3 teams that should kick the tires on Christian McCaffrey trade

This may be difficult to pull off, but imagine McCaffrey joining the 49ers in Kyle Shanahan’s offense.

The 49ers are coming off an impressive run in the playoffs. They managed to squeak out a win over the Dallas Cowboys on the road in the Wild Card Round and then held the Green Bay Packers to just 10 points in the Divisional Round to win 13-10. Ultimately, their quest to return to the Super Bowl fell short, as they lost to the rival Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game.

This offseason, it is expected that the 49ers move on veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to another team. They traded up in the NFL Draft to select Trey Lance as their quarterback for the future, and he may get his chance as early as 2022. The 49ers would free up $25.5 million in cap space by trading Garoppolo. With that, they can fit McCaffrey’s $14.3 million cap hit in 2022. It would not hurt to give Lance a player in McCaffrey to further take the pressure off of him.

San Francisco’s offense averaged 127.4 rushing yards per game in the regular season, which is the seventh-most in the NFL.

Fans have seen the kind of plays Shanahan draws up for wide receiver Deebo Samuel. What he can do with McCaffrey could be just as impressive. Plus, it helps that the 49ers have one of the top offensive lines in the entire league, per Pro Football Focus, which is a plus for the running back.