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49ers Eye Josh Sweat as Cardinals Weigh Deadline Sell-Off
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- 49ers Eye Josh Sweat as Cardinals Weigh Deadline Sell-Off
The San Francisco 49ers have spent the first half of the season showing they can win without their best pass rusher.
With the NFL trade deadline closing in, the front office now has to decide whether a 6-1 contender should keep testing that idea or go get some insurance. One of the names tied to that decision plays for a division rival.
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NFL insider Jordan Schultz has named the 49ers as a potential suitor for Arizona Cardinals edge rusher Josh Sweat, putting San Francisco alongside the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys in a market that has been building since the spring.
Why San Francisco Makes Sense for Sweat
The need is easy to trace. San Francisco finished last season with just 20 sacks, the fewest in the league, after Nick Bosa tore his ACL in September.
This fall, the All-Pro has managed only two appearances, and a calf injury has kept him out since Week 3. General manager John Lynch has said Bosa is on track to return after the bye, but he still hasn't recorded a sack in 2026, and coming back from a third ACL repair rarely goes in a straight line.
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The 49ers have already strengthened the interior by trading for DeForest Buckner, and rookie Gracen Halton and Osa Odighizuwa have chipped in two sacks apiece. Even so, the San Francisco defense still lacks a proven closer on the edge.
After winning a Super Bowl in Philadelphia, the 29-year-old signed a four-year, $76.4 million deal with Arizona in March 2025 and answered with a career-high 12 sacks.
His 2026 season started quietly, with no sacks across the first three weeks, but he has since found his form again with three takedowns over a four-game stretch, including a strip of Matthew Stafford in a win over the Rams.
Why Arizona Might Finally Listen
For months, the Cardinals insisted Sweat wasn't available. Things got complicated after the firing of Jonathan Gannon, who coached Sweat in Philadelphia and helped bring him to the desert.
Reports that Sweat wanted out, along with his absence from voluntary workouts, fed the noise, but general manager Monti Ossenfort said plainly in August that the team had no interest in moving him.
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A 2-5 start and the decision to send Marvin Harrison Jr. to Houston changed the tone a great deal, and ESPN's Jeremy Fowler has since called a Sweat trade fairly likely before the deadline.
Sunday's overtime win in Dallas, which lifted Arizona to 3-5, might give Ossenfort a reason to pause. It also gave the Cowboys, another reported suitor, a firsthand look at what Sweat could bring them, and one victory does little to change the outlook for a roster that has already started moving veterans.
The obstacles are real, though. Trading Sweat would leave Arizona with about $18.3 million in dead money in 2027, so Ossenfort will want a return that makes the hit worth it. A high-end Day 2 pick has been described as the kind of package that would count as a win.
Making that deal with the 49ers adds another complication, because the Cardinals would be handing a premium pass rusher to the team that leads their division and then facing him twice a year.
Still, if San Francisco is willing to pay a little extra to ease the discomfort of a division trade, Arizona may find that the best offer it gets is also the hardest one to accept.
