Minor NFL Transactions: 4/27/21
Today’s minor transactions:
Las Vegas Raiders
- Signed: TE Carson Williams
San Francisco 49ers
- Waived: DL Josiah Coatney
The Williams signing is a fun one. He split four seasons of collegiate basketball between Northern Kentucky and Western Kentucky. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound forward averaged 11.2 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game, and 1.3 assists per game during his collegiate career. Jimmy Durkin of The Athletic tweets that Williams hasn’t played football since the 8th grade, although he did participate at Western Kentucky’s pro day.
Should We Expect Fewer First-Round Trades This Year?
If you’re expecting fireworks on Thursday night, you may be disappointed. NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport notes that he isn’t hearing as much trade activity as usual (Twitter link), specifically with day-one picks. The reporter cautions that he could envision a team trading into the top-1o in pursuit of one of the top quarterback prospects, but other than that, the insider isn’t hearing a whole lot of first-round-trade chatter.
Rapoport offers another explanation for an expected lack of trades. There seems to be a consensus forming that there’s a drop-off in prospect quality after the top seven or eight players. As a result, teams are wary of trading back due to the significant drop in “elite, premium” players (the ol’ ‘take the dollar instead of four quarters’ mentality). Similarly, considering there’s only seven or eight top players in the draft, teams outside of the top-10 may believe they’re better staying put.
Peter King of Football Morning in America offers a similar sentiment. with one GM pointedly telling him that “the 49ers ruined the market by trading two ones to move nine spots.” As a result, teams in the top-10(ish) are expecting a king’s ransom for their first-round selection, and there aren’t a lot of suitors who are willing to spend big. Instead, King suggests that we may see a number of trades during the second day of the draft, with one GM describing No. 35 to around No. 75 as the “hotbed of this draft.”
For what it’s worth, NFL Network noted that there’s been an average of 5.2 trades made in the first round since 2011.
Of course, trade junkies have somewhat gotten their fill already. That aforementioned 49ers/Dolphins trade sparked off another deal with the Dolphins and Eagles.
49ers To Pick Up OT Mike McGlinchey’s Fifth-Year Option
Mike McGlinchey will be sticking around San Francisco through at least the 2022 season. The 49ers will be picking up the offensive tackle’s fifth year option, confirmed general manager John Lynch (via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area). This will lock McGlinchey into a guaranteed $10.88MM salary for the 2022 campaign.
[RELATED: NFL’s Fifth-Year Option Salaries For 2021]
Following a standout career at Notre Dame, Mike McGlinchey was selected by the 49ers with the No. 9 pick in the 2018 draft. The lineman contributed right away, starting all 16 games en route an All-Rookie Team nod. He was limited to only 12 games due to a knee injury in 2019, but he returned to appear in 100-percent of his team’s offensive snaps in 2020.
As Maiocco writes, McGlinchey earned high marks this past season for his run-blocking prowess, and Pro Football Focus was fond of his overall performance. However, the lineman also had the worst pass-protection grade of his career.
With this move, the 49ers have locked in their offensive tackles for at least the next two years. The team re-signed Trent Williams to a massive six-year extension earlier this offseason.
Latest On 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo
Is Jimmy Garoppolo guaranteed to be on the 49ers roster next week? Kyle Shanahan made it clear that he couldn’t guarantee the fate of humanity, much less the roster status of his starting quarterback. However, the 49ers head coach later provided a thoughtful response that seemed to hint that the organization would be content with keeping the veteran.
[RELATED: Will The 49ers Trade Jimmy Garoppolo?]
“The biggest thing with Jimmy is his injuries,” Shanahan said (via David Lombardi of The Athletic on Twitter). “It’s been very tough for us when he’s been hurt. This happened two of these three years. That’s where it starts. Jimmy knows that. I’ve been very up front with him with everything.
“Excited to get him in here coming up, especially when this draft is over. But I feel very fortunate taking a rookie quarterback that we do have a guy like Jimmy. We didn’t sign a guy who’s capable or has the history of being a starter right away. We have a guy, every time he’s been a starter, he’s played at a high level. So to have that with Jimmy with having a rookie quarterback gives us a lot of leeway into this. I’m not going to set anything into stone, but I know that’s the situation that would be hard to get rid of. When you take a rookie quarterback and you take a veteran like Jimmy who we know we can win with, just to move on from that is something that’s not easy to do. That is a good situation for us and I think that is something that’ll be important to us this year.”
We heard that the 49ers may be holding out for a first-round pick for Garoppolo, and the organization would obviously trade the veteran in the right deal. However, Shanahan’s argument for keeping his starting quarterback does have plenty of merit, and the organization has made it abundantly clear that they won’t simply give Garoppolo away.
So who are the 49ers going to take? The head coach wouldn’t provide any answers, but he noted that the organization still feels good about five prospects at the No. 3 spot.
“We could have sat there at 12, and waited which one came to us, if one did,” Shanhan said (via ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Twitter). “But we made a decision that we felt we needed to get a starting QB. We wanted to dicatate it. We’ll get the one that we feel is best for us.”
49ers Down To Mac Jones, Trey Lance?
The 49ers’ focus at No. 3 appears to have narrowed to Alabama’s Mac Jones and North Dakota State’s Trey Lance (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). Pelissero notes that Lance and the Niners chatted following his second pro day last week, which was specifically tailored to Kyle Shanahan‘s favorite drills. 
Previously, the 49ers were believed to have three quarterbacks in consideration with Justin Fields completing the trio. Now, it seems that the Ohio State star is no longer in the mix. This jibes with a recent report from NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, who now seems on course to be available for the Falcons at No. 4.
Lance seems to have the most overall buzz of the three, since he’s believed to have the most upside. Jones, despite his 77% completion rate last year, seems to have garnered disproportionate attention from the Niners. Still, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo (Twitter link) has yet to hear from an executive that thinks it’d be crazy for the Niners to take him (and mortgage future picks for him) at No. 3.
“Mac’s a stud,” said the anonymous executive. “[He has] everything you want.”
49ers Down To Mac Jones And Trey Lance
The 2021 NFL Draft is right around the corner, and the first two picks are more or less set in stone. Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson are widely expected to be picked first and second respectively by the Jaguars and Jets. The big question has been what the 49ers will do at three, and their decision will set the table for the rest of the draft.
Now, we’re starting to get a better idea of what San Francisco is going to do. The 49ers are down to Alabama’s Mac Jones and North Dakota State’s Trey Lance, sources told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). That would rule out Ohio State’s Justin Fields, who was seen as the other contender to be taken third overall. Jones is the favorite, while Lance has been not far behind through the process.
When the 49ers pulled off their shocking trade to move up to number three and draft an eventual Jimmy Garoppolo replacement, Jones quickly emerged as the rumored target. Some found it difficult to believe that Jones, unheralded as an NFL prospect before 2020, would really be Kyle Shanahan’s preference at number three.
But that’s what most of the reporting has consistently indicated, whether college football fans want to believe it or not. Many believe that Shanahan has fallen in love with Jones’ pocket presence and footwork. Lance is the far superior athlete, and is viewed as having sky-high upside while at the same time possibly being a riskier proposition.
The news also means Fields will be there for the taking for the Falcons if they want him at four, or for a potential trade partner with Atlanta. There are still a few days until the draft kicks off on Thursday, but things are beginning to take shape.
49ers Split On No. 3 Pick?
The 49ers gave up a bevy of draft picks in order to move up from No. 12 to No. 3 overall. However, with days to go before the draft, ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum hears that the Niners have yet to reach a consensus on who they’ll take (video link). 
The Niners have — or will — take a closer look at Ohio State’s Justin Fields, Alabama’s Mac Jones, and North Dakota State’s Trey Lance in the lead-up to the draft. Many prognosticators believe that Jones is the quarterback they want, but Tannenbaum hears that there’s still some debate among SF brass.
“What that says to me and what I am hearing around the league is they are not unanimous in who they want to pick, meaning [GM] John Lynch, [assistant GM] Adam Peters, and [head coach] Kyle Shanahan,” Tannenbaum said.
Even if Jones winds up as the Niners’ pick, Fields and Lance probably won’t have to wait too long to hear their names called. Between the three aforementioned passers and the presumptive top two picks (Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson), we’re expecting to see five QBs taken inside of the top 12.
Meanwhile, speculation continues to swirl around the Niners’ current starter, Jimmy Garoppolo. Although Lynch has said that Garoppolo is staying put for 2021, more than half of PFR’s readers anticipate that he’ll be traded between now and September.
Updated 2021 NFL Draft Order: Round 1
The Ravens sent Orlando Brown to the Chiefs on Friday, shuffling the first-round order of the NFL Draft once again. Now, the Ravens are one of four teams to hold multiple first-round picks, joining the Jaguars (Nos. 1 and 25), Jets (Nos. 2 and 23), and Dolphins (Nos. 6 and 18). In turn, Chiefs no longer have a top-32 choice, joining the Seahawks, Texans, and Rams.
As we look ahead to Thursday, here’s how the first round currently stands:
1. Jacksonville Jaguars
2. New York Jets
3. San Francisco 49ers (from HOU via MIA)
4. Atlanta Falcons
5. Cincinnati Bengals
6. Miami Dolphins (from PHI)
7. Detroit Lions
8. Carolina Panthers
9. Denver Broncos
10. Dallas Cowboys
11. New York Giants
12. Philadelphia Eagles (from SF via MIA)
13. Los Angeles Chargers
14. Minnesota Vikings
15. New England Patriots
16. Arizona Cardinals
17. Las Vegas Raiders
18. Miami Dolphins
19. Washington Football Team
20. Chicago Bears
21. Indianapolis Colts
22. Tennessee Titans
23. New York Jets (from SEA)
24. Pittsburgh Steelers
25. Jacksonville Jaguars (from LAR)
26. Cleveland Browns
27. Baltimore Ravens
28. New Orleans Saints
29. Green Bay Packers
30. Buffalo Bills
31. Baltimore Ravens (from KC)
32. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
49ers To Sign DT Maurice Hurst
A week after getting cut by the Raiders, Maurice Hurst has found a new home. The defensive lineman is signing with the 49ers, according to ESPN’s Field Yates (via Twitter).
[RELATED: Raiders Cut Arden Key, Maurice Hurst]
The All-American out of Michigan was a potential first-round pick heading into the 2018 draft, but a heart condition caused him to fall to the fifth round. The Raiders scooped him up, and the defensive tackle was an immediate return on investment. Hurst started 10 of his 13 games as a rookie, finishing with 31 tackles and four sacks.
Unfortunately, those numbers still stand as career highs. Hurst found himself mostly playing in a backup role in 2019, and this culminated in him appearing in a career-low 23-percent of his team’s defensive snaps in 2020. With the Raiders having already added linemen Yannick Ngakoue and Quinton Jefferson this offseason, the team decided to move on from the 25-year-old earlier this month.
Hurst was cut alongside Arden Key, who was coincidentally picked up by the 49ers yesterday. Hurst still possesses some upside (eight sacks, 17 QB hits in three seasons), and that makes him a low-risk, high-reward signing for the 49ers.
49ers, DE Arden Key Agree To Deal
The 49ers have added depth pieces on offense and defense Wednesday afternoon. Shortly after San Francisco’s Wayne Gallman agreement surfaced, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets the team agreed to terms with Arden Key.
Like Gallman, Key visited the 49ers this week. Formerly an Oakland Raiders third-round draft choice, the three-year defensive end contributor will head back to the Bay Area on a one-year deal.
Las Vegas waived Key last week, doing so after adding former San Francisco defensive end Solomon Thomas in free agency. The 49ers lost Thomas and Kerry Hyder, who signed with the Seahawks, and injuries significantly affected their defensive end group last season. Both Nick Bosa and Dee Ford missed most of the season. Key may be in position to see frequent time, depending on how the 49ers proceed in the draft.
While Key went in the 2018 third round, he was viewed as a possible first-round pick at one point. The LSU product registered 11 sacks as a sophomore in 2016. While he has not produced much as a pro (three sacks in three seasons), Key did post 11 quarterback hits last season as a Raider reserve. Next season will be Key’s age-25 campaign.