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In Peter King’s most recent “24 Hours” piece, King discusses John Lynch’s first draft day. In the article it mentions the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers were in a trade talk for the 16th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
The 49ers wanted Rueben Foster, linebacker from Alabama. They watched as he fell past Cincinnati and New Orleans, two teams with ties to the ‘bama product. After passing New Orleans, the 49ers front office started calling teams, working on a trade for Foster. Their first target, the Baltimore Ravens.
“[Paraag] Marathe, [49ers Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President of Football Operations] gets solemn with Lynch and Shanahan. “Would you do our two, a three and two fours to get this pick?” Marathe says.
Shanahan looks at him like’s got two heads.
“I wouldn’t do more than a two and a three,” Shanahan says.
Marathe: “Two and three will get you to 20, 21. Not to here.”
Shanahan: “That’s fine.”
Lynch is O.K. with splitting the baby: offering a two, three and four for the 16th pick. That would leave San Francisco with no second-round pick, one third-round pick and no fourth-round pick. So Marathe offers the two, three and four to GM Ozzie Newsome of the Ravens. “Ozzie came back with our two and 66 and 67,” Marathe says. In other words, San Francisco’s two and both threes.
“No,” Lynch says. (Interesting that Lynch never says, What are those idiots talking about? What a dumb deal! He just moves on.)
“Man, that Ozzie,” Marathe says after hanging up with Newsome. “Ozzie wants us not to work tomorrow!” (Rounds two and three take place Friday night.)
“Tomorrow’s the best day,” Shanahan says.”
Ozzie attempted to strike up a great deal for the Ravens, but couldn’t swing the rookie GM John Lynch into an agreement. As Shanahan said, day two of the draft was in fact, the best day. The 2017 NFL Draft was built around depth, not top-end talent. The Ravens are clearly a middle round draft monster, scoring a plethora of talented players through history. Ozzie was trying to score yet another great day two of the draft, but with the trade falling apart, Ozzie ‘settled’ for Marlon Humphrey.