49ers GM John Lynch says he hasn't made any trade calls about Antonio Brown
When Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said recently that three teams had called to ask about Antonio Brown in a trade, the more startling number was the one he didn’t mention.
If that number was accurate, it means that one of the greatest receivers in NFL history was clearly and widely available in a trade, and 28 teams didn’t bother to pick up the phone and ask the Steelers what their price was. Colbert did say Wednesday at the NFL scouting combine that more teams have since shown interest, but he didn’t put a number on it.
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A lot of people probably assumed the San Francisco 49ers were one of the three teams Colbert mentioned initially. San Francisco general manager John Lynch said he hasn’t made that call.
John Lynch praises Antonio Brown, but hasn’t called Steelers
Like most other things, NFL personnel can’t be trusted before free agency or the draft. Everything could be a ruse.
So maybe Lynch just doesn’t want to tell the world he’s chasing Brown in a trade. But he clearly stated he has not called the Steelers.
“We have not,” Lynch said, according to NBC Sports Bay Area. “We have not.”
Why not?
“I’ll just leave it as, he’s a great player; we got a ton of respect for Antonio,” Lynch said.
As it turns out, George Kittle’s tweets don’t reflect the actions of the 49ers front office. Kittle tweeted at Brown after last season, Brown replied with an emoji, and that’s all it took for people to link the 49ers and Brown.
“It’s funny the world we live in, where one tweet from one player to another turns into interest and all of that,” Lynch said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “But, hey, that is the world we live in. I can tell you that, like every team in this league, we think the guy is a heck of a football player. But we have not talked with the Steelers, I can tell you that.”
Will anyone trade for Brown?
There are other reasons Brown and the 49ers should be a match, other than random tweets between players. The 49ers could use a top playmaker like Brown on offense, and have the cap space and draft capital for it. But according to Lynch, it’s not happening, at least to this point. There’s still time for Lynch to pick up the phone, if he chooses.
As the Brown saga unfolds, it’s worth remembering that Colbert keeps repeating that the Steelers need enough back in a trade to make the move. He’s not acting desperate. Based on his words, the Steelers are fine holding onto Brown if nobody makes a fair offer.
“People can or cannot believe us, but that’s our stance,” Colbert said, according to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic. “We need significant compensation for this to happen. Anything [we do] has to benefit us, if it doesn’t we won’t trade him. We are willing to take a look and if there is something that benefits both sides then great. If not then we will deal with that when we got to it.”
We’ll probably never know exactly how much interest the Steelers are getting in Brown, since it became obvious they’d at least listen to trade offers. But, if Lynch is to be believed, one of the presumed targets hasn’t shown any interest yet.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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