3 trades Brett Veach should have made and 2 we are glad he didn't

Brett Veach should have at least pursued the former first overall pick.

The trade:
San Francisco 49ers receive DE Chase Young
Washington Commanders receive 2024 third-round pick

George Karlaftis. Charles Omenihu. Chris Jones. Chase Young. Imagine that pass rushing front for the Chiefs this season. It is hair-raising, paired with some more exotic blitz packages from Spagnuolo.

The Washington Commanders were prime sellers heading into the trade deadline. Eric Bieniemy's new employers were rudderless and well below .500 in the NFC East already. The Sam Howell experience has been anything but valuable in Washington, and there are more questions than answers in that front office. All that uncertainty made any path to retaining Young and fellow tradee Montez Sweat a difficult one.

Sweat going to the Chicago Bears was a surprising trade but on par for the Ryan Poles-led front office. Young going to the San Francisco 49ers for a low third-round pick felt like a punch in the gut. The team already had Nick Bosa, a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate and 2019 second-overall pick, on one edge. Now, they have Young, the 2020 second-overall pick and Pro Bowler, on the other edge. It seems unfair on paper.

The real kicker of this trade is that San Francisco has very little to risk. At worst, they get some production out of Young, and he walks in free agency, right? Wrong. Even in that scenario, the 49ers could receive a 2025 third-round compensatory pick. That is hardly a drop in the selection process for a Super Bowl-contending team. At best, the 49ers get first dibs on extending him after he logs a Pro Bowl season. Oh no, so terrible.

This is the trade that many teams and their respective general managers pulled off. It is a low-risk, high-reward move for an exciting player mired in the Washington franchise's muck. Now the NFL will see Young free of that, but it could have been for 30 other teams. Why did it have to be San Francisco and not Kansas City? This is the biggest trade of the deadline, and one that fans really wished ended with Young coming to Arrowhead.