Trade for Bills: Steve Johnson was as good as gone after the Bills traded up for Sammy Watkins, after trading for Mike Williams before the draft. The Bills will go into 2014 with Watkins, Robert Woods, and Mike Williams as their top-3 wide receivers and there wasn’t a place for Steve Johnson, who was scheduled to make 3.925 million between now and the end of the season. Given that, credit the Bills for somehow getting a 4^th round pick (with the potential to turn into a 3^rd round pick) in the 2015 draft. The Bills’ decision to trade two first rounders for Sammy Watkins remains puzzling, but this helps a little bit.

Grade: A

Trade for 49ers: I don’t get this move for the 49ers. They obviously needed wide receiver help, but they needed that wide receiver help way more in the long-term than the short-term. Anquan Boldin and Michael Crabtree are more than serviceable starters, but the long-term issue is that Crabtree is going into his contract year and Boldin is going into his age 34 season. They had an excess of 2014 draft picks and could have spent a couple on young wide receivers.

Instead, they traded a pick in next year’s draft for Steve Johnson, and a fairly high one at that. Johnson is obviously more of a help in the short-term than a rookie would have been, but the 49ers are going to get very expensive over the next two off-seasons so Johnson will have to really impress for the 49ers to pay him his 6.025 million dollar salary for 2015. They’re basically trading a 2015 mid round pick for a year of Steve Johnson at a 3.925 million dollar salary.

That’s way more than a rookie would have cost. That’s probably more than a 2^nd round rookie would have cost over 4 years. That’s a big deal for a team as pressed against the cap as the 49ers. They’ll get some cap space freed up on June 1^st when Carlos Rogers comes off their books, but they’ll need all of that, and maybe some more, to sign their rookie class and fill out their roster. They may have to restructure some contracts and push money forward to the future, which is a dangerous precedent. I understand the desire to win now, but the 49ers are still a young team that can be very good for the next 5-7 years. They don’t have to sell out for this season. It seems like a misuse of resources for a team that is going to have to properly use them over the next few off-seasons if they’re going to maintain their status as a perennial contender.

The one thing that could make this deal make more sense is if the 49ers do decide to let Frank Gore go. Frank Gore has a 6.45 million dollar cap number and the 49ers can save all of that on the cap if they were to let him go ahead of his age 31 season. Gore was still a productive player last season, but he hit a career low in yards per carry at 4.1 and his 16 catches were his lowest since his rookie year. He’s going into his age 31 season with 2518 career touches and, after drafting Carlos Hyde with a 2^nd round pick that they might have originally used on a wide receiver, they may feel comfortable going into 2014 without him. He’s not worth that kind of money anymore, especially for a team this pressed against the cap, and the 49ers can get away with Carlos Hyde, Kendall Hunter, and Marcus Lattimore as their top-3 running backs going into 2014.

Grade: C

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