A sudden opening in Detroit’s secondary and a crowded cornerback room in San Francisco have created one of the cleaner trade ideas of the NFL offseason.
The Lions’ need is obvious after they formally released starting cornerback Terrion Arnold on June 29. The move followed Arnold’s arrest on eight severe felony charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping, tied to a targeted retaliation incident in Florida. Detroit moved quickly to cut ties, and that decision left a major hole on the boundary for Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes to address.
That’s where the 49ers enter the picture. On his KNBR YouTube channel, Bay Area media personality Larry Krueger floated the idea that Detroit could come calling for Renardo Green, a productive sophomore corner who now sits in the middle of San Francisco’s deep defensive back rotation.
“I think the Detroit Lions may call the 49ers about Renardo Green,” Krueger explained. “The Niners have a lot of cornerbacks.
Think about it: Jakob Robinson, Darrell Luter Jr., Deommodore Lenoir, Renardo Green, Upton Stout. They signed Jack Jones, and they brought in Nate Hobbs.
They’ve got a lot of corners. The Niners have great cornerback depth.”
That depth is the whole argument. With Deommodore Lenoir already established, Upton Stout showing elite metric growth in the slot, and Jack Jones plus Nate Hobbs added to the mix, San Francisco has a logjam that gives it room to consider moving a starter-caliber player.
Green’s résumé makes him a real option for a team in Detroit’s spot. Last season, he played 815 defensive snaps, finished with 55 solo tackles, broke up seven passes, and allowed a 82.6 passer rating when targeted. He didn’t record an interception, and his 53.6 Pro Football Focus grade suggests there’s still work to do, but his man-coverage ability fits what Kelvin Sheppard’s defense wants.
The price, though, won’t be cheap in the way a desperate team might hope. Krueger said the 49ers are not going to get a second-round return for Green, even though that’s where they drafted him.
“They took him in the second round, and they’re not going to get that back," Krueger noted. "You’re probably looking at a fourth- or fifth-round pick, or maybe a player if there was someone on Detroit’s roster that the Niners really liked and the Lions didn’t feel they needed.”
Krueger also raised a bigger possibility if San Francisco wants to swing even harder during its current window. On July 3, he suggested the 49ers could use Green as part of a path to Browns cornerback Denzel Ward.
"This guy can play man coverage; he can play zone, and he’s a starting-caliber corner," Krueger argued regarding Green. "But if you could somehow turn Renardo Green into Denzel Ward during your Super Bowl window and trade a pretty good corner for a very good corner, you might want to do it... On the perimeter, you’ve got to have difference-makers.”
Ward played 780 snaps for Cleveland last year, gave up 32 receptions, and allowed an 89.7 passer rating. His 59.2 PFF grade is not far from Green’s, but Krueger pointed to Ward’s higher ceiling and veteran processing as the kind of upgrade that could matter for a team chasing a title right now.
Whether the Lions try to fix their sudden problem with Green directly or the 49ers use Detroit’s urgency as a stepping stone to something bigger, the fit is there. One team needs cornerback help immediately. The other has enough of it to make a move.
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