How the 49ers can get A.J. Green
Another superstar just appeared on the 49ers’ radar: Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green.
Green signed the franchise tag Friday afternoon and said he wants to retire with the Bengals. But do the Bengals want him to retire with the Bengals? They could have given him the long-term extension he wants, but chose not to for a few reasons.
One: He’ll be 32 on July 31.
Two: He missed 7 games in 2018 with a toe injury and 16 games in 2019 with an ankle injury.
Three: He’s expensive. He has earned $108 million in his career, and his base salary next season will be $17.9 million. He probably won’t give the Bengals or any team a discount when he’s an unrestricted free agent in 2021.
The Bengals decided not to sign Green past this upcoming season. Plus they drafted a wide receiver, Tee Higgins, in the second round this year. Plus this still have wide receivers Tyler Boyd and John Ross. So it seems the Bengals are ready to move on Green.
Perhaps they’ll trade him during the season if they fall out of contention. They were 2-14 in 2019, and now they have a rookie starting quarterback -- Joe Burrow -- who’s extremely talented, but rookie starting quarterbacks usually lose lots of games early on.
So if the Bengals are 2-5 in mid-October, and the 49ers offer them a first-round pick for Green, would the Bengals accept?
I think they would.
Green would be the 49ers’ best wide receiver since Terrell Owens. And Green is not a diva -- he’s just a great player. He went to the Pro Bowl the first-seven seasons of his career, before injuries kept him out of the game the past two years. He could be a future Hall of Famer. And he would fit the 49ers’ offense perfectly. He’d fit any offense.
For the record, I still would prefer the 49ers trade for Jets safety Jamal Adams, because he’s also great and eight years younger than Green.
But Green is an intriguing Plan B.
