As it turns out, Odell Beckham Jr. was treating the last day of April as if it was the first day of April, tweeting as a joke that 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel was being traded to the Patriots. (OBJ was committed to the gag, hinting at the coming fake scoop a day early.)
The truth was and is that nothing is happening. 49ers G.M. John Lynch was asked by reporters on Saturday whether there were any more phone calls from other teams about Samuel and whether anything has changed.
“There wasn’t,” Lynch said. “Nothing’s changed.”
The 49ers made it clear on Friday night that they hope nothing changes. They want things to settle down. They hope they can figure something out. While the true issue between player and team officially begins a mystery, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan seemed to blurt out on Friday night that a contractual impasse is at the core of the situation.
Other teams can still try to trade for Samuel. The offers made so far haven’t been great. That could help Samuel come to terms with the reality that he either needs to take the best offer the 49ers will make or roll the dice on 2022, hopeful that another big year will draw even bigger offers.
Regardless, the 49ers managed to get through the draft without trading Samuel. They’ll now try to persuade Deebo to change his tune. They’ll find out along with the rest of us whether it works.
