San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan took the podium today after the team’s bye week, including a trade for former 49er DeForest Buckner, and the announcement that Brandon Aiyuk is filing for reinstatement and, if all goes well, will report to the team facility on Friday. 49ers fans were likely eager to hear the status of potential returning players, including Nick Bosa, Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, and Demarcus Robinson.
Bosa revealed he’s feeling good and ready to go, which is a good sign for
his return on Sunday, while Evans, Samuel, and Christian McCaffrey didn’t practice today. The 21-day window for Robinson to return has been opened, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be ready against Las Vegas.
The 49ers sent a fourth-round pick to the Indianapolis Colts for Buckner during the bye week, and Shanahan said “it was awesome” to add Buckner. The head coach continued by saying, “It’d be great to add someone else if that works out. We’re not counting on it, but it still would be great, still got time.”
Obviously, teams won’t outright make their plans known, so this quote isn’t an indication of being satisfied with the players on the roster. It is very possible that the team is fine with the returning weapons and could stay put at the deadline, but there are six days between now and the trade deadline. A lot can change in that time, and Shanahan isn’t being definitive.
Over the weekend, Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported that the Minnesota Vikings and 49ers had a trade in place for wide receiver Jauan Jennings. Glazer reported the Vikings asked for Jennings to speak to the head coach on a FaceTime call, but declined to even accept the call.
Today, Shanahan gave a different version of the story, while acknowledging the team did have serious talks with Minnesota that bordered on being final.
“We love Jauan,” Shanahan said. “We have such a good relationship with Jauan and know him real well, and we didn’t want to do it without talking to him first. So we had to agree on some things to at least make it close enough to be able to talk to him.”
Shanahan also added that he did speak with Jennings on FaceTime and believed the conversation went well, but ultimately, the Vikings receiver was happy in Minnesota, and that put an end to the trade discussion.
