What happened to the 49ers’ 2024 NFL Selection picks after they traded for Chase Young

What happened to the 49ers’ 2024 NFL Selection picks after they traded for Chase Young

If the 49ers get defensive end Chase Young upon Tuesday as planned, they will still have 11 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft.

The 49ers have been taking opportunity of the NFL’s compensatory system in the past, and Young could help them even more in the future.

A source in the league told NBC Sports Bay Area that In return for Young, San Francisco gave the Washington Commanders their third-round compensatory pick.

Young’s fifth-year option wasn’t picked up by the Commanders, so the 49ers will be without him for the rest of the season. In March, he will be able to sign with any team he wants.

For that, the 49ers would get a pick in 2025 when Young signed with another team as a free agent.

Washington will get a third-round pick in the 2024 draft from the 49ers. That pick is likely to be around 100th overall.

San Francisco got that “special compensatory” draft pick as part of the NFL’s plan to support hiring people of color. When defensive assistant DeMeco Ryans and head of player management Ran Carthon quit in the offseason, the 49ers got that draft pick.

It was the 49ers’ deal with the Panthers for running back Christian McCaffrey that was the biggest move made before the 2022 NFL trade deadline.

Once more, they made a big deal before the trade deadline in 2023 when they got Commanders pass buster Chase Young.

Another well-known player who was traded before the 2023 trade deadline was Young. He is having a great season as the No. 2 pick within the 2020 NFL Draft.

He has five sacks to eight games and 18 hits while moving into the backfield a lot for the Commanders.

But when Washington got rid of its two best defensive ends, Younger and Montez Sweat, the San Francisco 49ers were ready to strike.

They gave up a third-round pick in 2024 to get the skilled defender. He will play with Nick Bosa, who was also picked in the second round and was on his college team.

When it comes to sacks per game, the 49ers are only 22nd in the league with 2.3. Young should help that defense.

But a lot of people aren’t sure if Young will be a rental of the 49ers or a long-term investment.

Still, the 49ers have the tools they need to easily increase their cap space. How? Yes, they do have one player upon their team whose salary is eight figures but whose deal doesn’t promise any more money. His name is Randy Gregory.

That means the 49ers could let him go without taking a “dead-cap hit,” which is what happens when a player who is no longer on the squad is still due money. That would give them an extra $14 million in cap space.

When NFL teams change the terms of a player’s contract, they usually turn the player’s base pay, which is calculated over a year, into some kind of signing bonus.

That bonus can be spread out over the life of the deal, which means that what would have been a high cost in one year becomes an affordable price over several years. The team could, of course, also let some players go, like Gregory, to make room.

All of the above players have big dead-cap hits and big guarantees, so it doesn’t look like any of them are likely to be cut or traded.

However, the 49ers could cut players from the edges of the roster when they need a little more cap room to keep Young.

But San Francisco will almost certainly restructure their contracts during the summer. The only questions now are which players will be affected, how many will be affected, and whether the money will be used to help Young or other players on the roster.

When San Francisco thinks about how to try to keep Young, they also think about how much he might be worth on the free market.

It’s possible that the 24-year-old will make a lot of money as a free agent. The only question is how much.

Spotrac.com says that Young will make concerning $17.8 million a year over the next four years.

But that seems a bit low when you consider that Dre’Mont Jones along with Zach Allen, two interior defensive tackles, are among the players most like him.

Since Young lost a lot of time with injuries in Years 2 and 3, it seems probable that he will also be paid what he is worth.

In this way, he might get paid a lot in terms of average yearly value (AAV), however he might not get as many guarantees.