NFC Notes: Deebo Samuel, 49ers, Marvin Harrison Jr., Cardinals, Seahawks

49ers

There are a lot of questions surrounding 49ers WR Deebo Samuel following his trade request. When speaking to reporters at the NFL Combine, GM John Lynch said they still don’t want to let their good players go but they plan to “honor” his wish for a fresh start elsewhere. 

“You know, still not interested,” Lynch said, via PFT. “But along those lines of the financial constraints, and some conversations we’ve had with Deebo — it’s something that we’ve been forthright with that. We’re on good terms with Deebo. He’s asked for a fresh start and I think we’re going to honor that.”

Lynch reiterated they are allowing Samuel to seek out a trade and they will address the financials of it when he time comes. 

“Don’t like seeing great players — and he is a great player, I think often one of my favorite draft picks in my time. He makes plays. He makes game-changing plays. Everything’s good. But at some point, time happens and he asked for that, we don’t always — there’s contracts and things. But it probably makes sense, so we’re at least allowing him to look. And we’re having conversations, we’ll see how it goes.”

Cardinals

• Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr. didn’t put up huge numbers like many hoped for as a rookie, recording 62 receptions for 885 yards and eight touchdowns. GM Monti Ossenfort doesn’t have reservations about Harrison Jr. and feels very comfortable with the receivers trajectory: “We are incredibly happy with where Marv is and where he’s going. Some of those are unrealistic expectations from a fantasy football perspective. If you take a step back, Marv was our leading touchdown receiver and was our second leading receiver in receptions and yardage. There are certainly areas for Marv to grow and he’s been in the facility every day since the end of the season. There’s things Marv wants to do better and there’s things we have to do better as an offensive unit to help him out.” (Jonathan Jones)

Seahawks

The Seahawks are set to use an outside zone running scheme under new OC Klint Kubiak. When describing their new system, HC Mike Macdonald said it’s important to keep defensive lines moving.

“The first thing is it lets the offensive line run off the ball. Defensive lines nowadays, it’s just too hard to consistently move a guy that’s just right on top of you 60 plays a game. So you’ve got to get these guys running, try to get the defensive line moving. Going against that, definitely you feel it. It feels a certain way on defense, and that’s what we’re trying to create offensively. But to get the guys running off the ball initially I think is really important, and then all the other schemes kind of complement off of that,” Macdonald said, via Brady Henderson.