49ers will not break Branch’s fall

Kyle Juszczyk remains on course to become a free agent in about a week-and-a-half. Something could develop with the San Francisco 49ers before then, but it sounds like the fullback expects to hit the open market for the second time in his NFL career. Typically, the start of the new league year kicks off free agency with a bang—with a signing frenzy that results in announcements within minutes of players becoming available. That NFL created a two-day window, referred by some as the "legal tampering period" before the start of free agency, allowing player representatives time to negotiate with teams before making deals official when the new league year begins. Honestly, everyone assumes that was happening anyway. Even before the "legal tamper period," some

Where there is smoke, there is fire, and there has been a ton of smoke coming out of Santa Clara concerning the 49ers, their quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, and the future of the two together. Don't get me wrong, the most likely scenario for who starts under center for the 49ers in 2021 is Jimmy Garoppolo, but GM John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan have made it clear that they are open to upgrading the position and moving on from Jimmy G. If the 49ers do move on from Garoppolo, they shouldn't look to mortgage the future by trading a haul of picks to move up into the top 10 or even top 5 for a quarterback. They should pick No. 10 from Alabama, quarterback Mac Jones, if he falls to the twelfth pick in the 2021 NFL draft. Mac Jones is rapidly moving up the boards

The worst-case scenario for the 49ers this offseason would be seeing All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams leave in free agency. Last offseason, the team sent a 3rd-round pick to the Washington Football Team to acquire Williams, and then restructured his deal to give him a small pay bump and included language in the contract that stated they would not use the franchise tag on him in 2021. Looking at the pending free agents at the tackle position, it's easy to see that Trent Williams is far-and-away the best player available. Williams has stated that he would like to return to the 49ers, which is good news, but he also wants to test the market to determine his value, which could be bad news. There are enough teams flush with cap space, even with a cap-tightened season, and a need

Would the 49ers be willing to trade one of their top two young defensive stars, a slew of draft picks, and more if it meant getting Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson in return? It's possible that's the type of package they might have to ship in Houston's direction if they ever have the chance. And it's one that NBC Sports NFL writer Peter King proposes in his latest Football Morning In America column, in which he comes up with his own deals for teams that could be interested in bringing the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback into the fold. King starts this discussion with an important disclaimer, which is the Texans have yet to give any sign whatsoever that they are actually interested in trading Watson, even though Watson (4,823 passing yards, 33