49ers news: John Lynch cautiously optimistic about Deebo Samuel

49ers general manager John Lynch said everything he had to about Deebo Samuel, which translated into not revealing much at all on Monday.

Monday’s press conference with San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch might have been one of the more highly anticipated pressers in recent Niners history.

If for no other reason than to get Lynch’s perspective on all the things going on (or not going on) with wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who has requested a trade and is seemingly at war with San Francisco’s front office.

Lynch, the former television personality with Fox Sports, knows how to read a room and what to say.

More importantly, what not to say.

As a result, Lynch’s responses to questions were vague at best, the usual “we can’t get into that” and “we’re hopeful” statements you’d expect to hear.

In fairness, you can’t exactly expect Lynch to say much more than that. But, dissecting the comments themselves, there’s not a lot of substance either.

John Lynch still vague on 49ers’ situation with Deebo Samuel

While Samuel has gone public, both through his agency and his own social media actions, Lynch and the 49ers have remained awfully quiet about the situation up until this point.

Lynch’s opening comments reflected no change in that strategy:

"I don’t want to speak on behalf of Deebo and his team, and I think it’s non-productive for us to be talking about things. I’ve always thought having been on the other side, and I’ve shared this with you guys, there’s a sanctity to those conversations remaining private. And that’s always how we’ve operated and will continue to do so in this situation.As we move forward, I’m sure you have questions. Just understand please that I’m just not going to go there. I always have to ask myself in this job, “What’s in the best interest of our organization?” I don’t think it’s the best interest of our organization or anyone to be speaking on that."

Translation: “You’re not going to get much by the way of news here.”

This isn’t exactly the kind of statement reporters would have wanted to hear, of course, rather they would have hoped for Lynch to come out and say something along the lines of “we’re close to a deal” or “we’re now looking at trade possibilities because we’re at an impasse.”

No such luck, though. Lynch didn’t go there.

John Lynch still hopeful Deebo Samuel and 49ers reach agreement

In an ideal world, the Niners wouldn’t simply move on from Samuel because he requested a trade. For those not wholly familiar with contract negotiations, it’s a common strategy. In the not-so-distant San Francisco past, now-Miami Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert and kicker Robbie Gould both requested trades before new deals were engineered.

Both requested them publicly through their agents, too.

Lynch is also hoping some new arrangement winds up taking place, and he’s optimistic about such developments:

"I can’t ever imagine wanting to move on from Deebo… He’s just too good of a player. You think of 2019, the 36th pick to come up with someone like Deebo who to me has just been a game-changing player for our franchise."

“I’m confident we can find the solutions to work through whatever’s going on,” Lynch also added later.

Read More: 4 teams Deebo Samuel would love (if 49ers trade him)

Lynch also admitted they’d listen to trade offers from Samuel but phrased it in a way that didn’t make it sound like the 49ers are openly shopping the “wide back,” coming out and saying with regards to hearing offers, “that’s something we’ll always do.”

Whether or not the Niners have taken any offers seriously, though, is another matter. According to reports, the New York Jets are willing to offer the No. 10 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, a sizable return, although Lynch could want more.

With the 2022 draft just days away, there’ll be no shortage of speculating the truth behind Lynch’s statements and whether or not there’s any trade traction on Samuel’s rumors.