By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor
On Thursday, the San Francisco 49ers placed receiver Jalen Hurd on injured reserve.
Hurd was a third-round pick of the 49ers and was inactive for the first three weeks of the season. (Note: The 49ers had their bye week in week four.)
But why does this matter to Philly fans? The 2020 draft, that’s why.
According to Mike Garaffalo of the NFL Network, the 49ers intend to re-sign Jordan Matthews to take Hurd’s roster spot.
The #49ers are planning to re-sign veteran WR Jordan Matthews, league sources say. Matthews is expected to take Jalen Hurd’s roster spot, as the rookie receiver is headed to IR. Sounds like the Niners want to give Hurd’s back fracture time to heal.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 3, 2019
The Eagles lost a compensatory pick when the 49ers released Matthews, but the Eagles could regain a pick with his re-signing. Matthews would just need to be on the roster for 10 games.
2019 Eagles Compensatory Pick Chart
QB Nick Foles | Jacksonville Jaguars | $22,000,000 | 3 | ||||
LB Jordan Hicks | Arizona Cardinals | $9,000,000 | 4 | ||||
WR Golden Tate | New York Giants | $9,350,000 | 5 | ||||
Note: The Golden Tate compensatory pick falls from a fourth-round to a fifth-round pick due to the money and snaps he lost during his four-game suspension to start the season.
Some things worth noting about this signing in regards to the compensatory pick formula:
Hurd could be activated after eight weeks and the 49ers could choose to release Matthews at that point, removing the compensatory pick from the Eagles again.
Hurd was inactive the first three weeks of the season, so there may be no rush to activate Hurd as soon as possible.
The 49ers can receive no compensatory picks this season, so it would not directly benefit them to cut Matthews in search of a compensatory pick.
If the 49ers do chose to take away the Eagles compensatory pick, they would just be granting another NFC rival an additional pick as the 32nd comp pick handed out figures to go to either the New York Giants or Minnesota Vikings.