SANTA CLARA -- Deebo Samuel’s trade request came as a surprise to Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch but the 49ers' head coach believes they can still mend the relationship.
“Yeah, I was real surprised,” Shanahan said. “John spoke a lot on that last week and I feel pretty much the same. We were surprised but when that does happen you know this business, so it can’t surprise you too much. We were disappointed a little bit but it’s part of this business.”
The 49ers' brain trust revealed that no team’s offer during the draft came close to what would make separating from their top offensive player worthwhile, but Shanahan did admit that they still evaluated all of the scenarios.
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“You’ll consider anything,” Shanahan said. “You want to help your organization any way you can. Losing a player like Deebo, it’s hard to see how that helps your organization, so you try to look at into all the aspects of it, what people were willing to do and nothing was even remotely close to what we thought would be fair for the 49ers.”
Lynch and Shanahan refused to go into detail on whether it is money or Samuel’s role with the team that is causing the rift in the relationship. The head coach did reveal that he hasn’t spoken to the wideout in a “couple of weeks” but still believes that the two sides can move forward.
Shanahan has tried not to get caught up with what is being said outside of team headquarters but his close relationship with Samuel will hopefully influence their future together in a positive way.
“We have a great relationship with Deebo,” Shanahan said. “Things haven’t been the best over the last couple months through outside perception but I’ve seen that happen a lot in this league especially in contract situations.
San Francisco 49ers
“You try not to overreact one way or the other on it. You try to be patient with it because emotions can get high with people, especially when you care about people and a lot is riding on it.”
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The 49ers drafted both a running back (Ty Davis-Price at No. 93) and a wide receiver (Danny Gray at No. 105) in the third round, which will definitely ease the load off of Samuel’s back during the 2022 season. Maybe with less pressure to run between the tackles, the star receiver and the team can reach an amenable agreement for all.