NFC Notes: Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, Geno Smith, 49ers, Seahawks

49ers

49ers WR Deebo Samuel went through a similar contract dispute to WR Brandon Aiyuk recently, and Samuel ultimately agreed on a new long-term deal to remain in San Francisco. Samuel has advised Aiyuk to stay in the moment and focus on the things he can control in this stressful time. 

“I know what it feels like to go through what he’s going through right now,” Samuel said, via Kevin Patra of NFL.com. “The only thing I can do is just tell him is to keep his head up, things are gonna work out. Just day by day, like, it’s a long process — real long — it’s frustrating. All I can do is just tell him to keep his head up, be where his feet are, just continue to do the things he does for his communication on his end and their end, and hopefully, things just play out.”

49ers

49ers WR Deebo Samuel spoke about wanting an opportunity to return kicks this season, as he feels he can be dangerous given the league’s new kickoff rules.

“I wouldn’t mind doing it from the get-go,” Samuel said, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “I’m a team-first player, so if [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] was like, ‘Hey, man, we don’t want you to do it full-time. We just use you whenever we really need it,’ I’m fine with that. But if you want to use me full-time, I’m all for that as well.”

“Looking at it, it’s kind of weird, but I feel like, on the side that we on, for us, the returning team, I feel like we have a real big advantage of you make one guy miss,” Samuel added. “I mean, it’s just you and a kicker, and nine times out of 10, the kicker’s not making tackles. So I’m pretty sure people will try to turn skill guys into kickers at some point if it continue to go [this way], just so they have a last-line-of-defense tackler.”

Seahawks

Seahawks QB Geno Smith knows that WR DK Metcalf can take his game to the next level and wants to use his experience to help him get there. 

“That’s my job to keep pushing him and that’s his job to keep coming and bringing it every single day,” Smith said, via Michael Shawn-Dugar of TheAthletic.com. “I’m just trying to push him and hopefully I can be the quarterback that he needs to unlock that.”