Could NY Giants and 49ers swing player-for-player draft day trade?

After rumblings of a potential NY Giants and San Fransisco trade involving Evan Engram earlier in the week, is there now a possibility for a potential player-for-player swap?

Earlier this week, we reported on a rumor from a San Fransisco 49ers reporter that the team was stunningly looking to acquire NY Giants’ tight end, Evan Engram. The main holdup in a potential Engram for picks scenario is that the 49ers don’t pick between the first and fifth rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft.

However, what if the two teams could pull off the now rarely seen player-for-player swap? According to our parent and national site, Fansided.com, the 49ers are shopping star edge rusher, Dee Ford, and the NY Giants surely make sense in many ways as a suitor, specifically in my eyes after talk of an Engram trade.

It’s a bit of a stretch to make at this time, but should it be? The NY Giants’ deepest position group might just be tight end, and the team’s weakest position group might be edge-rusher (it’s right up there with OT and C).

The biggest potential hurdle here would be making the money work, but it shouldn’t be all that hard for GM Dave Gettleman to figure this one out. Right now, there is about a $12M difference in Dee Ford and Evan Engram’s 2020 salaries.

Yet, the NY Giants still have $16M left in 2020 cap space and several contracts they could re-work or disperse of all together. For a talent such as Ford at such a dire position of need, I’d be more than fine with cutting Spencer Pulley ($2.75M savings) and re-working Kevin Zeitler’s deal.

Dee Ford has racked up 37 sacks, 11 forced fumbles, and 75 QB hits in 78 career games (43 starts) over six seasons. Twice, the edge-rusher has hit the double-digit sack mark and he has shown, when healthy, he’s one of the best in the business.

With his athletic ability, he seems like a prototype for a 3-4 pass-rushing menace.

If anything, he’s probably a little too small for 4-3 defensive end and that has been the one thing that’s hurt him during his career. Maybe, he’d stay healthy more often without putting his hand in the dirt every play.

The 49ers are reportedly looking to shed his 5/$85M contract that the team just signed him to last offseason. While that sounds like a monster deal, only $33M of that was guaranteed at signing and most of it will have been paid out after this upcoming season.

After carrying a  $15.8M cap hit for the upcoming season, Ford would carry cap hits of $17.6M, $18.6M, and $18.6M over the next three seasons. Again, while that may sound steep to some (not to me), he carries dead cap numbers of just $4.8M, $3.6M, and $1.8M in those seasons, meaning his deal would be easy to get out from under from should he not work out.

It’s likely that his contract will look like a bargain by the time the new CBA and salary caps roll in, and it’s rare to see a player with such a low amount of guaranteed money.

The last issue would be the NY Giants giving up on a talent such as Evan Engram, but that’s the easiest part of this equation to me, as Gettleman didn’t draft him.

I love Engram as a player as much as anyone, but with the way our roster is set up for the future, this would be a terrific deal for the franchise.

Engram is heading into the last year of his rookie contract and there has been no indication that the team plans on picking up his 2021 fifth-year option, yet (although they should).

Maybe, since we’re taking on a lot of money and giving up the younger player, the 49ers would even chip in a 2021 draft choice.

This deal is something that needs to be examined today, as it won’t be as likely tomorrow after each team could make a sizeable investment in these respective positions.

Also, with the fact that one team might need to part with draft capital to even things out in the eyes of the GM’s, the draft is surely a potential deadline date in this potential scenario.