Keep that trade speculation going. The San Francisco 49ers have a knack for making a splash trade before the in-season deadline of the NFL regular season. Names like Emmanuel Sanders, Chase Young, and Jimmy Garoppolo come to mind when you think of the trades the Kyle Shanahan regime has executed.
This year? It’s still a possibility. The 49ers certainly can go get themselves a rental in a player like New York Jets pass rusher Haason Reddick. Or, they could go for a longer-term option in Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby.
They could do neither of those things and replenish their running back position. Christian McCaffrey is still sidelined with Achilles tendonitis, and Jordan Mason hurt his shoulder in the Seattle game last week.
Former running back and now an analyst at NFL.com, Maurice Jones-Drew, wrote an article about players he thought could benefit from reuniting with their former team/coach. His top pick was one of the Miami Dolphins’ running backs, Raheem Mostert or Jeff Wilson. Both played for Shanahan, and both found success under the 49ers head coach.
Enter some old friends who left the Bay Area a couple years ago, joining former 49ers coach Mike McDaniel in South Beach. Mostert and Wilson are solid veteran options who would add some quality depth to this 49ers attack. Plus, the Dolphins have a pair of young running backs in tow: second-year stud De’Von Achane and budding rookie Jaylen Wright. And if we’re being honest here — which I always am — Miami’s season hinges solely on Tua Tagovailoa’s health, not its deep group of offensive skill players. Getting something in return for Mostert or Wilson, who both produced under Shanahan’s watch in San Francisco, makes sense.
While one or both of these running backs back in San Francisco would be a welcome addition, there are a few things to keep in mind. Raheem Mostert left San Francisco due to contract issues, even requesting a trade before the start of the 2020 season. His season ended with him getting “chipped knee cartilage” taken care of. That latter operation caused a rift between him and Kyle Shanahan, with reports that the 49ers were trying to keep him from getting season-ending surgery.
That relationship would be something to keep in mind, is all.
Jeff Wilson was traded to the Dolphins in 2021. The trade happened after the 49ers made a deal with the Carolina Panthers for Christian McCaffrey. Wilson saw the writing on the wall and knew his touches would be much lower with McCaffrey on the squad and a returning Elijah Mitchell.
John Lynch said the trade was amicable, and Wilson was always the professional, so there's no bad blood on this one. We don’t know McCaffrey's status yet, but that still doesn’t seem like something to make all parties happy. The guy whose arrival began Wilson’s request for a trade is injured and could either be out all season or simply one more week. Oh, and then there’s Jordan Mason?
Again, unless there are clauses, players don’t have much of a say in where they are traded to, but if you factor in the relationship between the 49ers and these two, trading them back to the club when they both had their own reasons to move on initially might mean you don’t get the most out of them.
Wilson did sign a contract extension with the Dolphins, but being traded back to the team that traded you away and having a similar situation to the one you tried to get away from a few years ago just might not sit well.
Mostert or Wilson would have success in this offense, but would it be worth draft picks? Could they sustain it?
Given their personal relationships and the 49ers' current running back situation, do you get the Dolphins on the phone for either of these guys?
