Sean McVay thought 49ers might take Kyle Pitts after trading up to No. 3
The 49ers made one of the biggest trades of the offseason when they moved all the way up to No. 3 overall in the draft, sending the Dolphins three first-round picks to make it happen. For a move of that magnitude, it was clear that the 49ers were on the hunt for a franchise quarterback, which they landed by taking Trey Lance out of North Dakota State.
But in the back of Sean McVay’s mind, he thought San Francisco might’ve moved up to take Florida’s transcendent tight end Kyle Pitts. McVay had Kyle Shanahan on his podcast, “Flying Coach,” and said he thought for a minute that the 49ers were going to take Pitts third overall.
“I thought there was a possibility that Kyle was gonna go Pitts at three,” McVay said. “In all seriousness, because he’s such a visionary. I’m telling you, I didn’t think it was going to be a crazy thought because you go back to when New England had the two-tight end set and they were doing things totally different. You think about what (George) Kittle – and then the thing that makes sense is, hey, Jimmy’s (Garoppolo) produced all the way. This isn’t a production thing. This is an availability thing. So if it’s not Mac Jones – and I hadn’t studied Trey because there wasn’t a lot of film exposure going back a couple years and we weren’t in that market, so I didn’t know other than watching him throw at his pro day that you’re saying, ‘Alright, you can see a lot of the things that you like and that would make sense.’”
It’s scary to imagine an offense that has George Kittle and Kyle Pitts, who are both dynamic athletes and big-play threats at tight end. The 49ers ultimately opted not to make that combination happen, but it would’ve made San Francisco a difficult team to defend.
Pitts went one pick later to the Falcons at No. 4 overall, which worked out well for them because they wound up trading Julio Jones to the Titans as a cap-saving move. So much of the 49ers’ future success is riding on Lance, and it’s easy to see why San Francisco took him.
He’s mobile, has a strong arm, is a great athlete and plays with an edge. The Rams will have to deal with him twice a year for at least the next four years, though he may not start right away as a rookie with Jimmy Garoppolo still there.
