Jamal Adams is definitely highly sought after as he pushes for a trade, with the 49ers and Seahawks now pushing to the front of the line.

With no sign of a new contract on the horizon and his status as one of the best safeties in the NFL, Jamal Adams wants the New York Jets to trade him. The team does not seem compelled to move him though, with two years of contractual control remaining. But that surely isn’t stopping teams from calling about the two-time Pro Bowler.

Most of the other 31 teams can build a strong case to pursue a trade for Adams. The Dallas Cowboys are a popular landing spot, and they seem to be Adams’ preferred new team, but a couple of division rivals have entered the fray.

According to Rob Rang of SI.com, the Seattle Seahawks are among the teams who have inquired about the availability of Adams. Corbin Smith of SI.com added the San Francisco 49ers to the list of suitors while adding the Seahawks and 49ers have both had “preliminary discussions” with the Jets.

Will getting Jamal Adams be the NFC West tipping point?

Adams has a list of seven preferred destinations-the Baltimore Ravens, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Cowboys, the 49ers, the Seahawks, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Houston Texans, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers added as an eighth shortly after. It’s noteworthy that the 49ers and Seahawks are both on that list, which may explain the recent engagement of the Jets by both teams.

It takes two to tango in trade talks. So if the Jets are willing to stand pat and let things play out any team that wants to engage has, and probably will continue to, hit a dead end. The asking price can and should be high. But it’s foolish to think multiple teams won’t be willing to meet it to secure the services of a 24-year old who is among the best at his position, as well as one of the best defensive players in the league.

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Raheem Mostert has asked for a trade, but the 49ers shouldn’t be forced into acting on the request.

With negotiations about a new contract apparently going nowhere, according to his agent Brett Tessler, San Francisco 49ers running back Raheem Mostert has asked for a trade.

Mostert has two years left on the three-year, $8.77 million extension he signed in March of 2019. He is set to make $2.575 million in base salary this year, and would like to be paid more like backfield mate Tevin Coleman ($4.55 million this year). So Mostert’s demands are not excessive, and he certainly has a case for a raise in pay.

Mostert had a breakthrough season in 2019, leading the 49ers with 772 rushing yards on a robust 5.6 yards per carry. In the NFC Championship Game he spearheaded a rushing attack that dominated the Green Bay Packers, with 29 carries for 220 yards and four touchdowns. Over the final eight games last year (including playoffs), he scored 11 rushing touchdowns while averaging 6.1 yards per carry.

49ers’ head coach Kyle Shanahan is one of the top offensive minds in the NFL today. In his system, with roots back to his father Mike’s offense as head coach of the Denver Broncos, running backs are set up to succeed. But Kyle’s best work may have come with a quarterback, when Nick Mullens made eight starts in place of an injured Jimmy Garoppolo in 2018. The then-undrafted rookie out Southern Miss averaged 8.3 yards per attempt and 12.9 yard per completion over that stretch. Scheme and play-calling over personnel at its finest.

The 49ers traded a running back this offseason, sending Matt Breida to the Miami Dolphins. But Coleman, Mostert, a possibly finally healthy Jerick McKinnon and Jeff Wilson are still in the mix. McKinnon’s situation, with a torn ACL and setbacks preventing him from playing a game in two seasons since signing a four-year, $30 million deal, stands to make the 49ers hesitant to invest in Mostert.

A half-season sample is not enough to confirm that Mostert is a good running back, and the devaluation of the position (right or wrong) has to be noted. As NBC Sports Bay Area noted, Mostert’s base salary for 2020 is the 18th-highest among NFL running backs. So there’s an argument on the 49ers’ side that he’s already being paid like a starter, with two years left on his deal.

There’s nothing wrong with Mostert wanting to be paid more, and given the short shelf life of running backs he needs to maximize his window. But a trade wouldn’t really change anything unless a new team gave him a new contract right away, and there aren’t (or shouldn’t be) many teams that would do that.

The 49ers hold all the cards with Mostert, since any course of action he can take (the trade request, threatening and/or following through on a holdout) would not necessarily benefit him or would ultimately hurt him.

Unless a team comes with an offer that shouldn’t be refused (a third-round pick or more?), the 49ers can be content to keep Mostert this year with no fear of repercussions.

The post San Francisco 49ers don’t have to do anything with Raheem Mostert appeared first on Bet Sunday.

The San Francisco 49ers were one quarter away from winning Super Bowl LIV, but succumbed to some fourth quarter magic from Patrick Mahomes. While the loss certainly stings for the 49ers, their team is built to make another run to the big game. On top of that, they actually made additional moves to make their roster even stronger entering 2020.

While that’s cool and all, general manager John Lynch has some big names that are in line for a huge pay day in the next year. To keep said premier players, other roster members will drop down San Francisco’s priority list and ultimately have to look for a new home in the NFL.

Here are three players most likely to be known as ex-49ers by 2021.

3

Ahkello Witherspoon

CB San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers are set to become a perennial powerhouse in the NFC. But to ensure that, they’ll have to retain some key players. Perhaps the most important is Richard Sherman, who’s the best player in San Francisco’s secondary. Somebody has to go, and nobody fits the bill more than Ahkello Witherspoon.

San Francisco selected Witherspoon in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft, and was immediately thrusted into the starting lineup. In the past two seasons, Witherspoon allowed quarterback completion percentages slightly above 50%, but he was exposed to the big play. Witherspoon surrendered seven touchdowns in 2018 and six scores this past year. That’s not ideal from your number two cornerback on the roster.

If Witherspoon doesn’t step up his play this upcoming season, you can fully expect the 49ers to replace him in the 2021 NFL Draft.

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Richard Sherman is not happy with Cam Newton news contract with the Pats

After the news broke on Monday that Cam Newton was signing with the New England Patriots, fans across the NFL rejoiced. Heck, even players were celebrating the update that Newton would be back on the field in the coming months.

However, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman wasn’t ready to celebrate once he heard the Pats inked Newton. Sherman, who has never had an issue voicing strong opinions, blasted NFL teams as a whole because he felt Newton is massively underpaid in his new contract.

How many former League MVPs have had to sign for the min? (Asking for a friend.) just ridiculous. A transcendent talent and less talented QBs are getting 15/16m a year. Disgusting https://t.co/eZycGL8qkZ

— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) June 29, 2020

Cam Newton can earn up to $7.5 million with New England this season

With incentives, Newton can make up to $7.5 million in 2020. While that’s no small chunk of change, few can argue New England was able to land him on an absolute steal of a deal. Which other former MVPs are signing for that kind of money at only 31 years old?

Sherman may have a legit beef here. Remember when the Arizona Cardinals signed Sam Bradford to a one-year, $20 million deal in 2018? That was just an absurd move. Newton, who somehow was having trouble finding a new team, had to ‘settle’ for the offer from the Pats.

But, if he balls out and can stay healthy (a big if), you know a team will be ready to shell out a monster contract offer next offseason. This feels like a prove-it deal for Newton. He’s just got to stay healthy to eventually see his next big payday.

BREAKING: Patriots signing QB Cam Newton to one-year deal. (via @Rapsheet) pic.twitter.com/rsIvM0WNnT

— NFL (@NFL) June 29, 2020

Sherman makes a point, but from the other side of things, a team wasn’t going to give him huge money due to injury concerns. Newton will look to parlay this campaign into big money in 2021.

The post Richard Sherman blasts NFL teams after Cam Newton signs cheap deal with Patriots appeared first on Bet Sunday.

Will the San Francisco 49ers retain a top-10 defense again in 2020?

Defense wins championships, but will the San Francisco 49ers‘ be championship-caliber next year?

The 49ers shocked the NFL last season by nearly going worst-to-first in the NFC en route to an improbable Super Bowl run. Though the division rival Arizona Cardinals were worse than them in 2018, San Francisco did have the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft for a reason. Once quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo tore his ACL in September of 2018, the 49ers were a terrible football team.

With a healthy signal-caller in Garoppolo, another great draft by general manager John Lynch and a tremendous coaching staff headlined by head coach Kyle Shanahan and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, the 49ers were a buzzsaw nobody in the NFC wanted any part of. Its dominating defensive line helped the 49ers finish with the eighth-best scoring defense from a season ago.

Had Garoppolo hit a wide-open Emmanuel Sanders in stride, we’d be talking about the 49ers’ chances of repeating rather than if they will experience a dreaded Super Bowl hangover. Instead, the 49ers found themselves one completed deep ball away from hoisting another Lombardi Trophy.

As long as the 49ers have Shanahan running the offense and Lynch as general manager, San Francisco should remain in contention for Super Bowls during the next three to five years. However, is a regression on the defensive side of the ball inevitable for the 49ers? Can they maintain top-quarter status in the league, or will they fall to the middle of the pack?

Are the San Francisco 49ers a defensive regression candidate in 2020?

While offensive sustainability year-over-year is very much part of the NFL’s fabric, it’s very difficult to field a top-tier defense these days when the league has become so offensive-driven. If we look back at some of the more notable defenses of the last three years, more often than not, those teams regress on that side of the ball.

Of the four conference championship teams from the 2017 campaign (Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles), every single one of them saw their top-five defense regress in 2018. Only Jacksonville stayed in the top-five the following season, and the Jaguars weren’t anything close to a playoff team that year.

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None of the final four teams from the 2018 season had top-five defenses (Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints). Only Super Bowl 53 champion New England had a top-10 defense of that foursome. Every single team in the top-five from 2018 (Chicago Bears, Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans, Jaguars), regressed defensively in 2019.

To be totally transparent, Baltimore and Chicago still finished No. 3 and No. 4 respectively in team scoring defense last year, so it wasn’t a huge drop-off, but both were slightly worse when compared to the season prior. New England had the top spot last season, but the Vikings were the only top-five scoring defense to win a playoff game back in January. Maybe things are changing?

While the 49ers defense could technically improve from No. 8 to something better in 2020, it feels like they’re more likely to drop to top-12 status, than to ascend into top-five. We know 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa is a freaking animal, but will Lynch trading DeForest Buckner to the Indianapolis Colts to draft Javon Kinlaw out of South Carolina make up for it in the aggregate?

Richard Sherman is not getting any younger in the San Francisco defensive backfield. With his great 2019 regular season, he left no doubt that he has a spot in Canton after he retires. However, he got burnt like toast on the reg in Super Bowl 54. It was not a good look for the former fifth-round pick out of Stanford. He’s on the wrong side of 30 anyway, playing on borrowed time.

The last big key here is the 49ers will play a tougher schedule in 2020 than in 2019. San Francisco isn’t going to sneak up on anybody with a third-place schedule anymore. The 49ers are the hunted in the NFC, and will get every team’s best shot when they play them this fall. We also have to wonder if this is Saleh’s last season as a defensive coordinator. He’s a future NFL head coach.

Overall, the 49ers should be in the mix to get back to the Super Bowl and can represent the NFC in Tampa in February. However, it’ll likely be more because of the Shanahan zone-blocking schemed offensive attack than having a top-tier defense. No, the 49ers won’t be abysmal on that side of the ball, but data shows us the defense is more likely to be good than great in 2020.

Look for the 49ers defense to slide back a bit from top-eight to top-12 than improve to top-five.

The post Will the San Francisco 49ers defense regress in 2020? appeared first on Bet Sunday.

Would Dez Bryant be a good fit in the San Francisco 49ers’ offense?

Aren’t the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers supposed to hate each other?

Back in the 1990s, these two teams used to duke it out for NFC supremacy. Whoever played better during the given NFL season usually wound up representing their conference in the Super Bowl. Flash forward to 2020 and a pair of offensive players from the defending NFC Champions are looking at adding former Cowboy standout wide receiver Dez Bryant into the fold.

On June 21, 49ers wide receiver Kendrick Bourne tweeted at both Bryant and the 49ers’ official account a pair of eyeball emojis. Bourne’s teammate in running back Raheem Mostert replied to all three accounts with “Eww weee that’ll be fun!” Bryant quote tweeted Bourne’s original message just to let everyone on Twitter know he saw what’s up.

Are we ready to see Dez Bryant play for the San Francisco 49ers in 2020?

Bryant made be a three-time Pro Bowler and a First-Team All-Pro in 2014, but hasn’t played in an NFL game since he was a member of the 2017 Cowboys. Midway through the 2018 season, Bryant signed on with the New Orleans Saints, but ruptured his Achilles tendon and hasn’t been on a professional football field since. After spending 2019 out of football, is he ready to be back?

Well, Bryant is on the wrong side of 30, as 2020 will be his age-31 season. He was never an adept route runner at any point of his Dallas career, but he was a spectacular player for a while there with the Cowboys and collegiately for the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Big 12. While one could argue he still has something left in the football tank, he would have to go to the right situation.

One thing that does make the 49ers an intriguing fit for him is they are in need of any semblance of dynamism in the receiving game. Emmanuel Sanders was clearly just a rental, as he signed with the Saints after only a playing a few games with the 49ers after being traded over from the Denver Broncos.

The other interesting wrinkle here is the 49ers will also be down promising second-year pro Deebo Samuel at least for the early part of the season. He broke his foot this summer, and now the 49ers are in dire need of anything close to a No. 1 receiver. Bryant used to be, so that’s why guys like Bourne and Mostert are trying to recruit him to the Bay Area.

If Bryant does get back into the NFL, it just might be with a team like San Francisco.

The post Pair of San Francisco 49ers are lobbying for Dez Bryant to join them appeared first on Bet Sunday.

George Kittle is one of the best tight ends in the NFL, if not the best, and a three-year grade from Pro Football Focus is further proof.

Looking back, it’s amazing that George Kittle was the ninth tight end drafted in 2017 out of the University of Iowa (fifth round, pick, No. 146). Over the last two seasons he has become a star, with at least 85 catches and over 1,000 yards each season. As he enters the last year of his rookie contract, he is set to reset the top of the tight end market by a healthy margin with his next contract.

Kittle catches the ball like a wide receiver and blocks like an offensive lineman, which are equally important skills in a San Francisco 49ers‘ offense that is based off the running game. He is the No. 1 target for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

Kittle was the 68th offensive player drafted in 2017 (counting offensive lineman). There’s little doubt any stat will show Kittle as one of the best players in the draft class. Pro Football Focus‘ cumulative grades of offensive players in that draft class three years in is only further proof.

Highest 3-year PFF grades on offense from the 2017 NFL Draft

1. Patrick Mahomes – 93.7
2. George Kittle – 91.9
3. Chris Godwin – 90.8
3. Christian McCaffrey – 90.8 pic.twitter.com/VqThmWob83

— PFF (@PFF) June 24, 2020

PFF has graded only Patrick Mahomes better than Kittle among offensive players in the 2017 draft class. Mahomes was the 10th overall pick, Christian McCaffrey went No. 8 and Godwin looks like a steal himself as a third-round pick (No. 84 overall). Mahomes is a transcendent talent at the most important position in the sport, and McCaffrey is coming off a 2019 campaign where he became the third running back in NFL history to put up 1,000 rushing and receiving yards in a season. And there’s Kittle, right there in that elite company.

Kittle’s all-around talent advances his case to be called the NFL’s best tight end, and his value to the 49ers is particularly high. If his agent needed any more data to back trying to get a deal that would put Kittle competitively toward the top of the wide receiver market ($16-$17 million per year), PFF has provided some.

Next: 5 teams who could trade for Le’Veon Bell

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If Jamal Adams were dealt to the San Francisco 49ers, here’s what to expect.

Jamal Adams is done with the New York Jets and wants out via trade.

Adams has seven teams he’d prefer to go to, one of those teams being the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers were able to go from picking No. 2 in the 2019 NFL Draft all the way to the Super Bowl thanks to a phenomenal pass rush, a dominating ground game and a healthy starting quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo. They were one play away from winning it all in Miami back in February.

As with any of the potential trade destinations for a frustrated Adams, there are pros and cons to him being shipped to the 49ers. A plus is the Niners don’t play in the same conference as the Jets. He’d probably be pretty stoked about joining a team that was so close to winning a Super Bowl a season ago. The Jets haven’t sniffed the AFC playoffs since he arrived in New York back in 2017.

While he may like to play for them, the 49ers don’t have a ton of guys we’d see as expendable. Had they not sent DeForest Buckner to the Indianapolis Colts for the No. 13 overall pick they used on Javon Kinlaw out of South Carolina, the Niners would have had more trade capital in their greatest area of strength along the defensive line. It’ll be challenging, but could they pull this off?

Here’s what a deal may look like for Jamal Adams to the San Francisco 49ers.

It’s not happening, as in it’s not happening, but for comparable purposes, George Kittle would be quite the return for the Jets. He’s one of the two best tight ends in football, along with Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs. The fifth-round pick out of Iowa is in a contract year and he’s about to be a record-setting player at the tight end position. In short, he’s the offensive equivalent of Adams.

But we all know trading Kittle to Gang Green would be BEYOND sacrilegious. San Francisco fans would say really mean things for the rest of time to general manager John Lynch if he traded away their Tony Gonzalez. So if Kittle is staying put with the 49ers, do they have any player worth the Jets’ time on the trading block? Not to say they’re on the trading block necessarily, but here are two options.

If the 49ers wanted to land Adams and put in the same secondary with Richard Sherman and company, they’d have to give up someone like Dee Ford or Kwon Alexander. Ford is the most expendable guy for the 49ers because he’s not a homegrown product. He lined up offsides vs. the New England Patriots, and that was his last game as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Alexander hasn’t been with the 49ers that long either, but like Ford, he’s not a homegrown product either. People still remember the LSU standout from his days playing great defense on a bad Tampa Bay Buccaneers team. He or Ford are the marquee names worth putting together a deal for Adams if you’re the Jets. Of course, you’re going to need a first-round pick coming your way, too.

So how do the 49ers fare as a potential trade partner for Adams? It does not feel likely. Being in the NFC is their biggest asset besides having a first-round pick. If the Jets want an immediate impact player, the 49ers don’t have enough readily available at a certain position group to yield New York the best offer possible. It could still happen, but let’s not count on it.

Despite being a preferred destination, Adams isn’t likely to play for the 49ers in 2020.

The post Here’s what a Jamal Adams trade with the 49ers could look like appeared first on Bet Sunday.

With Deebo Samuel going down, is it rookie Brandon Aiyuk’s time to step up?

The San Francisco 49ers will be without wide receiver Deebo Samuel for a while.

The second-round pick out of South Carolina had a fantastic first season with the 49ers last season. He had 71 total touches for 961 yards from scrimmage and six trips to pay dirt. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was expecting big things out of him in year two. However, a broken foot suffered in the offseason will lead to a very slow start for him in 2020.

The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Thursday afternoon, “49ers WR Deebo Samuel suffered a broken foot on Tuesday during a throwing session with teammates in Nashville and will be having surgery today, I’m told. It is a Jones fracture, and he should be able to be on the field early in the season.”

Though it does not seem to be anything close to a season-ending injury, it’s hard to envision Samuel having a great September for the 49ers. Perhaps the 49ers brass regrets letting wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders walk in his free agency? The 49ers receiving corps does look a little bare. Does that mean rookie Brandon Aiyuk will have to be ready to make an instant impact?

Will Brandon Aiyuk step up for the 49ers in Deebo Samuel’s absence?

Aiyuk is the logical choice here. The 49ers used a second-round pick on the former Arizona State standout back in April. In two years with the Sun Devils, Aiyuk had 98 catches for 1,666 yards and 11 touchdowns. With N’Keal Harry leaving for the New England Patriots in 2019, Aiyuk shined with 65 grabs for 1,192 yards and eight trips to pay dirt. The dude can play!

The 49ers are lucky to have arguably the best tight end in football in George Kittle for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to throw the ball to. Given Shanahan’s track record for using the run to open up the pass with his family’s zone blocking scheme, the 49ers are in a better spot schematically to offset Samuel’s early-season than you would think. They did win the NFC last season after all.

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Will Aiyuk have to step up? Of course, but so will Kittle, Garoppolo and the rest of the 49ers offense. Outside of Aiyuk internally, let’s look at wide receivers like Travis Benjamin or Dante Pettis to take on some more of the workload. Benjamin is a seasoned veteran, while Pettis is entering a prove-it year in season three out of the University of Washington.

Should the 49ers need to venture into the free agency pool, there are a pair of wide receivers who know Shanahan’s system well from their time together with the Atlanta Falcons. Justin Hardy is a savvy possession receiver, while Taylor Gabriel is the ultimate gadget guy as a No. 3 receiving option. Jordan Matthews also played for the 49ers a season ago. What about reinstatement-seeking Josh Gordon?

Ultimately, the 49ers drafted Aiyuk this high for a reason. They believe he can be a No. 1 or No. 2 wide receiver in this San Francisco offense for a long time. Given that Shanahan was a former wide receiver himself at the University of Texas, he has done a great job of getting the most out of that position group wherever he’s been. Just ask Gabriel what it’s like to play for him.

Aiyuk may not be ready for the big time, but now he has to step up in the wake of Samuel’s injury.

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