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Will the 49ers Trade for Jadeveon Clowney?

The 49ers need an edge rusher.
Grant Cohn|
Nov 24, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers linebacker Jadeveon Clowney (7) runs on to the field with the american flag before the game at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
Nov 24, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers linebacker Jadeveon Clowney (7) runs on to the field with the american flag before the game at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers need an edge rusher.

They have Nick Bosa who's excellent, and they just drafted Mykel Williams who's promising. But Williams recently told the 49ers that he's most confident rushing from the interior, not the edge. He's a work-in-progress as an edge rusher.

And that's a big reason Bleacher Report suggets the 49ers should trade for Carolina Panthers edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney.

"The San Francisco 49ers could be in the market for Clowney," writes Bleacher Report analyst Alex Kay.

"There has been a clear need in the Bay Area to assist superstar Nick Bosa in the defensive trenches. The team didn't shy away from addressing that issue during the 2025 draft—utilizing a first-round pick to nab edge-rusher Mykel Williams—but San Francisco could use more veterans in the mix to build out the type of deep, talented pass-rushing rotation that propelled the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl last season.

"If the Panthers are willing to ship Clowney off cheap to clear cap space and free up a roster spot, the Niners would be wise to capitalize on the situation.

"With $47 million in projected cap room—the second-most in the league—San Francisco can easily fit in Clowney's contract and should only have to cough up Day 3 capital to get a deal done."

The 49ers do have lots of cap space, but they're going to extend Brock Purdy soon and his deal will be expensive. I'm thinking the 49ers would like an edge rusher who's cheaper, someone such as free agent Carl Lawson.

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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.

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