The next NFL trade cannot officially happen until at least another month, but rumors are already running wild with the offseason a mere two days old. Wide receivers appear to be the main position in the middle of all the buzz.
The Baltimore Ravens know all about trading for a wideout. A fifth-round pick in this year's NFL Draft was sacrificed to acquire Diontae Johnson back in late October. Funnily enough, Johnson is back with the Ravens now after the team waived him following just four games played with team.
Baltimore will look for a better outcome the next time they deal for a pass-catcher. Could it be San Francisco 49ers WR Deebo Samuel? ESPN's Adam Schefter isn't ruling it out.
During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Schefter essentially speculated that the entire AFC North features likely landing spots for the 29-year old veteran who is officially wanting out of Santa Clara.
"I think it's hard to pinpoint right now where Deebo would go," Schefter said. "I can see him in Pittsburgh, I could see him in Baltimore. I could see him in a lot of places, like any of those AFC North teams make sense."
Schefter did confirm that he spoke to Samuel yesterday, the same day he reported the Niners granted the 2021 All-Pro permission to seek out a trade. The club granting this to Samuel means both sides are in agreement that they'd accept a separation should the destination and compensation make sense for both sides.
He did not explicitly state the Ravens are a likely team to land Samuel, but with their trade deadline aggression to net Johnson and five others at the position set to become free agents this offseason, interest in adding another star wideout to Lamar Jackson's arsenal makes a ton of sense. Baltimore being in a completely different conference would also entice the 49ers, knowing he wouldn't end potentially helping a team they'd have to overcome to reach the Super Bowl.
Samuel, Zay Flowers, and Rashod Bateman would make one helluva receiving trio for Jackson. Throw in Isaiah Likely and the run game led by Derrick Henry, and life becomes nearly impossible for opposing defenses.
There's still several weeks before anything can happen on this front as the new league year doesn’t even begin until March 12, but we've seen trade proposals accepted long before then in past years. It won't be long before we find out if Baltimore officially gets in the mix for Samuel.
