NFL insider John Clayton wrote a piece for the Washington Post on Monday and made 10 bold predictions for the 2019 season. Among those predictions was that the San Francisco 49ers would acquire both Antonio Brown and safety Earl Thomas this offseason.
Thomas is scheduled to hit free agency at the start of the new league year in March. That means the 49ers would only have to sacrifice salary cap space to bring him to Santa Clara. Brown is a different story. San Francisco will have to give up money, and one or more draft picks to acquire the All-Pro receiver, who officially requested a trade on Tuesday.
"The Oakland Raiders have more ammo to get a deal done, given their three first-round picks," wrote Clayton, "but the Steelers would prefer to move Brown out of the AFC. The 49ers can offer the fourth pick in the second round."
Of the three teams (other than the Steelers) with the best odds to land Brown, only the already heavily-favored 49ers are in the NFC.
Clayton joined 95.7 The Game on Wednesday and shared why San Francisco's bidding might start with their second-round pick.
"They're not going to give a first-round pick in San Francisco," Clayton said on the "Joe, Lo, and Dibs" show. "I mean, the Raiders could do that because they have three of them but [the 49ers] aren't going to give up that pass rusher at the top of the draft to be able to get Antonio Brown at wide receiver."
Clayton also explained why he believes Brown is such a good fit for Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers, who have lacked a dominant No. 1 receiver for years.
"The 49ers make a lot of sense just from the standpoint that one, he's a great receiver," Clayton said. "I mean, you're talking about a borderline Hall-of-Fame career that he's having right now. He's been one of the best receivers in football for the last six (or) seven years, and I think he'd be a nice fit on that team. Of course, there are some diva-type qualities that he brings with him, but that's just part of being a wide receiver."
Landing Brown in March would be a significant boost for the 49ers offense. Landing Thomas would do the same thing for the defense.
"I think it's a good fit in San Francisco," Clayton said of Thomas. "First off, it's the same scheme that he has in Seattle. Second, he gets to play with Richard Sherman, and you know that Richard would be recruiting him. Now the question is: Does he get all his speed back? That's two broken legs in three years, and if he has all his speed back, now you're talking about a Hall-of-Fame-caliber free safety.
"His range is incredible. His hitting is solid. He can cover when necessary. He has all the elements you want from a free safety, and that's why, to me, it's a good fit."
Thomas is in Austin, Texas where he and his wife just enrolled their children in school. Thomas grew up a fan of the Dallas Cowboys and even told head coach Jason Garrett after a game in 2017, "If y'all have the chance, come get me."
That led fans to connect the dots between Thomas and the Cowboys.
"I don't know if Dallas really wants to pay the amount of money (Thomas will demand)," Clayton added.
You can listen to the entire conversation with Clayton below.
Like the 49ers, the Cowboys have a good amount of salary cap room but also have a lot of their own stars to secure.
"I think our hands are going to be full paying our own guys," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in January on 105.3 The Fan. "People may not like it, but we're not big advocates of free agency. I don't think we make our living out here paying for free agents. I don't see that being the case especially because we got some really good football players on our team that need to be paid."
Jones, of course, added that it doesn't mean the Cowboys will just sit and do nothing during free agency.
"It doesn't mean we won't play free agency at all," he continued. "We just won't be paying a high-profile free agent more than likely. You never rule anything out all the way, but I wouldn't necessarily say that's going to be our strategy going into the offseason."
