Throughout this offseason, there has been speculation that the San Francisco 49ers will trade star wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. The former first-round pick is eligible for a contract extension, and with the team already paying big money to running back Christian McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle, fellow wide receiver Deebo Samuel, and left tackle Trent Williams, the theory is that the Niners could send Aiyuk out and replace him with a cheaper option.
That made San Francisco's selection of University of Florida wideout Ricky Pearsall -- who began his college career at Arizona State, where he was a teammate of Aiyuk's -- quite an interesting one. But according to 49ers general manager John Lynch, Aiyuk was excited about the pick.
Aiyuk apparently texted Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan, letting them know what he thought. Those thoughts, according to ESPN: "Fire pick, can't lie."
Following the draft, Shanahan acknowledged that the team had trade discussions involving both Aiyuk and Samuel, but noted that nothing ever came close to happening and that he doesn't think anything will.
"It doesn't seem that likely to be honest," Shanahan said, per ESPN. "But I'm still on the table. If someone offered [owner] Jed [York] and John [Lynch] good stuff for me, I'm going to be out of here."
Lynch, meanwhile, insisted that the team is still working to get a deal done with Aiyuk, and that it wants Samuel to stick around as well.
"I know that we're continuing to have positive talks with [Aiyuk] and we are really efforting to get something done with him," Lynch said. "We're excited about continuing down that path and Brandon being a part of this team. Deebo is a part of this team and a big part of this team. We feel great about that group and we feel like we just made it better with another really good addition to it, who complements the group real well."
Aiyuk and Samuel are part of what is arguably the best group of skill-position players in the NFL, and their abilities have helped raise the Niners' Brock Purdy-led offense and to new heights, including trips to the NFC title game and the Super Bowl in each of the last two seasons. If San Francisco can find a way to keep both of them in town while also incorporating Pearsall, that would probably be ideal. But things don't always work out the ideal way you want them to, so we should still keep an eye on potential trade possibilities until we get through the offseason with all of them still on the roster.
