The San Francisco 49ers are getting ready for another run at the Super Bowl in 2024. General manager John Lynch has been hard at work this offseason keeping the roster in championship form. The team recently added another player who should provide some wide receiver depth for training camp.
According to Adam Schefter, the San Francisco 49ers are signing former Falcons wide receiver Frank Darby on a one-year contract.
Darby should simply provide another body for training camp. The 49ers already have a full wide receiver room with Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings, and Ricky Pearsall amongst others.
The Athletic's David Lombardi points out that Darby is an ASU alum just like current 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk.
This nugget of information could be taken in a couple of different ways. On one hand, it could suggest that the 49ers are bringing in someone with a similar background to Aiyuk in the hopes of keeping him around. On the other hand, it may suggest that the 49ers are prepared to trade Aiyuk and want to have a replacement body on hand just in case.
However, it is most likely that Darby's signing is unrelated to Aiyuk's trade situation.
We still can't help but wonder about the possibilities.
Does the addition of Frank Darby suggest that the 49ers will trade WR Brandon Aiyuk?
Brandon Aiyuk's contract dispute, and subsequent trade request, with the San Francisco 49ers has been one of the team's biggest stories this summer.
David Lombardi confirmed that the addition of Frank Darby will require the 49ers to make a corresponding move to comply with the league's 90-man roster limit at this point in the offseason. This naturally poses the question of whether Darby's addition is a sign that the 49ers are preparing to trade Brandon Aiyuk.
Speculation about an Aiyuk trade intensified earlier this week when Aiyuk did not practice on Wednesday. However, head coach Kyle Shanahan assured reporters that he is simply injured.
“I don’t really know what it means,” Shanahan told reporters on Wednesday when asked if Aiyuk's absence was an indication of a contract extension. “It just means his back is sore today and his neck is sore. So going to stay out of practice, which obviously is a hold in. And so we expected it, and I understand the situation fully.”
In the event that Aiyuk were traded, the 49ers would likely wait for the trade to become official before announcing a corresponding move like signing Frank Darby.
Therefore, we should not conclude that Darby's signing has anything to do with Brandon Aiyuk.
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