REPORT: The 49ers Might Trade for Zach Wilson

Here's my advice to the 49ers.
REPORT: The 49ers Might Trade for Zach Wilson
REPORT: The 49ers Might Trade for Zach Wilson /
In this story:

This is a terrible idea.

The 49ers reportedly are a possible trade destination for Jets backup quarterback Zach Wilson, and they'd have to give up just a seventh-round pick to get him. So you can see why the 49ers might be interested, particularly if they liked him coming out of college, which I believe they did. I bet they liked him more than Trey Lance.

Here's my advice to the 49ers: Don't trade for Wilson. Don't freaking do it. Don't even sign him if the Jets release him, which they should, because he's terrible. He's inaccurate, he makes the easiest throws look difficult, he seems immature, he's not a leader and his teammates do not seem to like him. He's everything the 49ers don't need.

What would be the point of giving up on Lance, trading him to the Cowboys, replacing him with Sam Darnold for a year, letting Darnold leave and replacing him with Wilson? Why would the 49ers want the Wilson Project instead of the Lance Project?

The 49ers don't need a project quarterback. They need a backup who's experienced and mature enough to play if Brock Purdy gets injured. Someone like Purdy, who was a backup his rookie season until Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo got injured, then took over and flourished right away.

What makes Purdy Purdy? He played lots of football in college, he's accurate, he's quick, he's short, he doesn't have a strong arm, he's mature and he's a leader. Not many teams are looking for short quarterbacks with weak arms, but they fit the 49ers' system.

A player such as Tua Tagovailoa's little brother Taulia Tagovailoa might fit, too. He's short, he doesn't have a strong arm, he's quick, he threw more than 1,400 passes in college, completed 67 percent of them, led Maryland to three straight seasons in the Big 10 and was the best player on those teams. He carried them like Purdy carried Iowa State.

I'm not saying Tua's little brother will be the next Purdy, but he could be an excellent backup for Purdy and he's a much better option than Wilson.

The 49ers' don't need the stench of Wilson's failure in their building.


Published
Grant Cohn
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.