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Deebo Samuel may not be the only San Francisco 49ers receiver on the move this offseason. While Samuel has since been traded to the Washington Commanders, general manager John Lynch acknowledged this week that teams have also called the organization regarding the availability of fellow wideout Brandon Aiyuk. Lynch added that the team is listening to those calls.

“Yeah, that typically happens with really good players,” Lynch said Wednesday in Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine, via 49ers Webzone. “I remember, I think two years ago, having similar conversations. You get calls, and you always listen to calls.”

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team logo
Brandon Aiyuk
SF • WR • #11
TAR
47
REC
25
REC YDS
374
REC TD
0
FL
0
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The fact that San Francisco is at least listening to those calls suggests that it’s not out of the question that it moves off Aiyuk this offseason. If that ultimately comes to pass, it would be a rather remarkable calendar year between the team and the wideout. Talks of the Niners moving on from Aiyuk was a main storyline last offseason and bled into training camp before the two sides ultimately agreed on a four-year, $120 million extension.

Just months after inking that extension, Aiyuk’s 2024 season was cut short after he suffered a torn ACL and MCL in the club’s Week 7 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. Given his uncertainty heading into 2025 because of that injury, it’ll be curious to see if that dents his value on the trade market.

Aiyuk has spent his entire career with the 49ers ever since the organization selected him with the No. 25 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft out of Arizona State. His best season in the league came in 2023 where he tallied 105 catches for 1,342 yards receiving and seven touchdowns. Before suffering his season-ending injury last year, he had 25 catches for 374 yards.

As for where Aiyuk could end up if the 49ers do decide to trade him, let’s take a gander at a trio of landing spots.

Pittsburgh Steelers
It’s no secret the Steelers are in the market for a wide receiver, as they’ve been looking to add to that position group over the past calendar year. In fact, Aiyuk was one of their targets last summer, and Pittsburgh reportedly had a deal in place with San Francisco to deal for the receiver before he ultimately decided to stay with the 49ers and sign his extension. Could Pittsburgh simply call Lynch up and spark those conversations again with just some tweaks on those initial parameters?

Los Angeles Chargers
While the Chargers did hit on Ladd McConkey in the second round of last year’s draft, the team is still pretty thin at wide receiver. Sure, it has Quentin Johnston, who was more productive in his second season in the league, but Joshua Palmer is set to hit free agency, further denting the depth at the position. Los Angeles has the sixth-highest amount of cap space in the league this offseason at $66.4 million, so the Chargers should be able to manage Aiyuk’s contact. More importantly, a trade for Aiyuk would give Justin Herbert another elite weapon as the Chargers contend in an increasingly more competitive AFC West.

New England Patriots
The Patriots have been starved for wide receiver talent for as far back as one can remember, and bolstering the position group should be a key area for them to address this offseason. They have the most cap space in the NFL at $127.7 million this cycle, so bringing in his contract shouldn’t be too cumbersome. While there is a slight concern with him coming off a season-ending knee injury, he is young enough that teams should expect a full recovery. Aiyuk is going to be 27 years old at the start of next season, making him a pass-catching option who can help Drake Maye develop for the foreseeable future.

One of the first major dominoes of the offseason has fallen as the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Commanders have agreed to a trade that sends wide receiver Deebo Samuel out of the Bay Area. In exchange for Samuel, the Niners are reportedly receiving a fifth-round pick, but it is currently unclear what year that pick is.

Samuel moving on from the 49ers had been looming for a while after he requested out of the organization earlier this offseason, so this news doesn’t come as too much of a shock. That’s particularly true with general manager John Lynch saying this week at the NFL Scouting Combine that the team was going to honor his trade request. Still, it’s a move that has the potential to shake up the NFC, especially after the Commanders reached the NFC Championship during the first year of Jayden Daniels’ career.

As we digest this deal, let’s take a deeper dive into what each team received and then hand out our grades.

Commanders trading for Deebo Samuel: 49ers reach agreement to send receiver to Washington for NFL Draft pick
Tyler Sullivan
Commanders trading for Deebo Samuel: 49ers reach agreement to send receiver to Washington for NFL Draft pick
The trade
Commanders get: WR Deebo Samuel
49ers get: Fifth-round pick
The grades
Commanders: A
The Commanders had a clear need for a secondary pass catcher opposite of Terry McLaurin, and Samuel fills that need splendidly. While McLaurin topped 1,000 yards receiving for the fifth consecutive year, no other Washington pass catcher was able to cross that threshold. Veteran tight end Zach Ertz, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, was second on the team in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. As for the next-best receiver on the roster, that was Olamide Zaccheaus, who registered 506 yards and three touchdowns in 17 games played. Samuel should come in and immediately warrant the second-most touches in the passing game for the Commanders.

As for the money angle of this trade, the Commanders had the third-highest amount of cap space prior to this trade and currently have an elite quarterback playing on his rookie contract, so they can easily extend themselves for Samuel.

This landing spot is also interesting for Samuel as it reunites him with current Commanders general manager Adam Peters, who was the vice president of player personnel for the 49ers when the team drafted him in 2019. Peters should have deep knowledge of what Samuel can bring to the offense and know how he’ll fit with head coach Dan Quinn and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.

49ers: C
Because Samuel had publicly requested a trade, that’s always going to decrease the return for the team dealing the player away. While a fifth-round pick isn’t anything to write home about, it’s an asset. Would they have preferred a higher pick on Day 3 of the draft? Sure. Given that Samuel also is entering the final year of his deal, however, the team dealing for him isn’t going to be throwing around major assets for a 29-year-old pass catcher with a lot of tread on his tire AND pay him. From a financial standpoint, ESPN reports that the Commanders are taking on the remainder of Samuel’s contract and paying his full $17.55 million salary, so the Niners do get some relief in that regard.

The 49ers also were seemingly bracing for a shake-up to its wide receiver room in recent years, inking Jauan Jennings to a two-year extension last spring and drafting Ricky Pearsall in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. They also — for the moment — have Brandon Aiyuk, so they are equipped to absorb Samuel’s departure.

The New York Jets are once again in the quarterback market. With the two-year Aaron Rodgers experiment having failed and now coming to a close, the Jets will be looking for someone new to take snaps under center.

New York could get in the mix for one of the veterans potentially available this offseason — Sam Darnold, Kirk Cousins, Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, Trey Lance, etc. — and could also potentially look to trade up from the No. 7 overall pick to try to get its hands on either the University of Miami’s Cam Ward (considered by most to be the top passer in this year’s draft class) or Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.

But the Jets could also potentially turn to one of the players still on the roster, if none of those other options work out. They still have journeyman backup Tyrod Taylor in town, as well as 2024 fifth-round pick Jordan Travis.

Travis missed his entire rookie season while rehabbing from a devastating injury suffered in his final collegiate game. According to his agent, Deiric Jackson, the previous Jets regime — departed head coach Robert Saleh and his staff — did not handle Travis’ rehab well during his rookie year.

2025 NFL combine: One thing we learned about every AFC team in Indianapolis
Jordan Dajani
2025 NFL combine: One thing we learned about every AFC team in Indianapolis
“His rehab with the Jets was not the best,” Jackson told ESPN. “They tried to rush him. It was too fast. There was pressure on the coaching staff and they tried to get him going sooner than the timeline really was. That caused the setback, and we had to shut him down completely.”

Travis been out since November of 2023 after suffering a fractured and dislocated ankle, and the belief is that he experienced soreness and swelling in the surgically-repaired joint. Jackson said that he’s “optimistic” that Travis will be ready for 2025. It seems unlikely that a fifth-round pick coming off a major injury and extended rehabilitation process will be the answer under center, but if the Jets get locked out of the rest of the potential solutions, perhaps he gets a shot to show what he can do.

It’s a commonly held belief in sports that a player shouldn’t lose his job due to injury. That is especially true of a short-term injury. Rui Hachimura has only missed a week, yet his sprained ankle may have just changed the entire outlook of the season for the Los Angeles Lakers. Why? Because for the past week, Dalton Knecht has looked like one of the very best shooters in the league.

Across his last three starts, Knecht has now scored 88 points on 28-of-46 shooting from the floor and 16-of-26 shooting from deep. The No. 17 overall pick in June’s NBA Draft saved his best for last. On Tuesday, in a 124-118 victory over the Utah Jazz, Knecht scored 37 points and tied the rookie record with nine 3-pointers in a single game. At one point in the second half, Knecht scored 22 consecutive Laker points.

DALTON KNECHT HAD HIMSELF A NIGHT:

🔥 37 PTS (career high)
🔥 9 3PM (ties rookie record)
🔥 Scored 22 straight for LA@Lakers move 2-0 in #EmiratesNBACup play and are undefeated going back to last season 💯 pic.twitter.com/OjMOeKxY4p

— NBA (@NBA) November 20, 2024
“In the second half, it seemed like everybody in the gym knew that Dalton Knecht was going to shoot the next shot, with the exception of a few people,” Jazz coach Will Hardy told reporters after the game. “The problem was that those few people were on our team.”

It’s the sort of long-range explosion the Lakers have been lacking throughout the LeBron James-Anthony Davis era. This is a team that won a championship with a below-average half-court offense and took the third-fewest 3s in the NBA last season. Part of the logic behind hiring JJ Redick as head coach was that a formerly elite shooter from his playing days could help redesign the Laker offense to maximize spacing. Thus far this season, the Lakers have taken baby steps in the right direction. They’re up to 23rd in 3-point attempt rate from 28th a season ago, and landing Knecht is only pushing them further towards modernity.

When the Lakers landed Knecht at No. 17 overall, Redick reportedly started drawing up plays for him immediately on draft night. The trouble with doing so for a rookie in a bench role is that finding a rhythm in a low-usage role is extremely difficult. Knecht was used to being the focal point of his college offense at Tennessee, and he has been significantly more successful this season in games in which he’s played major minutes. He’s now played seven games in which he’s earned more than 20 minutes of playing time and 20 minutes in which he’s gotten less. When he’s played 20 or more minutes, he’s shooting 53.1% on 3s. When he’s played less? He’s at 31.6%.

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Dalton Knecht
LAL • SF • #4
PPG
11.3
APG
1.1
SPG
.5
3P/G
2.286
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Rhythm helps, but so too does fit. Shooters amplify the players around them, and are in turn amplified by their best teammates. It’s harder for defenses to direct appropriate resources towards Knecht when he’s sharing the floor with James and Davis, and slowing them down becomes significantly harder for them when they have to keep an eye on Knecht. Hachimura poses some of the same problems, but even as a high-percentage shooter, his volume remains fairly low. Hachimura’s value comes more out of his ability to use the threat of his jumper to create better looks for himself near the basket. That’s a skill that means more off the bench than it does with James, Davis and Austin Reaves on the court, as the Lakers have found since benching D’Angelo Russell.

The Lakers could play the two of them together, and almost certainly will in some alignments, but their perimeter defense leaves plenty to be desired even with Cam Reddish in a starting spot. Knecht, Hachimura and Reaves are all below-average defenders at best. Davis is one of the NBA’s best defenders, but asking him to cover all three of those liabilities invites foul trouble, exhaustion and potentially injury. Knecht and Hachimura might be the fourth- and fifth-best Lakers at the moment, but there’s really only space in the starting five for one of them.

And if their last three games have been any indication, Knecht is the easier fit, and he benefits far more from playing alongside the starters than Hachimura would. The Lakers have spent years searching for this sort of shooter. Now that they have him, it’s up to Redick to continue maximizing him with as many minutes and shot attempts as possible.

There are no moral victories in the NBA, but the Cleveland Cavaliers can draw plenty of optimism from their 120-117 loss to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, which brought their 15-game win streak to start the season to an end. With all the things going in Boston’s favor in this game, and everything that was working against the Cavs, to be within two points on five different occasions and lose by just three says a lot about how formidable a full-strength Cleveland team can be in a potential playoff matchup with the Celtics, or anyone else for that matter.

Here are three reasons the Cavs can feel good about the fight they put up in this game knowing these factors could swing in their favor next time.

Cleveland’s wings were clipped
Cleveland was without the services of three key wings in Isaac Okoro, Caris LeVert and Dean Wade. Never mind that Okoro and LeVert are both making north of 44% of their 3s this season; this is a matchup that requires a stable of perimeter defenders to combat Boston’s relentless 3-point pressure.

Okoro is a primary star scorer defender. Individually, he was missed tremendously in this game. Wade and LeVert go 6-foot-9 and 6-6, respectively, and that kind of positional size is a must to be able to build a real shell against Boston’s drive-and-kicks and effectively switch and scramble to shooters.

Without these three wings, Cleveland’s defensive lineups become very extreme with two really big guys in Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley and two really small guys in Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell.

The Celtics, as saturated with intermediate size and skill as any team in history, were able to manipulate the matchups they wanted with simple ball screens in the half court, and there were plenty of advantageous cross-matches available in transition with 6-5 Ty Jerome (that’s generous), 6-4 Sam Merrill and 6-1 Craig Porter Jr. logging a combined 72 minutes.

Everywhere you looked, the Celtics had a one-on-one advantage, and they used it to drive and kick their way into 41 3-point attempts. This dynamic was on display on Boston’s first 3 of the game.

Garland was matched up on Jaylen Brown, who backs the mouse into the house until Mitchell is forced off off Jrue Holiday in the corner to come over and double Brown, who simply kicks out to Derrick White, who is open because Merrill now has to split the difference between him and the abandoned Holiday. Holiday then gets the ball on the swing for a corner 3. Bang.

Spicy ball movement leads to Jrue three ball pic.twitter.com/QKYH5RfOGn

— KWAPT (@KWAPT) November 20, 2024
A few possessions later, it was Jayson Tatum isolated in the middle of the floor against Merrill. Mitchell knows Merrill can’t contain that matchup on his own, so he sucks down to the elbow to provide help in Tatum’s driving lane. That leaves Brown open on the wing. Tatum swings it. Bang.

Jaylen Brown with a 3 to cap off a 9-0 Celtics run 🎯pic.twitter.com/MgeQPCmvBe

— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) November 20, 2024
The Celtics prey relentlessly on these perimeter advantages to create open 3s against teams too leveraged in help to make it back to shooters in time. That’s how they made 22 3-pointers at a 54% clip. Which brings us to …

Massive 3-point disparity
Yes, Boston routinely empties the clip from 3, taking over 50 and making over 19 per game. Both those marks lead the league by a considerable margin. Which is to say, Cleveland losing the 3-point battle to Boston is not a surprise, but the margin by which they lost is the important factor.

Cleveland is no slouch from 3. On the season, the Cavs are making over 15 a game. But they only made 10 on Tuesday. Do the math, and that’s a 36-point 3-point discrepancy between Boston’s 66 points from 3 and Cleveland’s 30.

Simply put, to lose the 3-point battle by 36 points and only lose the actual game by three is an extremely positive statistical sign — especially when the Cavs were without two deadeye 3-point shooters in LeVert (45.8%) and Okoro (44.4%).

Now, don’t fall for the bait that this was just some random off shooting night for the Cavaliers that will just magically regress to the mean next time. Boston’s defense is incredible, and it had a lot to do with Mitchell and Garland, in particular, shanking 14 of their 17 triples.

Cleveland has created over 20 wide-open 3s per game this season, per NBA.com tracking (which defines wide-open shots as those that come with the closest defender at least six feet away), and Cleveland was making those shots at an unbelievable 49% clip. That number is going to come down eventually, whether Boston or any other team is on the other side.

Having said that, Mitchell and Garland, to my memory, didn’t get a single wide-open 3 on Tuesday, and there were very few to go around for anyone in a Cleveland uniform. That’s not likely to change. For the Cavs to beat the Celtics in a playoff series, Mitchell and Garland are going to have to knock down lots, and I mean lots, of contested shots.

But they’re capable. Mitchell is one of the deadliest pull-up shooters in the league, and Garland came into Tuesday making almost 42% of his off-the-dribble 3s, per Synergy. These are bonafide scoring studs who combined to make just 14 of their 50 total shots on Tuesday. If a few more shots go down, just a few, the Cavs, even without their three defensive wings and even with Boston shooting the lights out, probably win this game.

Speaking of Darius Garland…
Garland was atrocious on Tuesday. He missed 18 of his 21 shots and all six of his 3s. Again, it would be irresponsible to suggest this was just a random bad game. Garland has feasted this year when he’s been unguarded, which is not something he can rely on against Boston. You saw the struggles that come with strong contests. His floaters were squeezed. His 3s were contested. His space was minimal.

That said, Garland could have the entire state of Massachusetts guarding him and he’s not likely to go 3-for-21 and 0-for-6 from 3 again.

And so, to recap: The Cavs got nine points on 14% shooting from Garland, who is averaging almost 21 points on 49/43/93 shooting splits. They lost the 3-point battle by 36 points while the Celtics shot 54%, which is smoking hot even by their standards, from beyond the arc. Okoro, Wade and LeVert were all out. And Cleveland still only lost by three points, on the road, to the best team in the league?

Los Angeles Lakers guard Dalton Knecht continued his strong rookie season in Tuesday’s 124-118 win against the Utah Jazz. Following Tuesday’s 37-point explosion, Lakers star LeBron James stated that he knew that Knecht was going to be a star player before the team even drafted him.

“I don’t know. The same shit I said last year,” James said. “Everybody on the internet calls me a liar all the time. They say I lie about every f—ing thing. So what am I now? I’ve been said it. I watched him, I watched Tennessee a lot.

“I did not think he was going to fall to us. I thought it would be impossible. I have no idea how that happened but very grateful and very happy that he’s here. I knew exactly what we was getting when he fell to 17.”

James did put into the universe that he was a fan of Knecht’s game even when he was still playing at Tennessee last season. Clearly, the Lakers star was right about what Knecht would be bringing to the table as the rookie guard scored a career-high 37 points on 12-of-16 shooting to along with five rebounds on Tuesday. Knecht’s nine 3-pointers tied the NBA single-game rookie record.

James also threw some shade at the rest of the league for missing out on Knecht.

“They didn’t find DK. The other 16 teams f—ed it up,” James said. “Did anybody watch him? What the f—? Shit. They just didn’t f— it up.”

Knecht was one of the more highly-touted prospects to enter the 2024 NBA Draft after being named the SEC Player of the Year. Still, Knecht ended up falling to the Lakers with the No. 17 pick, and Los Angeles was able to scoop him up.

The 2024-25 NBA season is barely a month old, so obviously it’s too early to call Knecht a superstar. Still, the early returns have been great on Knecht, and he certainly could be a key piece of the Lakers’ rotation for years to come.