ESPN's Dan Graziano believes the San Francisco 49ers need to be active in the NFL trade market as injuries continue to mount early in the season.
The 49ers entered Sunday's matchup against the Arizona Cardinals without several key players, including Brock Purdy, Jauan Jennings, and George Kittle. While Purdy and Jennings may return for this weekend's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco suffered another crushing setback when defensive end Nick Bosa, a five-time Pro Bowl selection, tore his ACL and was ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Graziano identified the 49ers as a team that could look to add reinforcements through a trade.
"I'm looking at San Francisco, where the Kyle Shanahan/John Lynch 49ers have never been shy about making big in-season moves (hello, Christian McCaffrey!) and are suffering through an incredible rash of early-season injuries," Graziano wrote.
"The latest, to star edge rusher Nick Bosa, falls into the irreplaceable category, but that shouldn't stop the Niners from seeing if they can bring in another edge rusher to supplement whatever plan they have to compensate for Bosa's loss."
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This week, NFL analyst Brian Baldinger echoed the same sentiment, suggesting San Francisco may need outside help to replace some of Bosa's production rather than solely relying on internal contributions to do so.
"I don't know who's on the street right now or what kind of trade [they can pull off]," Baldinger said in a radio interview. "... You're looking at the wire. I don't know what they have on the practice squad right now from that type of position. I don't think they have anybody really there that can add depth right now.
"They're going to probably have to make a trade or find somebody that might still be on the street that has some experience."
On Monday, head coach Kyle Shanahan addressed the possibility of exploring trades with Bosa sidelined for the year.
"We'll look at trades like we always do," Shanahan said, "but there's got to be trade options that make sense for you and another team. But you can't just do that stuff just to do it."