It’s the offseason, and you know the San Francisco 49ers will need to have some drama. And darn it, if you’re gonna do something, you may as well do it right. So, add the Deebo Samuel trade request to the bucket.
KP already broke down the outcomes that could happen to Samuel this offseason. One of which is letting him play out the final year of his extension. After all, he already requested a trade once in 2022; this included Instagram scrubs of the team and posting videos we could overreact to.
Why? He wanted a new contract, and this came after his best season as a pro. However, when it was all said and done, he came to training camp anyway. The 49ers closed the deal shortly thereafter, but it wasn’t the catalyst for his return. Besides, the 49ers can sometimes wait until the 11th hour to get a deal done.
Samuel had leverage, and the 49ers wanted to keep him regardless of when he showed up.
And this time, that might not be the case for the 49ers.
From his podcast, San Francisco Standard’s Tim Kawakami spoke on the situation as well, confirming that he’s heard both sides are ready to go their separate ways:
Kawakami emphasized later the “Deebo thing on both sides” as to why the wide receiver won’t be with the team.
Deebo did respond to Kawakami’s claim of him being overweight. But there’s no disputing the other numbers. In 15 games played for 2024, Samuel had 670 yards receiving and three touchdowns. He also had 136 yards rushing, his second-worst total behind only 2020, where he played just seven games.
By comparison, Samuel had 1400 yards receiving and 365 yards rushing in 2021. If that doesn’t make the 49ers want to keep him come contract talk time, there isn’t much else.
The 49ers just needed to get the deal done in 2022. This time, the 49ers aren’t getting trade requests after such a tremendous season, nor is it because they are taking a while to draft up a contract; they got a trade request after the 2024 season Samuel put up. And from what Kawakami says, they are still traumatized from how late the Brandon Aiyuk contract went.
It’s different this time. Could the 49ers find a way to hold onto Samuel? Maybe, but these situations are very, very different. And it seems like the 49ers are done doing this dance.
