49ers reportedly sought 3 other big names before Chase Young trade

As Chase Young gets set to make his San Francisco 49ers debut, a report is detailing how the trade to pick up Nick Bosa’s former college teammate came to be — and who else the 49ers targeted before making the move for the star defensive end.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, there were three other big-name players the 49ers looked into: Young’s former Commanders teammate Montez Sweat, who was traded to the Bears, and cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson of the Bears and Patrick Surtain II of the Broncos.

Schefer reported that “the cost of all three players ultimately turned out to be too high”: Sweat went to Chicago for a second-round pick, while both Johnson and Surtain weren’t traded, and the 49ers didn’t expect to land anyone until the cost to acquire Young dropped. According to Schefter, Washington sought a second-round pick and a fifth-round pick for Young, but after teams expressed medical concerns, the Commanders accepted a compensatory third-round pick from the 49ers in exchange for Young.

As several have pointed out since the move, Young is an unrestricted free agent after this season. If the 49ers choose not to bring Young back, they could recoup a compensatory pick — as high as a third-rounder, no less — if Young signs a big deal elsewhere. That drop is why the 49ers made the move, according to Schefter.

“But despite their depth on the defensive line, the price to land Young was one the 49ers could not ignore,” Schefter wrote.

Anticipation for Young’s debut was sky-high entering Sunday, especially to see him reunited with Bosa, his former Ohio State teammate. As first reported by the NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Clelin Ferrell got the start for the 49ers, but both Pelissero and Schefter report that Young will get a lot of playing time, much of it opposite Bosa. While we might not know how the two look on the field together, their draft pedigree alone — they were both taken No. 2 overall in back-to-back drafts in 2019-2020 — has the NFL buzzing.

But it sure doesn’t seem like the 49ers sought out Young as the top trade target on the market before the Oct. 31 deadline — and perhaps not even as the top target on his former team, either, since Sweat was eventually dealt for a second-round pick. Before the deadline, there were multiple reports linking the 49ers to Johnson, who grew up in Fresno. The Surtain report from Schefter could leave 49ers fans with the biggest “what if?” though. The No. 9 overall pick in 2021, Surtain was a first-team All-Pro player for Denver in 2022 and would have filled the Niners’ major need for a shutdown corner.