By Brian Murphy
The Jock Blog is utterly convinced that the 49ers must land the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Thus the Jock Blog is utterly convinced that, as cool as it was to see the 49ers land the familiar face and excellent talents of DeForest Buckner in a trade on Tuesday, the 49ers must do more.
Sorry, president of football operations John Lynch. It’s a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world in the NFL, as I was just saying to my good friend Janet Jackson.
So, yes. Trading for Buckner is plus-plus on every level — position of need, player of quality, culture fit, continues the theme of gathering the avengers who lost Super Bowl 54 and 58 to right a past wrong — but this is the real deal we’re talking about, snagging that No. 1 seed and winning Super Bowl 61.
(You’ll note we’re ditching the Super Bowl Roman numerals at this point in the Jock Blog. It was always grandiose, and excessive, to trot out the Roman numerals for Super Bowls. I get that the NFL is impressed with itself and imagines the Bowl as the modern-day game of the ancient Roman Colosseum, but to be honest, with the way things are going these days, comps to the Roman Empire hit a little too close to home.)
And to win Super Bowl 61, you’re going to have to machete your way through a jungle of competition — the defending champ Seahawks just traded for Quentin Nelson, the rising Bears just traded for Jeffrey Simmons, and the Rams’ schedule is set up to vault them back into the conversation — and through the precarious minefield of injuries to your stars aged 30-and-over.
Wait, hearing now that DeForest Buckner is over 30? Move along. Nothing to see here.
It’s well-documented that the likes of Trent Williams and Mike Evans and George Kittle are over 30, and that Christian McCaffrey is 30 and Fred Warner turns 30 on Nov. 19 and Deebo Samuel turns 31 in January. Shout out the late 1980s Emmy-award winning show “thirtysomething” — a reference so dated, that none of the players we refer to were alive for it.
This is all to say that the last thing these oft-injured guys need to be doing is playing more football. The way to play less football is to secure the No.1 seed in the NFC and remove that precarious wild card weekend of Jan. 16-18, 2027. Blow past that with the No. 1 seed, 49ers. Get off your tootsies and into the whirlpools and La-Z-Boys.
That would leave an NFC divisional game the weekend of Jan. 23-24 at Levi’s, and an NFC Championship at Levi’s on Jan. 31.
This schedule suits the fragile 49ers better.
Which brings us back to the original point: keep adding, John Lynch.
Another wide receiver, yes. Depth at cornerback, yes. Even a stout and veteran interior offensive lineman, yes. Probably in that order.
This is the time. Previous Jock Blogs have stated that the 49ers’ wonderful start to the season, with wins at Seattle and over the Rams in Australia, have set them up. They have a head start on the league. They play the Vikings head-to-head with a chance win that tiebreaker.
It’s all there. They just need . . . More.
As noted football fan Mae West might say: “Too much of a good thing is wonderful”, and you know you never want to disappoint Mae West, John Lynch. And no, she wasn’t in “thirtysomething.”
The trade deadline is Nov. 10. Here’s to future Jock Blogs on future acquisitions. Enjoy the bye week, sports fans.
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