With Smith trade, will 49ers' next move be on Darrelle Revis?
The expected trade of Alex Smith to Kansas City means the 49ers now have a staggering 15 picks -- including expected compensatory selections -- in this year's draft. But it means something else, too: They have the ammunition to make a move on New York Jets' cornerback Darrelle Revis.
Revis is under contract and isn't going anywhere ... unless someone knocks out the Jets with an attractive offer, and after hearing what coach Rex Ryan and general manager John Idzik tap-dance around the subject at the NFL Scouting Combine I'd say they're interested in listening.
Well, then, listen to what San Francisco has to say.
By acquiring Kansas City's second-round choice, the 34th overall, the 49ers have five of the top 93 picks, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that that gives them flexibility -- which is just what you need if you go hunting for Revis.
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The popular perception is that Revis would cost someone a first-rounder and then some, but I ran into a couple of GMs at the combine who swore they wouldn't start by offering anything higher than a second-rounder.
First of all, Revis is coming off a serious knee surgery. More important, he wants top dollar for the position -- and I don't mean cornerback. I mean as a defender, which puts him in the $16 million-a-year neighborhood of Mario Williams.
Williams hit the jackpot as an unrestricted free agent. Revis is not unrestricted. He has another year on his contract, and the Jets have no interest in paying him what he wants.
Nor should they. They were 8-8 with him in 2011 and 6-10 without him and wide receiver Santonio Holmes a year later. They were also the only team out there that didn't allow a 100-yard receiver.
But more than that, they're tired of the money grab and need to do something, anything, to rebuild their club. Even with Revis, the Jets aren't a playoff contender, so why not start accumulating draft picks, opening cap room and clearing a headache with a move?
I know just the team they should consult.
It's no secret the 49ers could use help in the secondary. It was torched in the playoffs, with opposing quarterbacks completing 68.4 percent of their passes for an average of 306 yards per game, and it was a factor in the club's first Super Bowl loss in the organization's history. Cornerback Carlos Rogers is a descending player, and the 49ers could use an upgrade at the position. So why not look at the best cornerback in the business?
It's not all that different from what happened with the 49ers in 1994 when they were trying to catch defending Super Bowl champion Dallas. They made a number of offseason free-agent moves to overhaul their defense, but the puzzle wasn't complete until they signed then-free agent Deion Sanders that summer, a move that solidified their secondary.
Result: They not only beat the Cowboys in the conference championship game for the first time in three years, they won their fifth Super Bowl. The point is: The 49ers knew what they had to do to get to the next level, and they did it.
My guess is these 49ers know the same thing. They didn't beat Baltimore in Super Bowl XLVII because they forgot how to run when it mattered and because they couldn't go five yards their last three plays. But they lost because their secondary couldn't cover the Ravens' receivers, either, with Joe Flacco throwing three touchdown passes and shredding the 49ers with critical completions -- including one to Anquan Boldin on third-and-inches on the Ravens' last scoring drive.
San Francisco must fix the holes that held it back, and it can get there through the draft or by packaging draft picks in a deal for Revis. All I know is the 49ers have more flexibility than they did before, and if I'm them I place my next call to Florham Park, N.J.
Then make the Jets an offer they can't refuse.
