As the trade deadline creeps closer, some think a high-profile team is lurking as to the biggest name that remains potentially available.
Chris Simms mentioned on Thursday’s PFT Live that some in league circles are wondering whether the 49ers could make a play for Colts running back Jonathan Taylor. (People around the league ask Simms those questions, because 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan is one of his best friends — and because they assume Simms knows what’s happening with the 49ers, even if he rarely if ever does.)
A Taylor-to-49ers trade would be jarring. It would be unexpected. As jarring and unexpected as the news that emerged on a Thursday night in October 2022, when word first broke of the 49ers’ trade with the Panthers for running back Christian McCaffrey.
A trade for Taylor would create obvious questions regarding McCaffrey. Taylor has $3.87 million remaining in base salary (after Week 9, it drops to $3.49 million). McCaffrey has a 2026 cap number of $10.861 million. While that’s low enough to keep the duo together for the rest of the season, things would change in 2027.
McCaffrey has a cap number of $26.4 million, with no guaranteed money in what will be the last year of his current deal. Taylor would count for more than $16 million in 2027, under his current contract.
Most likely, the 49ers would move on from McCaffrey after this season, if they trade for Taylor.
And, yes, it would be a stunner if the 49ers trade for Taylor. The exact same kind of stunner that it was when the 49ers traded for McCaffrey in 2022.
But that’s what teams do when they’re serious about going all in. The Bears are. The Seahawks are. The 49ers may be.
Every contender needs to ask itself that question as the trade deadline approaches. Are you content to wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up first? Or are you going to turn a wishlist into tangible action items aimed at potentially putting a Super Bowl ring on everyone’s finger?