49ers can fix their defensive line issues at the trade deadline with a double dip on reunions
Relationships are everything in the NFL, particularly around this time of year when contenders are looking to strike trades they believe could make a huge difference in their hopes of mounting a Super Bowl run. The San Francisco 49ers have been perennial contenders under Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch and, though they haven't […]
Relationships are everything in the NFL, particularly around this time of year when contenders are looking to strike trades they believe could make a huge difference in their hopes of mounting a Super Bowl run.
The San Francisco 49ers have been perennial contenders under Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch and, though they haven't performed to their usual standard this season, it is likely they will be buyers at next week's deadline as they look to give a 4-4 team a key boost.
And they have plenty of useful relationships around the league, with few stronger than the one they have with Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon.
Carthon was previously the 49ers' director of player personnel and has already sold ahead of the deadline, trading wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Kansas City Chiefs.
But more Titans players could be available before the November 5 deadline, Tennessee having slumped to a 1-6 record.
Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard pointed to two who could be of particular interest to the 49ers, both of whom have previously played for San Francisco.
I had previously talked about a potential reunion with Titans edge rusher Arden Key, whose ability to play on the interior as well as off the edge made him a crucial part of the 49ers' defensive line rotation in the 2021 season, one which ended in the NFC Championship Game.
Key has three sacks in his last two games, recording two against a highly regarded Detroit Lions offensive line. With the 49ers short on depth on the edge and missing a lineman in Yetur Gross-Matos whom they envisaged playing a similar role to Key, there's plenty of reason to suspect the Niners might be keen to bring him back.
A potential reunion that wouldn't be on many people's radar is one with defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day, who played in the Super Bowl for the 49ers last season after signing late in the year.
Joseph-Day didn't make much of an impression during his brief time with the Niners in 2023, but there's a lot to suggest he could have a significant impact this year.
While Joseph-Day hasn't been a hugely disruptive pass-rushing force in 2024, he has turned a meagre total of nine pressures, per Pro Football Focus, into two sacks.
And, more pertinent to where the 49ers have struggled on defense this season, Joseph-Day has excelled against the run.
His run stop rate of 12.2 percent ranks ninth among all interior defensive linemen, per PFF. Among the 87 defensive tackles with at least five individual tackles, Joseph-Day is 13th in Sports Info Solutions' points saved metric on run defense. Joseph-Day is attributed with 5.18 points saved. The top 49ers defensive lineman who plays exclusively on the inside is Maliek Collins with 3.35.
Those numbers indicate Joseph-Day would give the 49ers a big bump in run defense. With the versatility Key could provide as a pass rusher, it may well be worth the 49ers looking to double dip to take two Titans back to the Bay Area.
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He has been close to faultless.
