“I’m doing everything in my power to keep our roster together,” Lynch said on The Pat McAfee Show. “That’s my goal, and I don’t question that. When you talk about guys like Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo, those are guys that we drafted, and we take a lot of pride in what they’ve become and who they’ve become. We couldn’t be more proud of those guys. And so, during the course of drafts and offseasons, do conversations happen? Absolutely, they do. We’re past that now. We’re thrilled to add to that group.”
Before the draft, analysts predicted the 49ers might trade Aiyuk in particular the way they traded DeForest Buckner a few years ago when they couldn’t come to an agreement with him on a contract extension. But Lynch and Kyle Shanahan didn’t draft Buckner — they inherited him. That’s the difference in the two situations.
Lynch clearly never wanted to trade either Aiyuk or Samuel, because doing so might make the 49ers worse this year, and their goal this offseason was to not get worse, a goal they believe they achieved. Eventually, the 49ers probably will have to release Samuel, because keeping him, Aiyuk and Brock Purdy will be too expensive. So instead of trading Samuel now and getting some value for him, they’ll hold onto him until he has no trade value left, and then release him or let him walk in free agency.
