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Steve Young in silver and black? It sounds inconceivable. However, it looks like it came close to happening. The then-Los Angeles Raiders trying to trade for Young has always been viewed as one of the biggest trades that didn't happen. There are a lot of those in Raiders history. The San Francisco 49ers reportedly asked for a lot for their backup quarterback.
Young was tired of being Joe Montana's backup. Nothing against Montana, but Young just wanted to get on the field.
The 49ers
reportedly demanded a first- and second-round pick in the draft-day deal. They also reportedly wanted wide receiver Tim Brown. The Raiders decided that was too rich a price for Young.
How close did the trade come to fruition? Young joined KNBR's
Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks show on Wednesday and looked back at the deal that never happened.
"When George [Seifert] took over and told me to sit down and shut up, that's when I realized, as much as I want to do it here, and as much as that might not be possible, that's when those conversations started," Young said. "So for the next two years, every year, there was a lot of under-the-covers conversations because I could control—I was under contract, but I could agitate for it.
"Al Davis once told me that he had it done. It was after the '89 season. They announced it internally on draft day, and then something—I don't know what ended up happening—it didn't happen. No one ever explained it to me, so I have no details. I remember getting that call."
That wasn't the only time the 49ers shopped Young, who grew impatient waiting for his opportunity. He understood the situation, though. However, Young believed that upon being traded to the 49ers, his time would come sooner rather than later.
"And then in '90, after '89, there was another kind of foray into it," Young continued. "Look, in the end, Joe was the MVP of the league. He was MVP of the Super Bowl. I'm not an idiot. I don't want to just stand here forever. That wasn't what I expected to have happen, but Joe was expanding on his game, doing amazing things. I needed to play. ... That was the hard part.
"And then when Joe's arm got hurt in '91, that gave me an opportunity to at least go play, and that solved it for a little while, and then off we go."
Does Young ever look back and think about what might have been? Does he wonder what his career would have been like had the trade gone through?
"Not really. No, I'm good," Young admitted. "I would have jumped in and swam as fast as I could, and done whatever I could. But I know the full measure of who I was as a player came out of San Francisco. It took some time, but it came out. And it came out in a way that I couldn't imagine.
"So, I can only say how grateful I am to be able to watch, and to learn, and then to go do it. And I owe a lot of people a lot of thank-yous for that."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Young below.
San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa has already earned the coveted NFL Defensive Player of the Year award, three years after being named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. According to new 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, the talented pass rusher has his eyes set on more significant achievements.
Wilks believes Bosa is among the few who are completely dedicated to their craft and trying to get better every day, comparing the 49ers defender to players like Luke Kuechly and Brian Urlacher.
"And all those guys that I just mentioned, along with Bosa, is about really trying to create a legacy," Wilks said on Wednesday. "And that was probably one of the things that I did talk about, beyond just him as a person. It's just What are we building
San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks spoke with reporters after Wednesday's minicamp practice. Here is everything he had to say.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening Comments:
"Mini-camp was great. It was good to get everybody in house. [DL Nick] Bosa was here. [DL Javon] Hargrave was here. And I thought we made progress throughout OTAs and it was a great finish today with mini-camp, so I know you guys have a lot of questions, and with that I'll open up the floor."
CB Charvarius Ward didn't take part in any of the 11-on-11 stuff, but that gave you an opportunity to look at some other younger cornerbacks out there. How do you sort of assess that
Everyone says it, so it must be true. The San Francisco 49ers have a loaded roster. Stacked. Deep. Super-Bowl caliber.
However you choose to describe it, we can all agree that the roster is very good. They have Pro Bowlers all over the field. But there are some spots that will be filled by young players in 2023. And these young men will be asked to step up this season, in order for the 49ers to have the chance to win the Super Bowl.
Here are five young players who need to come up big in 2023:
1. Drake Jackson, Edge Rusher
The 49ers built their defense in 2019 around a dominant pass rush. That season, they had a player opposite of Nick Bosa (Dee Ford) who provided a lot of pressure off the edge. Since then, however, they have been unable to
The 49ers ended their offseason workout program on Wednesday with their final session of mandatory minicamp. But before they made their way out the door for the summer, the team gave fans and reporters one last dose of info in the form of the final media sessions of the spring.
Among those speaking to reporters on Wednesday were defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, left tackle Trent Williams and cornerback Deommodore Lenoir, as well as defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. Each session produced some interesting tidbits, which we'll review in this version of 49ers notebook.
Hargrave speaks
Despite being the splash free agent addition of the offseason for the 49ers, Javon Hargrave had not met with the team's beat reporters in person before Wednesday.
