The 49ers didn’t want to trade running back Jeff Wilson Jr., but a private trade request from the RB helped spur the team to work out a deal to move the former undrafted free agent.
General manager John Lynch intimated in his post-trade deadline press conference that Wilson wanted to move on to a place where he’d have a bigger role once the 49ers traded for RB Christian McCaffrey. Wilson on Thursday told media covering the Dolphins that he did request a trade.
“It was something that I asked (for),” Wilson said via the Phinsider. “There’s a lot of love over there, so they understand. They understand the situation, so they knew where I was at and where I was trying to go. So it was a (mutual) agreement thing.”
Had Miami not offered a fifth-round pick though, San Francisco may not have been willing to play ball.
“Miami came hard probably yesterday,” Lynch told reporters Tuesday. “But then all the way down to this morning and a fifth is kind of where Kyle and I had it set, and they ended up giving it. And at that point, we felt like as hard as it was, (we did it).”
The 49ers could’ve held on to Wilson as a terrific insurance policy for McCaffrey and RB Elijah Mitchell, who’ve both had injury issues over the last two years. He’s been excellent in Mitchell’s stead this year since the second-year RB went down with a knee injury in Week 1. Wilson with the 49ers averaged 5.1 yards per carry on 92 attempts this year and was playing his best football when San Francisco traded for McCaffrey.
Wilson had been with the 49ers since they signed him as an undrafted rookie in 2018. He played in 45 games for them with 15 starts. He notched 390 carries for 1,733 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground. Wilson also had 45 catches for 387 yards and four touchdowns in the air.
