The 49ers have traded tight end Vance McDonald to the Steelers, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. San Francisco receives a 2018 fourth-round pick in the swap while the Steelers get a fifth-round choice back in return.
McDonald was projected to be the Niners’ starter at tight end this year. Now, they’ll turn to fifth-round rookie George Kittle and veterans Garrett Celek and Logan Paulsen to fill the void.
The Niners signed McDonald to a five-year, $35MM extension in December, but the new regime is not as wild about him as the old one was. New GM John Lynch shopped McDonald during the 2017 draft and was surprisingly candid about it when reports surfaced.
“That’s the reality of new regimes coming in, new schemes,” Lynch in April. “That’s not to say he can’t fit into our scheme. Frankly we received some interest from other people, then we did explore some options throughout the league with Vance. And nothing ended up happening, so Vance will come back and have an opportunity to compete.”
The Steelers tried to shake up the tight end position last year by signing Ladarius Green, but things did not go according to plan as he was hampered by injuries and concussions. This year, they’ve were planning to use Jesse James as their primary TE with support from David Johnson and Xavier Grimble. They weren’t completely satisfied with that bunch, however, and they capitalized on an opportunity add another experienced starter.
McDonald finished the 2016 on IR, but he closed out with a career-high 24 receptions for 391 yards and four touchdowns. Those numbers aren’t league-leading material, but it’s impressive that he was able to get going at all in one of the league’s worst passing attacks. We’re about to find out what McDonald is capable of doing in one of the league’s top aerial offenses.
Very nice move Steelers. Well worth a 4th rounder as he is a definite upgrade.
And they get a 5th back. So the Steelers 4th could be late and 49ers 5th should be high so it’s like trading down 15 spots for McDonald
Right. I don’t understand these trades like this this. McDonald is well worth a 4th. So why send your 5th right back. You gain nothing. Terrible trade for SF except for shedding contract. They should’ve sent a 7th rounder back. And then it would be closer to fair value
You are right, I misread the article when I first posted. The Niners have been so eager to shed McDonald’s contract that they probably weren’t getting much in the way of offers, and it looks like they blinked and decided to just dump the money owed.