Last week, it was reported that other teams are “poking around” about potentially trading for 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
This week, general manager John Lynch was asked if there’s any truth to those reports. Lynch could have shut them down with a simple, “No.” Instead, he said this:
“That typically happens with really good players. I remember two years ago having similar conversations. You get calls and you always listen to calls. Since Kyle (Shanahan) and I have been here, we’ve been the No. 2 cash-spending team. In the last four years, we’re the fourth-highest cash-spending team. So at some point, you have to reset a little bit, or at least recalibrate. You can’t just keep pressing the pedal.
“I think there’s some good that can come out of that. We need to get younger. I think we’re the oldest team in football after trying to make a run last year. I think it’s good to constantly get younger. Our draft class last year was a great move toward that. We’ll have four picks in the top 100. If the comp picks happen like we see it, we’ll have 10 picks overall. We’re excited about adding more youth to the great core of players we already have.”
TRANSLATION: The 49ers need to spend less cash and get younger now, so trading Aiyuk, who’s arguably the most overpaid player team, certainly is an option.
Frankly, it sounds like the 49ers want to trade Aiyuk. If only they had been bold enough to do so last year, they could have gotten a first-round pick in return. Now that he has torn his ACL and MCL, they’ll be lucky to get a third-round pick for him.