Before the 49ers signed veteran cornerback Richard Sherman to a three-year contract on Saturday, the club thought it had a deal in place for Aqib Talib.
In fact, 49ers general manager John Lynch told Peter King of the MMQB that the 49ers did have a deal in place for a trade with the Denver Broncos. But Talib wanted to play for New England or the Los Angeles Rams, mentioning Bill Belichick and Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, Lynch said.
“We did have a trade in place with Denver for a veteran cornerback,” Lynch said told King. “Aqib Talib. I think he didn’t like the idea of being traded—he wanted to be released. I think he felt, ‘If I’m going anywhere, I want to play for Bill Belichick or Wade Phillips.’ I talked to the Broncos at the scouting combine in Indy about it, and I thought we had a deal.
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"Richard wasn’t available then. But we might have had to fight to make the trade for Aqib, so we just dropped it.”
The Rams ended up acquiring Talib in a trade with the Broncos, which left the 49ers with an opening to sign Sherman.