Should we trade up for Chase Young

Most people are talking about either staying at pick #13 or moving down. Someone needs to cover the possibility that we may move up. Two weeks ago, I proposed the idea of moving up to take Jerry Jeudy. This week I am going to talk about the wild and crazy idea of moving up to get Chase Young. It probably is not realistic, but Bob Quinn of the Detroit Lions did say he would be open to a trade for the #3 pick in this article posted back in February. I really don’t know? However, I do think arguing about whether to take a wide receiver or not at #13 has probably been a bit over discussed and has become more than a little repetitive. Quite frankly, I don’t think there is much else to say.

Quite a few people seem to think we need to replace Deforest Buckner in the draft, but I disagree. We will be facing two very mobile quarterbacks in our division four times per year. I am a huge Arik Armstead fan but let’s face it, he is not athletic enough to contain Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson, and while Dee Ford did a nice job of rushing the quarterback, his tendonitis keeps him from being agile enough. Mobile quarterbacks are a big weakness for us, and finding a replacement for Buckner in the draft is not going to help that problem.

I think Chase young could be the solution. Young would be a three-down player, which would allow Armstead to take over the three tech position full time. Even if you consider him a drop off to Buckner, the upgrade on the outside is more than worth it.

Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa would have to be chosen with the first two picks in the draft for us even to have a chance. The big question is, what would it cost to trade with the Detroit Lions for the #3 pick? Would it be worth it for us to trade our #13 pick, our first-round pick in 2021, Dee Ford, and our #31 pick for Chase Young and Detroit’s second-round pick at #35 overall? Perhaps with the two best quarterbacks off the board, we might not have to include next year’s first? I don’t know. Feel free to share your opinion. I think the second-round pick is really important because Ezra Cleveland and Austin Jackson should still be available. They are two very athletic tackles with big ceilings, and either one might be a fine candidate to step in for Joe Staley eventually.

Drafting Young and trading Ford’s contract would also save us a bit of cap space. We would save at least 14.3 million in cap space this year by trading Ford, and according to OTC, the #3 pick would cost us a little over six million dollars in cap space so we would free up 8.3 million dollars in cap space as a result. In case you are wondering, Detroit still has over thirty million in cap space, according to Spotrac, so they shouldn’t have any trouble absorbing Ford’s contract.

Perhaps that extra cap space could go to extending George Kittle and Emmanuel Moseley, which brings up another important point. We don’t have any cornerbacks signed for 2021. Extending Moseley would be a good start. I also think Richard Sherman is smart enough to realize that his play could fall off a cliff at any time, and he has proven to be enough of a team player to sign a contract that is heavily incentive-based like the one he is still playing on. This would allow us to sign a free agent to replace him if we needed to.

I know that does not help our wide receiver problems. I think Jerry Jeudy would have every bit as much impact on our offense as Chase Young would have on our defense. I think it is not just important to find a good player to fill a position with an early first-round pick; you need to find a player that has a huge impact all of the other players on that side of the ball.