Lynch confident, return of injured 49ers stars offers trade-like boost originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
If the 3-4 49ers explore careers before November 5 NFL trade deadline?
San Francisco President of Football Operations/General Manager John Lynch thinks the 49ers should look internally first.
By appearing on KNBR’s “Murph & Markus” On Friday, Lynch explained why the 49ers don’t need to talk about outside opportunities yet.
“When I look at our trade deadline, I look at our IR list and I say, ‘(Christian) McCaffrey. (Dr.) Greenlaw. (Yetur) Gross-Matos. (Talanoa)Hufanga.’ You know, if we can get those guys back, I think that’s the boost we need as much as anyone we’re going to bring in from the outside,” Lynch told Brian Murphy and Markus Boucher. “So we have a good group of players and hopefully we can start getting some of those guys back while we stay healthy.”
It’s understandably difficult to evaluate the 49ers when their stars are not available. However, it’s not hard to recognize what San Francisco can be when healthy.
The list that Lynch recited, which also includes Jon Feliciano, 49ers guardhas the talent to turn around San Francisco’s season. And it won’t be long before reinforcements are ready to help.
“Absolutely,” Lynch said of the likelihood of injured 49ers players returning this season. “Yeah. Absolutely. Where those timelines are, I think we’re all getting closer. They’re all moving in really good directions.
“We want to make sure that when we get them back, we get them back for good.” That would be a boost. These are very good players that I mentioned. … For all these guys, you have to create spots. But they are players worthy of creating places. This will give us a big boost. But right now we have to focus on the team we have and find a way to win.
Although health is most important to San Francisco’s second-half potential, Lynch hasn’t closed the door on a move before the trade deadline.
“We’ll see,” Lynch said of the trades. “I think our track record has shown that we always answer calls, we’re always going to make calls (and) see what happens, and if we can improve our team, we will. But I like this group.
The 49ers it could still cause a sensation; last year we thought it was defensive end Chase Youngwho did not succeed.
But time is running out.
