Earlier this month, 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel made his trade request public.
While General Manager John Lynch said after the end of the season in January that the club wasn’t in the business of letting good players go, he changed his tune during his press conference at this year’s scouting combine.
“You know, still not interested,” Lynch began when asked about Samuel. “But along those lines of the financial constraints, and some conversations we’ve had with Deebo — it’s something that we’ve been forthright with that. We’re on good terms with Deebo. He’s asked for a fresh start and I think we’re going to honor that.
“Don’t like seeing great players — and he is a great player, I think often one of my favorite draft picks in my time. He makes plays. He makes game-changing plays. Everything’s good. But at some point, time happens and he asked for that, we don’t always — there’s contracts and things. But it probably makes sense, so we’re at least allowing him to look. And we’re having conversations, we’ll see how it goes.”
The 49ers have had discussions about trading Samuel in the past, but nothing came to fruition with them.
While Lynch understands the origins of Samuel’s trade request this offseason, he elected to keep that information in-house.
“Those are personal conversations. And like I said, everybody’s on good terms,” Lynch said. “Hopefully, we find a great place and then we’ll have to make a decision if we don’t. But there’s been a lot of interest around the league.”
To that end, there was recent reporting that teams were waiting to see if Samuel would be cut if no trade is worked out. That’s a possibility, but Lynch isn’t closing the door on Samuel potentially returning to the team.
“There’s always a scenario — I’ve learned that as well,” Lynch said.
Still, Lynch is finding it challenging to let a player like Samuel go.
“There’s a lot of love there. There’s a lot of respect there. There’s a lot of shared experiences,” Lynch said. “So, to let that go, that’s difficult. But like I said, time happens and if it makes sense for both sides, you at least give it a chance. And so that’s where [we’re] at.”
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