John Lynch Says the 49ers are Still Open to Trading Brandon Aiyuk

How interesting.

Dec 31, 2023; Landover, Maryland, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) / Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers drafted wide receiver Ricky Pearsall in Round 1, which only fueled the speculation that they could trade Brandon Aiyuk tomorrow, speculation which neither John Lynch nor Kyle Shanahan shut down on Thursday night.

Here's what they said.

Q: Are potential trades for Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel still in play?

LYNCH: "I don't know. I know that we're continuing to have positive talks with Aiyuk. We are really efforting to get something done and we're excited about continuing down that path and Brandon being part of this team. Deebo is part of this team and a big part of this team. Like I said, we feel great about that group and we feel like we just made it better with another really good addition to it who compliments the group real well.

Q: Would you close the door on a trade?

LYNCH: "You never close the door on a trade. We'll always listen and we have, but we like our group as it stands."

Q: Is it logical to think it would have taken something in the first round for you to consider trading Aiyuk and now that the first round is over it's unlikely you would move him?

SHANAHAN: "Yeah, I though it was unlikely going into it, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. You listen to everything. Everything is about trying to improve our team as much as we can for 2024 without jeopardizing 2025 as much as possible. That's everything you look into. Whenever that opportunity comes whichever way if you can improve your team, you do that. Sometimes it's hard to picture improving your team without him.

Q: All these wide receivers getting big money, is that something that concerns you with Aiyuk or did you expect it?

LYNCH: "You expected that the market would take a bit of a leap this year. It surely has. It's a premium position in our league right now. The ball is being thrown a lot and we're asking these players to do a lot. It's the reality and you deal with that."

Q: If teams didn't know you were open for business at wide receiver, they definitely do now. Are you going to get calls through the night? Will this go until teams are on the clock tomorrow?

LYNCH: "I can't predict what we're going to get. I'm going to go home, go to bed, wake up, come in here tomorrow and fire it up and try to add some more quality players to our team. This is always an exciting process and looking forward to it."

Q: Did you feel you were close to making any deals to move up or down?

LYNCH: "No."

Q: Just to clarify, you've said you can't close the door on a trade for Aiyuk. Is that the same for Deebo?"

SHANAHAN: "We don't close the door on anything."