Don’t expect a three-team trade for Kirk Cousins

Like many 49ers fans, I, too, was distressed when I read about Peter King’s proposed three-team trade involving the 49ers, Vikings, and Texans in today’s Football Morning in America column. TLDR version: the 49ers give up the 12th overall pick this year and Jimmy Garoppolo to acquire Kirk Cousins. Deshaun Watson would then be going to the Minnesota Vikings, who would also give up picks and players to get the deal done. However, that doesn’t make much sense to me, and I enlisted the help of Kyle Posey on today’s podcast to prove it.

Obviously, we all know by now the unabashed adoration that Kyle Shanahan has for Kirk Cousins. They say you never forget your first love, and that appears to be true with Kyle and Kirk. Be that as it may, the more I looked at this three-way trade, the more I wondered: if the 49ers want to trade for Kirk Cousins, why do they need to involve the Houston Texans to do it?

Usually, a three-team trade involves all three teams getting something from each other in the deal that they would never be able to acquire separately. That’s the reason to make a move as one transaction. In King’s proposed trade, the 49ers wouldn’t be getting anything from Houston, so there seems to be little reason to make things that complicated.

Aside from that, it would also be hard for 49ers fans to swallow the idea of this deal. Given those parameters, for all intents and purposes, the 49ers would have essentially given up the chance to draft Patrick Mahomes, the chance to draft Deshaun Watson, the chance to trade for Deshaun Watson, and a first round draft pick in order to acquire Kirk Cousins.

Even Kyle would probably say Kirk Cousins isn’t worth that much. Maybe.

While it’s possible the team has reached a breaking point with Jimmy G., I just don’t think that’s a route the value-driven 49ers would be willing to walk at this point. Check out the whole conversation in today’s Niners Nation Podcast, which you can hear on this page, or anywhere people post podcasts.

Other topics in this episode:

-What is Jimmy Garoppolo’s trade value?

-What are the odds JJ Watt ends up in San Francisco?