SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- In a move that has felt inevitable since NFL draft weekend, the San Francisco 49ers traded tight end Vance McDonald and a fifth-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a fourth-round pick on Tuesday morning.
The 49ers initially attempted to trade McDonald during the NFL draft but were unable to find a match. Now that the regular season is almost here, business picked up.
Though Tuesday's trade was by no means a franchise-changer, it does offer a little more insight into a few things going on with the 49ers as they head toward the opener against the Carolina Panthers.
With that in mind, here's three takeaways from the deal:
1. Ready or not, rookie tight end George Kittle's time has arrived
The 49ers drafted Kittle in the fifth round this year, but it was clear almost immediately they believed he had starter potential. Kittle worked with the starting offense in the spring and continued throughout the preseason when he wasn't dealing with minor injury issues.
Kittle is the ideal fit to play the "move" tight end in coach Kyle Shanahan's offense. He's a ferocious blocker -- much better than McDonald -- and has underrated speed and separation ability as a route runner. With veteran blocking specialist Logan Paulsen around, which player starts could be a simple function of matchups from week to week. Even if Kittle is technically not on the field for the first play every week, he's going to play and play a lot in his first NFL season.
2. The 49ers have more roster flexibility before the cuts to the initial 53-man roster
Although projecting how Shanahan and general manager John Lynch plan to shape the 53-man roster is difficult because we don't have a track record to go on, it's probably a good bet the 49ers will keep Kittle and Paulsen at tight end with Kittle being a sure thing. The questions that follow are how many more they keep and who sticks around?
Fullback Kyle Juszczyk splits time between the running backs and tight ends and his presence would seem to make it unnecessary for the 49ers to keep more than three tight ends. Theoretically, they could just keep two along with Juszczyk and use the extra roster spot to have more depth at another position.
If the 49ers keep three, Garrett Celek is the logical choice to fill that third spot over Blake Bell and undrafted rookie Cole Hikutini, but there are multiple factors to consider, not least of which is special teams. Bell has played a whopping 54 snaps on special teams this preseason, which is something to keep in mind considering the fact that anyone playing the third tight end role on a team will have to play on special teams. Celek has also contributed in that regard, though, playing 27 special-teams snaps in three preseason games.
Hikutini has some promise but hasn't done much in the preseason and doesn't play much on special teams, which could make him a candidate for the practice squad.
Regardless of how it plays out, the 49ers have some additional options to mold the roster how they want after trading McDonald.
3. The 49ers now have even more ammunition in the 2018 NFL draft
Securing a fourth-round pick from the Steelers at the cost of McDonald and a fifth-round choice isn't exactly going to make the difference in the 49ers' rebuilding efforts. Essentially, they were able to move on from McDonald -- eating the $5.6 million left of his signing bonus over the next two seasons -- in exchange for moving up into the fourth round. How many spots that manifests into in the draft remains to be seen.
But there's a bigger-picture point to take here as well. The 49ers traded their 2018 fourth-round pick to Denver in a move to acquire a fifth-round pick in the 2017 draft and running back Kapri Bibbs this year. Now, they have a fourth-round choice again to go along with the two picks they have in each of the second and third rounds.
Why does that matter? Well, if the 49ers are searching for a franchise quarterback next offseason and can't find him in free agency, they would have to do it through the draft. There's no guarantee they'll be in position to just take one of the best signal callers, which would mean a trade up might be necessary. Having as many picks as possible in more desirable rounds would help that cause, especially with teams like Buffalo and Cleveland already owning additional first-round choices. A fourth-round pick wouldn't make or break any such deals, but it could be the final sweetener to complete a deal if needed.