49ers Bulletin: What to make of silent deadline

Any 49ers fans hoping for fireworks on trade deadline day reached the 1:00pm PST deadline very disappointed. That’s not to say the Niners front office blew it, or that they let some once in a lifetime deal slip through their fingers. It’s entirely possible that any level headed knowledgeable fan would have done the same when presented with underwhelming offers of uncontrollable assets for hefty future draft capital. It’s very possible that John Lynch, as he’s done countless times before in the inverse, did the right thing today. 

But that doesn’t absolve him and the rest of the Niners’ brass from the poor optics of their trade deadline stagnation. Despite the second annual triage of the blue medical tent in Santa Clara, the 49ers have impressively soldiered to 6-3 while shedding Hall of Famers from their active roster almost biweekly. They sit just a half game back of the Rams and Seahawks ahead of a clash with LA on Sunday. There doesn’t seem to be a truly great team in the NFC, making their lack of addition one that pricks a fan base hungrier for a run to the crown than any other. 

On Monday afternoon, Adam Copeland and Derek Papa emphasized the lack of a true favorite in the NFC. While the Niners are in no way a juggernaut, they have the pedigree and the playmakers to make a run in a wide open conference. That still could be true, but the lack of a bolstering force at a position of need dampened those January hopes. 

Specifically on the defensive line, San Francisco enters the second half of the season paper thin at a position that figured to be a strength when the team broke training camp. A group that once featured Nick Bosa and first round pick Mykel Williams has been decimated. 

The Niners aren’t favored against the Rams in Santa Clara on Sunday. But they shocked the nation once against this same team with a very depleted roster just one month ago. Each time this team has shown its fans and the front office that they’re worthy of investment, the deadline was seen through the windshield. And to be fair the Niners have added in small increments in the days and weeks leading up to the deadline. They added Keion White from the Patriots. And more recently added former first round pick Clelin Ferrell who will surely soon be on the active roster after a brief stay with the practice squad. 

John Lynch has a proven track record of making the big move when it’s presented to him. We don’t know now whether it was, but it’s not an unfair assumption to say that he may have taken a bigger swing at this trade deadline if he and his cabinet believed the ceiling was as high for this Niners team as it was for others when he aggressively added.