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The San Francisco 49ers have made six in-season trades in the Kyle Shanahan era, acquiring Jimmy Garoppolo, Emmanuel Sanders, Jordan Willis, Charles Omenihu, Christian McCaffrey and Randy Gregory.

In terms of trade partners, the 2017 Garoppolo deal is the outlier. The New England Patriots were 6-2 when they shipped the quarterback, who was unsigned for the following season, to the Bay Area. The other teams had one, two or — in the case of Willis and the 2020 New York Jets — no wins at the time of the trade.

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Which is why we grabbed a flashlight and scoured the NFL cellar for potential trades between now and the Oct. 31 deadline. The following are the bottom seven teams in order of awfulness. All ought to be motivated to turn veteran players into cap space and draft picks. That’s especially true of the winless Carolina Panthers, who have no first-round pick and six selections in April. The 49ers have made two recent deals with Carolina — for McCaffrey last season and kicker Zane Gonzalez in March.

In most of the cases below, we included both a splashy pickup and one that’s more realistic for a 49ers team with an already loaded salary cap for next season.

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Carolina Panthers

Pie in the sky: DE Brian Burns

He might be the best player available, and 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks knows him well from their time together in Carolina. Burns, 25, has tremendous burst and nine or more sacks in each of the last three seasons. Because of that, it might take a king’s ransom to pry him from the Panthers, and any team that succeeds would then have to give him a long-term contract. That’s proved thorny for Carolina, hence Burns’ trade status. The 49ers, meanwhile, may have already slaked their thirst for an additional edge rusher by acquiring Gregory at a very low cost.

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More realistic: CB Donte Jackson

Though the 49ers signed Anthony Brown a month ago, Ambry Thomas continues to enter games as the No. 3 cornerback like he did Sunday in Cleveland when Deommodore Lenoir had to miss a few plays. Which is to say, the 49ers are one sprained ankle away from Thomas being a starter. That’s why someone like Jackson might catch their eye. He’s started 65 NFL games since 2018 and played for Wilks last season.

Pie in the sky: CB Jaylon Johnson

The 2020 second-round pick is in the final year of his contract. He’s only 24 and has been Chicago’s top cornerback, perhaps because opponents rarely target him. They’ve completed just eight of 17 passes versus Johnson in four games and have a 64.4 passer rating against him. Is it realistic? If the Bears dangled him, there are playoff-caliber teams — the Bills, Lions and Cowboys — who have greater cornerback issues than the 49ers. And the 49ers would be hard-pressed to sign him to the long-term deal he’s seeking.

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More realistic: OL Cody Whitehair

The 31-year-old lineman has endured plenty of coaching changes and losing seasons in Chicago, and on Sunday he was essentially benched at center. He’s not ideal for the 49ers offense. But he’s played a lot of football — more than 100 starts at guard or center — since entering the league in 2016. The 49ers might see him as a stabilizing force if there are injuries or hiccups on the interior offensive line.

Pie in the sky: S Budda Baker

Though the veteran safety is on injured reserve, the Cardinals opened the practice window for his return this week. Acquiring Baker is unlikely because he’s just 2 1/2 years into a four-year, $59 million deal and because the 49ers are very happy with their starting safeties. Still, if anything happened to Talanoa Hufanga or Tashaun Gipson Sr. in the next two weeks, Baker would become interesting. Not only is he a savvy veteran familiar with NFC West offenses, he played for Wilks in Arizona in 2018. That is, he’d be a quick study.

More realistic: TE Zach Ertz

The 49ers have long toyed with the idea of pairing George Kittle with another tight end who blocks and catches passes equally well, but it’s never happened. Ertz, meanwhile, might welcome a move both to a contender and to the area where he grew up (Danville) and played collegiately (Stanford). The remainder of his $8.8 million base salary this season is a hurdle to a trade. But it might be something the Cardinals, who obviously are in rebuilding mode, would be willing to negotiate if it means extra draft picks. Ertz turns 33 next month.

Pie in the sky: CB Pat Surtain II

I know. This is the guy fans really covet, the guy you’d love to see opposite Charvarius Ward for years to come. The chances of it happening, however, might be at Lloyd Christmas levels. First, the talent-starved Broncos probably shouldn’t trade a 23-year-old cornerback they can keep through 2025 on his current contract. And as noted above, other teams have a greater need for a young cornerback.

More realistic: NCB K’Waun Williams

He knows the 49ers defense and he’d solve their nickel conundrum. That is, he could play the position against zippy slot receivers, allowing Lenoir to remain on the outside. There’s only one, tiny issue: Williams, 32, remains on injured reserve after having ankle surgery in late August, though he’s eligible to come off it at any point. That, plus his age, suggests trade compensation would be minimal.

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Realistic: CB Adoree’ Jackson

The cornerbacks listed above are either outside cornerbacks or nickel cornerbacks. Jackson, 28, can play both, which obviously would give the 49ers flexibility. A team that trades for him would have to take on a prorated portion of his 2023 salary, but the 2017 first-round pick isn’t signed beyond this season, so there’s no long-term commitment.

New England Patriots

Realistic: WR Kendrick Bourne

No, the 49ers don’t have a need at wide receiver. In fact, they’ll have a surplus when Danny Gray is ready to come off injured reserve. Still, if there is a long-term injury to any of the top three wideouts, Bourne makes a lot of sense. He knows the offense, knows what Shanahan wants out of the position and he’d undoubtedly bring his signature energy to the field.

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Pie in the sky: DE Danielle Hunter

He’s tied with T.J. Watt for the league lead in sacks — eight — and has been the best thing about the Vikings defense. But as is the case with Burns, the 49ers already may have found their extra pass rusher in Gregory. There also may be more motivated teams to acquire Hunter like the Lions and also the Lions. (And if you think they wouldn’t do an intradivision trade, Detroit sent tight end T.J. Hockenson to Minnesota last season.)

More realistic: G Ezra Cleveland

The 49ers seemed to like Cleveland heading into the 2020 draft. They had a pre-draft visit with him that spring, albeit a “video visit” because in-person meetings were wiped out by COVID-19. It’s easy to understand the allure: Cleveland has length — 6 foot 6 with 33 3/8-inch arms — and was light on his feet for a 311-pounder. He ran his 40-yard dash at the combine in 4.93 seconds, which is excellent for an offensive lineman and suits San Francisco’s zone-blocking scheme.

The Vikings chose Cleveland in Round 2. He’s been a starting guard since midway through his rookie season. But he’s not signed beyond this season and there’s a sense he hasn’t played up to his draft status in Minnesota. One issue: The 49ers’ need appears to be at right guard while Cleveland has been a left guard since 2021. Still, he has some experience on the right side, can play tackle in a pinch — he was a tackle in college — and has done a lot of zone blocking with the Vikings. Minnesota’s offensive line coach, Chris Kuper, was an assistant under 49ers offensive line coach Chris Foerster in Miami in 2016-17.

(Top photo of Pat Surtain II defending Brandon Aiyuk in 2022: RJ Sangosti / MediaNews Group / The Denver Post via Getty Images)

“The Football 100,” the definitive ranking of the NFL’s best 100 players of all time, goes on sale this fall. Preorder it here.

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