Last year, with rampant speculation regarding the 49ers’ plans for the third overall pick in the draft, coach Kyle Shanahan joined G.M. John Lynch for the team’s pre-draft press conference.
This year, with receiver Deebo Samuel acknowledging last week that he has asked to be traded, Shanahan ghosted the pre-draft sit-down with reporters.
“He’s always invited,” Lynch said Monday when asked about Shanahan’s absence. “Last year, just kind of on a whim, I think he wanted to have some fun, so he came and joined me, but I just left him and he was actually, we were studying some different scenarios at 61, so that’s what we were doing when I last left him. And I think he was too engrossed in that, so you got stuck with me.”
Yes, it’s important to be focused on what will happen on Friday night, when the 49ers are on the clock after 60 picks are made. With 18 hours or so of dead time between the end of the first round and the start of the second round.
The truth surely is that Shanahan decided to duck the media for a press conference that would have entailed even more questions about Samuel’s trade request, whether the team will acquiesce to it, and what the team did or failed to do to get Samuel to the point where he decided he wants out.
C’mon Kyle. I know you don’t like “annoying” headlines, but how can you hide your head in the sand when one of the team’s best players wants out? Everyone knows you, not Lynch, calls the shots. You need to chime in on this one, sooner than later.