The San Francisco 49ers have been active at the trade deadline under coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch, often bringing in big-name players to strengthen the team for a playoff push.
However, this season, the 49ers took a more cautious approach, making only one move: they added a backup defensive tackle before Tuesday’s deadline.
“We don’t just make a huge move just because we want to,” Shanahan said on Wednesday. “If we think it’s something that can help and not hurt you for the future and you’ve got to risk, you’ve got to weigh those risks every year.
And a few good things have popped up that we thought were worth the risks in past years. We didn’t see anything this year. That was a huge risk, but we do feel like we helped our team with the things that we did do.”
This year’s moves were smaller compared to big trades the 49ers have made in the past, such as acquiring quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, receiver Emmanuel Sanders, running back Christian McCaffrey, and edge rusher Chase Young.
San Francisco traded a 2026 seventh-round pick to Houston for backup defensive tackle Khalil Davis. They also added two veterans to the practice squad: safety Tashaun Gipson and receiver Russell Gage.
The 49ers are hoping that the return of players who’ve been injured will help the team, especially after struggling at times before the bye week.
McCaffrey returned to practice on Monday after missing the first eight games of the season due to Achilles tendinitis. San Francisco also got defensive lineman Yetur Gross-Matos and offensive lineman Jon Feliciano back from knee injuries and are hopeful that linebacker Dre Greenlaw (Achilles) and safety Talanoa Hufanga (wrist) will return before the end of the season.
The most important return for the 49ers will be McCaffrey, who was named AP Offensive Player of the Year last season and is a key part of San Francisco’s offensive success. Shanahan said McCaffrey will play on Sunday at Tampa Bay, as long as he doesn’t have any setbacks in practice this week.
“He looks good,” said defensive end Nick Bosa. “We don’t want to put too much on him because we know that everybody else has to continue to get better. But having him back can only help.”
McCaffrey led the NFL last season with 2,023 yards from scrimmage and tied for the league lead with 21 touchdowns, helping San Francisco reach the Super Bowl.
After missing 23 games due to injuries in his last two full seasons with Carolina, McCaffrey has stayed healthy in the past two years.
He only missed one game combined in 2022-23 — a Week 18 game for San Francisco last season, which was not important, because of a sore calf.
His 798 combined touches from scrimmage in both the regular season and playoffs were the third most for any player in the past 10 years over a two-year period.
But Shanahan said he doesn’t think the heavy workload contributed to McCaffrey’s injury this season and doesn’t plan to limit his playing time when he returns.
“I don’t believe that. I don’t think he believes that,” Shanahan said. “I think things happen to a body. I think they happen in the offseason, but I don’t think that really has to do with numbers.
When a guy is healthy and good, they’re usually good. But we’ve got to see where his conditioning is at, how he is.
I know he is conditioned as well as he can be, but how his football conditioning is and stuff. But usually, I don’t chalk up to numbers one year to affect the injury the next year.”
