Where Washington Football Team ranks in Matthew Stafford sweepstakes
2. San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers weren’t very good last season, but they were forced to start three different quarterbacks, played in the NFL’s toughest division, and dealt with numerous injuries to key players on both sides of the ball. If they can stay healthy and add a steady performer at the quarterback spot, they can be a contender once again.
The 49ers are ever-so-slightly ahead of Washington on these rankings. Some eyebrows may raise at that notion as these two teams are very similar, but the fact of the matter is that the 49ers have a better receiving corps than Washington as it currently stands, which serves as the tiebreaker in this close battle.
Recent early-round draft picks Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel look like a stellar one-two punch at the receiver positions while George Kittle is a top-two NFL tight end. It’s easy to imagine Stafford having success throwing to those guys, especially considering that he’s never had anything better than an average tight end during his time with the Lions.
So, the weapons will appease Stafford, and the assets the 49ers can offer in exchange for Stafford would make the Lions happy. The 49ers have the No. 12 overall pick in this year’s draft, and they could opt to send it to the Lions for Stafford. Or, they could send a couple of second-round picks. Either way, Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch won’t be shy about upgrading their roster.
Some may be concerned about the lacking cap space of the 49ers, and that is warranted. They have just $9.4 million in available space right now. However, they can cut or trade Jimmy Garoppolo to open up $23.4 million in cap space, and that would give them more than enough to afford Stafford.
Of course, the team has other free agents they’d probably like to re-sign, but they could make some other roster moves to retain some of these players or restructure Stafford’s deal to create more room. They could even extend him and push back his cap hit into future years.
It’s easy to envision Stafford in a 49ers uniform. You could make the case for them being above or below Washington in this race, but they look like a top-three option in terms of a landing spot, especially since they’re not guaranteed to get a quarterback to replace Garoppolo with the 12th pick.
One way or another, they’ll have to make a trade to get a QB, whether it’s for a veteran or moving up in the draft.