San Francisco 49ers

49ers had interest for No. 2 pick before trading with Bears

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

Sports Illustrated, SI Wire/Sports Illustrated

The San Francisco 49ers are being credited with pulling off possibly one of the greatest heists in draft history after trading out of the No. 2 pick and swapping with the Chicago Bears.

The Niners got a third-round and fourth-round draft pick in this year's draft and also garnered a 2018 third-round pick. Chicago moved up to pick North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky, while San Francisco selected Stanford's Solomon Thomas, to help solidify the team's defensive line.

But the trade could have went another way.

In this week's MMQB, Peter King embedded with the 49ers during their draft process and learned that they had interest in the No. 2 pick from a team other than the Bears in the minutes before making the trade.

“We got some good action on the pick.” Paraag Marathe, the 49ers vice president of football operations said to a club official (he would not disclose the team, or the official) for maybe a minute, just to crystallize that if (Myles) Garrett was there at two, the Niners would either pick or take a ransom for the pick.

“See if we can get one last thing with Chicago,” new general manager John Lynch said to Marathe.

But Marathe ended up calling the Bears to lock down the deal.

"To try to solidify this now,” Marathe said to Bears general manager Ryan Pace, “we’re gonna need a little bit more to finish. It wouldn’t have to be much. Like, your four. So let’s say your third, 67 overall, this year, your three next year, and your four this year, 111 overall … I’m not gonna string you along … No … I will do it quickly. Let me get with John and Kyle and I’ll call you right back.”

Minutes later, stunned Bears fans let out their displeasure when the team selected Trubisky.

- Scooby Axson