SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- San Francisco 49ers tight end Vance McDonald was preparing to deliver the best man speech at his brother's wedding in Austin, Texas, when his mother Beverly came up to him and made him aware that his name was coming up in trade talks during the NFL draft.
McDonald, who signed a three-year, $19.7 million contract extension with the Niners in December, didn't have time to be upset by the report.
"I still had my best man speech to do," McDonald said. "I had a little more foregoing priority at that point. But no, it wasn’t [upsetting]. As soon as I heard it, immediately I was going to have the mindset that this isn’t going to change anything and I’m going to end up where I end up and I’m going to continue doing everything I can to be a better football player."
Coach Kyle Shanahan said the Niners had received a call from a team expressing interest in McDonald, and they then went to other teams to gauge what the market for him might be. In the end, no deal was struck and McDonald remained with the 49ers.
Shanahan and general manager John Lynch were refreshingly honest about the fact that they had talked about moving McDonald. They extended that same candid courtesy to McDonald himself.
"I talked to Coach Shanahan that night; it was a great talk," McDonald said. "Then, the following Monday, I came in and we had another meeting. You’ve got a 2-14 team, obviously there’s a lot of things that you can improve on, a lot of spots, a lot of things that you need to improve upon from last season. If teams are going to call and inquire about you, then obviously the next step is to see what it would require for a trade. Then after that, you have got to call every other team. That’s exactly what happened for me."
Fast forward about a month, and McDonald is participating in organized team activities like it's business as usual. During the first OTA open to the media, McDonald was working at his usual tight end spot, taking repetitions with the first couple of offensive units. Of course, that doesn't mean McDonald is free and clear when it comes to landing a roster spot.
On the same weekend in which his name came up in trade talks, the Niners spent a fifth-round pick on Iowa's George Kittle and signed Louisville's Cole Hikutini as a priority undrafted free agent. Those moves came on the heels of San Francisco signing blocking tight end Logan Paulsen early in free agency. In other words, there will be plenty of competition to nail down roster spots for incumbents such as McDonald, Garrett Celek and Blake Bell.
For McDonald to secure his spot, he'll need to offer even more than he did last year, which had been the best season of his career before a shoulder injury cut it short. McDonald had career highs in receiving yards (391), yards per reception (16.29) and touchdowns (four) in 11 games. Still, that production was largely the result of touchdown catches that covered 75 and 65 yards, accounting for more than a third of his total yardage.
With Shanahan taking over, the role of the tight end is evolving. Shanahan's offense traditionally has leaned on tight ends who are either strong in line blockers or possess the versatility to move all over the formation. McDonald would be more likely to qualify as the latter and already has acknowledged the responsibilities Shanahan puts on the position and the pace at which the Niners are installing the offense.
"We're [at] the end of the line," McDonald said. "There’s communication with us and the wide receivers and running backs. We’re also in command with the receiving corps. There are a lot of things on our plate. Hopefully, this doesn’t get back to the wide receivers, but we’re supposed to be smarter than them. It’s a fun job to have."
It's a job McDonald hopes to keep, even after he was nearly on his way out.
"It wasn’t like they don’t want me here," McDonald said. "There was never just a lack of communication. The Monday morning meeting was really awesome and then even that night, I was at my brother’s wedding, I was helping clean up tables and he looked down and actually saw [Shanahan] calling me.
"He’s been in a draft room for 48 hours at that point, so I’m sure he’s worn out and he’s calling me on his way home, and the first thing I told him is ‘Man, there’s not a lot of coaches that would do this. So I’m sure you’re worn out.’ We were kind of joking. He just wanted to fill me in."