrey is 30, and while he was one of the few 49ers to stay healthy last season, his injury history is well known. Trent Williams turns 38 this weekend and hasn’t played a full season since 2013.
These legends are still productive, valuable players. But they’re worth more to the 49ers as a unit than they are in trades to any other team.
Had Pearsall stayed healthy these past two seasons, we’d likely be having a different conversation about what he’s worth. Mykel was drafted high, but there’s no evidence that he’ll produce like a first-rounder. It also doesn’t help that he’s coming off a season-ending injury.
This wouldn’t have been a debate for Kittle, McCaffrey, and Evans a couple of seasons ago. But injuries and age are not on their side.
