30 best moves made during the 2019 NFL offseason

25. San Francisco 49ers trade for Dee Ford

Back in 2017, there was a lot of attention being paid to the draft moves made by first-year general manager John Lynch and rookie head coach Kyle Shanahan. That was the year the San Francisco 49ers dropped down from No. 2 to No. 3. The Chicago Bears moved up for Mitchell Trubisky, but still landed their desired target with the third pick.

That choice was defensive end Solomon Thomas out of Stanford. The 49ers then were able to land Reuben Foster at the end of the round, giving them one of the best linebackers in the draft. With those two players on board, the 49ers were expected to be a strong defense for years to come — but that ended up not being the case.

Foster was released for his off-field drama and is now with the Washington Redskins. Thomas is still on the team but hasn’t done much to merit his high draft position. Rather than continuing to hope he will turn it around, San Francisco decided to go after other options with the first being Dee Ford from the Kansas City Chiefs.

Ford missed 10 games in 2017, but was stellar the year prior, as well as this past season. In 2016, he had 38 tackles and 10 sacks, as he developed into a great player off the edge. Last season, Ford had his best campaign ever as he racked up 55 tackles, 13 sacks and an incredible seven forced fumbles.

With other edge rushers demanding first-round picks, the 49ers ended up getting Ford for just a second-round pick. They even got him under contract on a fair deal which will pay him $87.5 million over five seasons.

Now with Ford and No. 2 overall pick Nick Bosa, the defensive ends in San Francisco look significantly better this season than prior years.