The San Francisco 49ers made a big trade last week to acquire wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders. There were some thoughts that the team might try to make another move before Tuesday's trade deadline. Maybe not necessarily to bring in another big-name player, but perhaps to offload a player to recoup a draft pick or two.
Quarterback C.J. Beathard's name was being mentioned by the likes of ESPN's Adam Schefter and others.
The 1 p.m. trade deadline came and went, and Beathard remained on the 49ers roster. In fact, San Francisco didn't make any other moves. Nothing to its liking materialized.
General manager John Lynch joined KNBR on Tuesday and discussed what the closing hours leading to the trade deadline were like for him and his staff.
"I wouldn't characterize anything as close," Lynch said on the "Tolbert, Krueger and Brooks" show. "I think around that time, everyone's calling everyone, and just kind of checking in. We did a lot of that, but nothing ever materialized that came close by any means.
"Happy with the move that we made with Emmanuel. I think it paid off. His numbers (against the Panthers) weren't huge, but I thought his impact was really big. Those third downs early in the game, the touchdown early in the game, and those third downs allow you to stay on the field.
"It just felt good watching that game. You felt very confident when the ball was going his way. It was a good feeling, so happy with what we were able to do there. And now that's over, and we can focus on continuing to try to stack wins."
There were reports after the Sanders trade that the Denver Broncos wanted to delay the deal another week so they would have him for Sunday's matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. Lynch and the 49ers wanted him before their own game against the Carolina Panthers.
San Francisco got Sanders, and the receiver ended up scoring a touchdown on the Niners' first drive of the game.
Lynch said there is some truth to the report that Denver wanted to hold onto Sanders for a little longer.
"I think first and foremost, John (Elway) wanted to keep him, period," Lynch explained, "but I think he sensed an opportunity that they could get some pretty good compensation for him. The market was hot. The (Mohamed) Sanu thing happened first, and so, I think, our deal was reflected on a market that had heated up.
"I think they had some issues in terms of they were getting some people off IR. They probably did want to buy another week, but I think it became very clear it was important for us because (when) you're getting a guy whose contract is expiring, every game counts.
"In this league, every game is so important. You only play 16, so if we're going to be offering this much, we've got to do this and do it now. This is kind of a take-it-or-leave-it offer, and it came to fruition."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.
