The San Francisco 49ers have a reinforcement coming to their defense as early as this week as they announced a trade with the Denver Broncos. The 49ers acquired defensive end Randy Gregory and a 2024 seventh-round pick and gave the Broncos a 2024 sixth-round pick.
Comp update: Broncos are trading pass rusher Randy Gregory and a 2024 7th-round pick to the San Francisco 49ers for a 2024 6th-round pick, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 6, 2023
While it was believed that the Broncos had released Randy Gregory, they never officially did so and will get something in return for him. Despite only playing 10 games as a member of the Broncos, he will get more than $27 million from the contract. Before the 2022 season, the Broncos signed Randy Gregory as a free agent to a five-year, $70 million contract.
However, Denver decided they wanted to go younger and give some more of their young talent the snaps Gregory was getting. The San Francisco 49ers now have a defensive end unit of Nick Bosa, Kerry Hyder Jr, Drake Jackson, Clelin Ferrell and Randy Gregory to get to the quarterback.
As of this writing, it has not been announced who the team will get rid of for Gregory’s spot on the 53-man roster. This is very similar to what happened earlier this week when the Los Angeles Chargers traded away JC Jackson to the New England Patriots.
How much better did the San Francisco 49ers get with this trade?
This is going to be a surprise to some people but the San Francisco 49ers just got better with this deal. The 49ers do not add much salary this season as Adam Schefter is reporting San Fran will pay him the veteran minimum this season and Denver is paying the rest of this year’s salary.
Randy Gregory is a solid addition as a rotational player on the defensive line as he has 19.5 sacks, 23 tackles for loss, 61 quarterback hits and 10 forced fumbles in his 60 career games. This is going to give the 49ers the ability to still get to the opposing quarterback even when Nick Bosa is on the sidelines.
The 49ers are currently tied for third in the NFL with 14.5 points per game given up, but only recorded nine sacks as a team through their first four games. This is going to establish more pressure as the game goes on and continuously get the opposing quarterback to move in the pocket.
While this could be more of a discussion in the offseason, he is due $13.7 million in 2024 and this could be something the 49ers use as trade bait down the line. For this season though, the pass-rush just got even stronger.