The 49ers say they're fine starting C.J. Beathard at quarterback for the rest of the 2018 season with Jimmy Garoppolo lost to a torn ACL. The Browns say they're fine keeping Tyrod Taylor as a backup with rookie Baker Mayfield starting going forward.
Each team will be finer if San Francisco and Cleveland make the trade — Taylor to the 49ers — that's now staring them in the face.
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This is not the first time Taylor has been linked to San Francisco. Well before landing Garoppolo last year via a trade on deadline day, the 49ers reportedly had interest in Taylor, but the Bills restructured his contract in the spring and kept him from free agency.
Buffalo made the playoffs last season with Taylor in an offense coordinated by Rick Dennison, who was Taylor's position coach in Baltimore under coordinator Gary Kubiak in 2014. That system is directly linked to Mike Shanahan, the father of 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.
Taylor will be a free agent after the season. For the Browns, he's a good locker-room presence whom Mayfield and the rest of the players respect, but he's also likely looking at his final few months in Cleveland regardless.
If Taylor were to remain with the Browns, based on Hue Jackson's recent history of toggling QBs, it's not crazy to think the coach might go back to Taylor at some point in the season depending on the circumstances. In that sense, a trade with the 49ers would be doing Jackson a favor in removing an extra decision.
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Before the injuries to running back Jerick McKinnon and now Garoppolo, San Francisco had realistic hopes for a high-scoring offense this season. Some of it still can be salvaged.
Kyle Shanahan would be able to use Taylor's passing skills effectively within his offense and, in addition, get creative with the QB's running ability. While in Buffalo, Taylor also developed a good connection with the player who is now San Francisco's top wide receiver, Marquise Goodwin.
The 49ers made a quick recovery after the McKinnon injury by signing Alfred Morris, and he and Matt Breida have kept the running game strong behind an improved offensive line. Taylor is a mid-level QB, below the tier of Garoppolo, but San Francisco's system fits him better than Cleveland's does.
Both general managers, the 49ers' John Lynch and the Browns' John Dorsey, like to make aggressive moves, as proven by the respective trades that allowed them to acquire Garoppolo and Taylor in the first place.
In Dorsey's case, he needs to take advantage of a chance to obtain a draft pick after giving up a third-rounder to get Taylor. If Taylor were to depart via free agency in the spring, the Browns likely would not be awarded a compensatory pick for 2019.
Lynch should be able to get Taylor for a fifth-rounder. But for the 49ers, there's one fair question to ask: Does 1-2 San Francisco still think it can win big enough this year to warrant giving up a pick to essentially rent Taylor for a few months?
The argument could be no — the Rams will win the NFC West regardless, and even with Taylor, the 49ers will find it tough to earn a wild card in the NFC.
But it's early in the season. The 49ers are a game away from getting back to .500 and, beyond the Rams clashes, every game on their schedule would be winnable with a QB like Taylor. Nothing against Beathard, but there's no indication he can be this year's Nick Foles.
Taylor is not a surefire solution, but he's a logical one. Trading for him would not require great means, and the 49ers could save what could still be a breakthrough season with Shanahan.
