49ers GM John Lynch Drops Hopeful Hint on Edge Rusher Trade Talks

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General manager John Lynch of the San Francisco 49ers.

The San Francisco 49ers have played well to start the 2025 NFL season, despite dealing with several injuries to key players on both sides of the football. San Francisco is sitting at 4-1 heading into Week 6’s showdown with Baker Mayfield and the 4-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Even though the 49ers have won four out of their last five games, the storied franchise is always striving to improve during the regular season, whether through signing players or making trades. One area of concern for the 49ers moving forward is on the defensive side of the ball, with superstar defensive end Nick Bosa ruled out for the season due to a torn ACL injury.

With Bosa leaving a glaring hole on the defensive line, 49ers general manager John Lynch appears to be working the phones to address the need for the rest of the 2025 campaign.

49ers GM John Lynch Drops Major Hint About Potential Trade

GettySan Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch.

During an appearance on KNBR, Lynch dropped a major hint that a significant trade could be on the way for the 49ers because he’s been busy with “productive” trade talks.

“I’m having a lot of conversations, a lot of good and productive ones,” Lynch said on The Sports Leader. … If we find a way to make our football team better and it aligns, then we will not be shy on pulling the trigger.”

Clearly, Lynch seems open to the prospect of trading for a pass rusher with Bosa done for the season. One potential target for the 49ers is Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson, whose future has been up in the air after a long and drawn-out contract talks with the Bengals, which was a major storyline before he inked his new deal.

With the Bengals heading in the wrong direction following the costly injury suffered by superstar quarterback Joe Burrow, Cincinnati might be open to making a move if it continues to lose games over the next few weeks.

The NFL trade deadline is on Nov. 4, so the clock is ticking for Lynch and the 49ers.

49ers QB Brock Purdy’s Status Still Uncertain

GettyBrock Purdy #13 of the San Francisco 49ers.

Mac Jones has played in three games and won all three, which is a much better result than many anticipated with a backup running the show under center. The 49ers seem confident with Jones moving forward, even though they obviously feel like a better football team with Brock Purdy under center.

Lynch was asked on KNBR about Purdy and his mindset moving forward, considering there’s no concrete timeline for his return to the field.

“A cool quality about Brock Purdy is he’s one of the most self-assured people in a very humble way. It’s one of the things that appealed to us,” Lynch said. “He’s very confident in his abilities, but he’s just a good guy. He’s got an incredible amount of humility.”

“It is always you want to be the guy out there. I do wholeheartedly believe that Brock is nothing but happy for our team. He’s working his tail off to get back. I think we all feel blessed and fortunate that we found a backup who can go in and play like a starter and earn us tough, hard-fought wins.”

Over the course of his three games played, Jones has thrown for 905 yards, six touchdowns and one interception. The 49ers will live with that kind of production as long as they can in order to get Purdy as healthy as possible.

Ryan Ward is a longtime credentialed writer covering the NBA and NFL. He has over 15 years of experience in the sports industry from writing, editing, social media management and podcasting. He has covered the Lakers and Raiders for Medium Large Sports, with a previous stint at ClutchPoints. Ward is a Los Angeles native from the United Kingdom, who now resides in Colorado. More about Ryan Ward