Have you ever been interested in somebody, only for your good friend to come along and swoop in before you could do anything?
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan can relate.
Before the 49ers used three first-round picks to trade up and draft Trey Lance with the No. 3 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, their pursuit of former Detriot Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford fell short due to efforts of the division-rival Los Angeles Rams.
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Having pursued Stafford to some degree, the 49ers' brass woke up on Jan. 30 to news that a player they were after was just acquired by one of their division rivals.
The move was huge for Los Angeles, and will likely have implications on the NFC West as a whole for years to come. But Shanahan was more frustrated at not receiving an opportunity to counter the Rams offer.
"You knew Matt was available, you found out there were rumors he was going to be available and it started to get somewhat serious, just like kind of [Houston Texans QB] Deshaun [Watson] was at the time," Shanahan told reporters Tuesday.
"You see how good he is and then you go to sleep and you wake up and he's on the Rams the next day. So that was a little frustrating."
San Francisco 49ers
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The 49ers never made an official offer for Stafford but if given a chance to counter what the Rams had proposed, things could look much different in the division today.