The 49ers have a number of improvements they could make to their roster at the trade deadline, but an injury to left guard Aaron Banks could shift their priorities.
San Francisco could use some assistance on the defensive line and in the secondary. Given their struggles getting stops the last couple weeks it would make sense if that was the top priority for general manager John Lynch when he’s making calls around the league.
However, Banks injured his toe in the team’s Week 8 loss to the Bengals and will miss a few weeks according to head coach Kyle Shanahan. Losing Banks is significant for a 49ers offensive line that doesn’t have a ton of depth.
They’ll ideally get left tackle Trent Williams back after the bye week. Shanahan said he’s hopeful the week off will give Williams enough time to recover from a Week 6 ankle sprain. San Francisco has struggled without him anchoring the left side.
Even if they get him back in Week 10, they won’t have Banks for that game and perhaps a couple after that, leaving the team susceptible to some struggles on the left side of their offensive front. Running that way hasn’t been successful at all for the 49ers since Williams went down, and it could become a problem again with Banks – their second-best offensive lineman.
Jon Feliciano will likely replace him at left guard. When Banks left the team’s Week 5 win over the Cowboys with a shoulder injury it was Feliciano who stepped in and played well in a season-high 32 snaps.
The problem with Feliciano taking over at LG is that it essentially saps all of the 49ers’ quality depth along the interior. Feliciano is their only backup center, and Matt Pryor got all of his work at right tackle during the offseason. Their other option on the interior OL is second-year OL Nick Zakelj, who is still transitioning to guard after spending his college career at tackle. He’s probably not a player the 49ers want to rely a lot on.
That gives San Francisco a couple options in the trade market. They could take a big swing for a starting-caliber guard to plug in while Banks is out. That would certainly improve the team’s depth once Banks returns, and would give them some flexibility at both guard spots moving forward.
Another option is trading for a backup they’re more confident in than Zakelj or Pryor, who does have experience at guard in his career. This would give the 49ers some added flexibility if Feliciano needs to move to C while Banks is out, and some much-needed depth in the second half of the season to insulate them from another injury or two.
Ultimately they’re not going to pass up adding a helpful player at any position. Shanahan and Lynch always say they’ll make any move they believe will improve their team and they should be aiming to do that at the deadline regardless of position. The Banks injury though may change the nature and intention of Lynch’s phone calls as Tuesday’s 1:00pm Pacific Time deadline approaches.
