3 non-Deebo Samuel trades 49ers may engineer in NFL Draft
By Peter Panacy
The 49ers don’t want to trade Deebo Samuel if they don’t have to, and John Lynch might look to make one of these NFL Draft moves instead.
By now, you’re probably sick of hearing about how the San Francisco 49ers may be forced into a corner and ultimately end up trading All-Pro wide receiver Deebo Samuel to the highest possible bidder.
That’s been the news the last week-plus leading up to the 2022 NFL Draft. And if we’re being honest, 31 other teams should probably have a vested interest.
That means the Niners would actually have a seller’s market for Samuel, unlike another trade they tried making earlier this offseason.
Again, San Francisco doesn’t have to budge with regard to Samuel’s request. He’s under contract for 2022 and then potentially again with a would-be franchise tag in 2023, and the fines for players on their rookie deals missing training camp is $40,000 per day. That’s substantial and will add up.
But enough of that.
General manager John Lynch isn’t shy about draft-day trades. Ahem, last year’s trade-up to No. 3 overall in order to select quarterback Trey Lance is kind of a great example. And there are plenty of other examples, too, where Lynch moved around the draft board at will.
Armed with nine picks in this year’s draft, five of which are on day three, it wouldn’t be surprising if Lynch engineered more trades of this kind.
So, with that as a backdrop, let’s look at three potential trades Lynch and Co. could make during the NFL Draft that don’t actually involve Samuel for a change.