As the NFL trade deadline approaches, Mac Jones keeps getting dragged into rumor season for reasons that don’t exactly line up with San Francisco’s reality.
One fresh scenario had the 49ers sending Jones to the Minnesota Vikings, with Jimmy Garoppolo somehow stepping in to replace him. Another came from The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen, who included Jones in a larger set of moves that could alter the Super Bowl picture. In Nguyen’s version, Jones would head to Minnesota for third- and fifth-round picks.
Nguyen called it “a stretch,” and then laid out the logic behind it via The Athletic:
This one is a stretch, but bear with me. Despite Kyler Murray being close to a breakthrough - he’s still in the early stages of Kevin O’Connell’s offense - what if he has another unproductive game in Week 8 and the Vikings brass gets nervous?
Murray is on a one-year deal, and they didn’t invest much to get him. Jones is another former first-round pick who already has a year of Shanahan rehabbing under his belt and has shown he could play at a relatively high level in the right environment.
Even with that framing, Nguyen pointed to the cleaner version of this idea coming later, not now.
It's much easier to envision a Jones-Vikings union in the offseason when Jones hits free agency if Minnesota is interested in trying to replicate the Shanahan-to-Minnesota pipeline that bore so much fruit with the Sam Darnold signing.
The deadline version is where the idea starts to break down. San Francisco would be shipping a quarterback who can still help if Brock Purdy misses time to an NFC opponent that is currently one game ahead of them in the race for the No. 1 seed. That’s a hard sell.
The 49ers already had chances to move Jones this offseason, including a possible deal with Minnesota. They decided then that the offers weren’t enough to justify parting with a capable backup. Nothing about the deadline window makes that look more likely, especially with the Vikings sitting in direct competition with them and the two teams set to face each other one week after the deadline.
If San Francisco moves Jones before the deadline, the price would almost certainly have to be massive - at least a first-round pick, and probably more if Minnesota is the team calling.
So while a future Jones-to-Vikings path doesn’t sound impossible, the idea of the 49ers flipping him now for a pair of mid-round selections is much harder to buy.
In Other News...
49ers Trade Could Already Be Bad News For Jordan Watkins
The 49ers move to bring DeForest Buckner back to San Francisco bolstered one side of the ball, but it also has a ripple effect elsewhere on the roster as the trade deadline approaches. For a team already trying to keep its offense balanced, any new addition can change the math, and that is where Jordan Watkins enters the conversation. The rookie receiver has been part of the mix, but his role is hardly locked in with the 49ers still navigating their passing-game plans.
San Francisco has been connected to more help at wide receiver, and that kind of talk always creates pressure on the players fighting for snaps. Watkins has flashed enough to stay in the picture, but if the 49ers do make another move for a pass catcher, the competition for playing time could get even tighter. For now, he remains one of the names to watch as the front office weighs how aggressive it wants to be before the deadline. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Face An Uncomfortable Mac Jones Reality As Deadline Nears
Mac Jones has become one of the quieter names in the trade chatter around the 49ers as the NFL deadline draws closer, and that silence says plenty. Despite the speculation that always follows a backup quarterback with a recognizable track record, no real market has developed for Jones, leaving San Francisco in the familiar position of carrying a passer whose value around the league has not matched the buzz around him.
With the deadline set for Nov. 10, the most realistic outcome now looks like Jones simply staying put and seeing out his contract in San Francisco. The one thing that could change the picture is a major injury to a playoff contenders starting quarterback, which would suddenly turn a backup into a far more urgent target, but until something like that happens, there is not much reason to expect movement. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Face A Second-Half Decision These Fill-In Standouts Earned
The Week 8 bye should bring a familiar wave of reinforcements back to the 49ers, with key names like Nick Bosa, Deebo Samuel and Mike Evans expected to rejoin the lineup. But the break also handed San Francisco a reminder that some of its depth pieces have done more than merely hold the fort. Jordan Watkins has settled in at wide receiver, Kaelon Black has chipped in as a runner with a touchdown, and Gracen Halton has made his presence felt on defense when the 49ers needed answers.
For Kyle Shanahan, the tricky part now is figuring out how much of that production deserves to stick. Watkins has earned a bigger look after handling a heavy workload before the bye, while Black's burst gives the backfield another option worth keeping active. Halton, meanwhile, has turned momentum plays into real pressure, and with the starters coming back, San Francisco has a second-half rotation decision on its hands that could shape more than just the next game plan. [Read more 🡒]