49ers Reportedly Traded Up to No. 3 to Block Patriots from Drafting Mac Jones

Schefter couldn't hide his amusement at the 49ers' mishandling of the situation.

Grant Cohn | Sep 12, 2021

DETROIT -- What an odd way to start the season.

Just as the 49ers were waking up and getting ready to play the Detroit Lions, ESPN's Adam Schefter dropped a bombshell that makes the 49ers seem like they misjudged the quarterback market badly this offseason.

According to Schefter, the 49ers traded up to No. 3 because they wanted Mac Jones and were afraid the Patriots would trade up to that spot and take him. Then, the 49ers changed their minds, drafted Lance, and the Patriots stayed at pick No. 15 and got Jones anyway, and now he's their starter.

Here's Schefter's report:

One of the many reasons San Francisco traded up to the third overall spot in this year's NFL draft was their belief that the New England Patriots could trade up to No. 3 and beat them to Alabama quarterback Mac Jones, league sources told ESPN...This belief contributed to the Niners completing the late-March trade that sent three first-round draft picks to the Miami Dolphins to move up to the No. 3 spot, which gave them the opportunity to draft Jones or any other quarterback they deemed worthy in that slot. San Francisco ultimately decided Trey Lance was its preferred quarterback, and Jones wound up with New England at the 15th pick anyway -- without the Patriots having to surrender any additional compensation. Jones will start New England's season opener Sunday against Miami, while Lance will serve as San Francisco's backup to Jimmy Garoppolo against the Detroit Lions.

It's impossible to know if Schefter is right, but he probably is -- he's the most connected media member in the NFL. What I find most interesting about this report is the tone. Schefter couldn't hide his amusement at the 49ers' mishandling of the situation. He didn't come right out and say the 49ers bungled the trade for the No. 3 pick, but he implied it.

I believe the 49ers picked the right quarterback once they moved up to No. 3. But it's starting to look like the 49ers panicked and traded up before they knew which quarterback they wanted, or worse, they traded up for Jones and changed their minds at the last minute.

Schefter clearly isn't impressed.

Published Sep 12, 2021

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.