The timing is right for Deebo Samuel and the 49ers to say their goodbyes.
Deebo Samuel chose Super Bowl Sunday to leak the news to ESPN that he wanted to be traded from the 49ers.
Samuel said he was “more than thankful” to the 49ers and coach Kyle Shanahan in particular for “giving him the opportunity of a lifetime.”
The 49ers have yet to say anything publicly. Privately, they should be thanking Samuel. It’s an opportunity to move on from a flawed and overpaid player who rightly cashed in with a three-year, $71 million contract extension after a spectacular 2021 season but hasn’t produced at that level since.
Samuel in 2021 represented Shanahan at his best. The whole “wide back” deployment of Samuel as a receiver/runner helped save the season, which ended with the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.
A first-team All-Pro, Samuel caught 77 passes for 1,405 yards, averaged 18.2 yards per reception and scored six touchdowns to go along with 365 yards rushing and eight more scores. Samuel has only occasionally looked like that player in ensuing years.
In hindsight, the 49ers should have traded Samuel a year ago instead of using his contract to create salary cap space. Now there’s a $15.4 million bonus due on March 22 and a potential “dead money” vacuum of more than $31 million depending on when he’s traded or released.
Before getting too deep into the finances, keep in mind NFL teams have their ways of putting together the fiscal puzzle and money can be moved to create room. OverTheCap.com projects a 2025 NFL salary cap of $272.5 million, up from $255.4 million in 2024 so there’s an extra $17.1 million to play with right there to go along with $48.3 million in cap space.
Throw in contract extensions for tight end George Kittle and middle linebacker Fred Warner, plus a few other abracadabra strokes of the pen and it’s easier than you think. When Brock Purdy receives an extension, count on a minimum first-year salary and marginal cap hit for the first year.
In most cases, the term “cap casualty” exists only so a team can move on from a player who has outlived his usefulness, and Samuel has hit his expiration date with the 49ers. Getting a Day 2 draft pick for Samuel is probably wishful thinking.
It has more to do with Samuel’s production than it does his occasionally erratic use of social media, something that probably bothers fans and media more than it does 49ers management.
The fact is, the 49ers needed Samuel to come up big in 2024 and instead he had his worst season with 51 receptions for 670 yards, 42 rushes for a meager 3.2 yards per carry and four total touchdowns. Brandon Aiyuk was lost to a torn ACL, with Kittle and Jauan Jennings emerging in the passing game over Samuel. The fly sweeps with Samuel that used to be so productive usually went laterally and then nowhere.
Samuel was better on special teams running back kickoffs (31.4 per return) than he was on offense, and that was never the plan.
Shanahan has long been one of Samuel’s biggest fans. The two seem to have a bond that goes beyond the head coach-player relationship and have said as much publicly. Whether this created a blind spot with Shanahan in objectively assessing Samuel’s contribution is up for debate.
Now that Samuel has requested a trade and the 49ers reportedly agreed, it removes that debate from the process.
Samuel’s demolition-derby style of play was bound to have consequences at age 28. As it is, he has missed 19 games since his rookie season. He had a groin injury as a rookie, a foot fracture and two hamstring strains in 2020. A groin injury in 2021. Hamstring, ankle and MCL injuries in 2022. A shoulder fracture and a hamstring strain in 2023. Last season it was calf, wrist, ribs and obliques.
That’s not necessarily Samuel’s fault other than the natural attrition of the sport. It probably didn’t help in 2022, when after getting the contract he desired, Samuel didn’t arrive in peak shape. Samuel told the media in June 2023 that he was “awful” the prior season.
The thing is, Samuel has reported to camp the last two years looking good to go, and it hasn’t mattered. The 2021 Deebo is gone and isn’t coming back.
Things changed for Samuel when Christian McCaffrey arrived via trade in 2022. While Samuel, by his own admission, wasn’t playing to his previous standard, McCaffrey was spectacular from the outset and gave Shanahan a new toy.
McCaffrey is a better scrimmage runner than Samuel, a better receiver. The thinking was one would open up things for the other, but we only saw them flourishing together on occasion. In 2023, McCaffrey rushed for 93 yards on 17 carries and Samuel caught four passes for 116 yards and two scores and scored another on a run in a 42-19 win in Philadelphia. The next week against Seattle, McCaffrey rushed for 145 yards on 16 carries and Samuel caught seven passes for 149 yards.
When McCaffrey had his 2024 season ruined by Achilles tendinitis and the 49ers went 6-11, Samuel wasn’t physically able to pick up the slack. A team captain, Samuel got into a sideline mini-scrape with holder Taybor Pepper after being less than supportive to place kicker Jake Moody after missing three field goal attempts against Tampa Bay. Following a 38-13 win over Chicago, Samuel took to social media to bemoan a lack of opportunities. Those were games the 49ers actually won.
Samuel had his biggest opportunity of the season in a 12-6 loss to the Rams, but dropped a would-be touchdown pass from Purdy on the kind of quick in-cut he used to catch in his sleep.
Now that Samuel wants out, the 49ers will look to Jennings and Ricky Pearsall. Maybe they move some money around and make a big strike if Davante Adams is cut by the Jets or Tee Higgins of Cincinnati as a free agent, although it’s conceivable those players would probably want something approximating Aiyuk’s deal. If Cooper Kupp is released by the Rams, he could be an option — if at a team-friendly price.
Regardless of how it plays out, Samuel has made it clear he’s doing what’s best for himself. The bonus is that he’s also doing what’s good for the 49ers.
Deebo Samuel chose Super Bowl Sunday to leak the news to ESPN that he wanted to be traded from the 49ers.
Samuel said he was “more than thankful” to the 49ers and coach Kyle Shanahan in particular for “giving him the opportunity of a lifetime.”
The 49ers have yet to say anything publicly. Privately, they should be thanking Samuel. It’s an opportunity to move on from a flawed and overpaid player who rightly cashed in with a three-year, $71 million contract extension after a spectacular 2021 season but hasn’t produced at that level since.
Samuel in 2021 represented Shanahan at his best. The whole “wide back” deployment of Samuel as a receiver/runner helped save the season, which ended with the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.
A first-team All-Pro, Samuel caught 77 passes for 1,405 yards, averaged 18.2 yards per reception and scored six touchdowns to go along with 365 yards rushing and eight more scores. Samuel has only occasionally looked like that player in ensuing years.
In hindsight, the 49ers should have traded Samuel a year ago instead of using his contract to create salary cap space. Now there’s a $15.4 million bonus due on March 22 and a potential “dead money” vacuum of more than $31 million depending on when he’s traded or released.
Before getting too deep into the finances, keep in mind NFL teams have their ways of putting together the fiscal puzzle and money can be moved to create room. OverTheCap.com projects a 2025 NFL salary cap of $272.5 million, up from $255.4 million in 2024 so there’s an extra $17.1 million to play with right there to go along with $48.3 million in cap space.
Throw in contract extensions for tight end George Kittle and middle linebacker Fred Warner, plus a few other abracadabra strokes of the pen and it’s easier than you think. When Brock Purdy receives an extension, count on a minimum first-year salary and marginal cap hit for the first year.
In most cases, the term “cap casualty” exists only so a team can move on from a player who has outlived his usefulness, and Samuel has hit his expiration date with the 49ers. Getting a Day 2 draft pick for Samuel is probably wishful thinking.
It has more to do with Samuel’s production than it does his occasionally erratic use of social media, something that probably bothers fans and media more than it does 49ers management.
The fact is, the 49ers needed Samuel to come up big in 2024 and instead he had his worst season with 51 receptions for 670 yards, 42 rushes for a meager 3.2 yards per carry and four total touchdowns. Brandon Aiyuk was lost to a torn ACL, with Kittle and Jauan Jennings emerging in the passing game over Samuel. The fly sweeps with Samuel that used to be so productive usually went laterally and then nowhere.
Samuel was better on special teams running back kickoffs (31.4 per return) than he was on offense, and that was never the plan.
Shanahan has long been one of Samuel’s biggest fans. The two seem to have a bond that goes beyond the head coach-player relationship and have said as much publicly. Whether this created a blind spot with Shanahan in objectively assessing Samuel’s contribution is up for debate.
Now that Samuel has requested a trade and the 49ers reportedly agreed, it removes that debate from the process.
Samuel’s demolition-derby style of play was bound to have consequences at age 28. As it is, he has missed 19 games since his rookie season. He had a groin injury as a rookie, a foot fracture and two hamstring strains in 2020. A groin injury in 2021. Hamstring, ankle and MCL injuries in 2022. A shoulder fracture and a hamstring strain in 2023. Last season it was calf, wrist, ribs and obliques.
That’s not necessarily Samuel’s fault other than the natural attrition of the sport. It probably didn’t help in 2022, when after getting the contract he desired, Samuel didn’t arrive in peak shape. Samuel told the media in June 2023 that he was “awful” the prior season.
The thing is, Samuel has reported to camp the last two years looking good to go, and it hasn’t mattered. The 2021 Deebo is gone and isn’t coming back.
Things changed for Samuel when Christian McCaffrey arrived via trade in 2022. While Samuel, by his own admission, wasn’t playing to his previous standard, McCaffrey was spectacular from the outset and gave Shanahan a new toy.
McCaffrey is a better scrimmage runner than Samuel, a better receiver. The thinking was one would open up things for the other, but we only saw them flourishing together on occasion. In 2023, McCaffrey rushed for 93 yards on 17 carries and Samuel caught four passes for 116 yards and two scores and scored another on a run in a 42-19 win in Philadelphia. The next week against Seattle, McCaffrey rushed for 145 yards on 16 carries and Samuel caught seven passes for 149 yards.
When McCaffrey had his 2024 season ruined by Achilles tendinitis and the 49ers went 6-11, Samuel wasn’t physically able to pick up the slack. A team captain, Samuel got into a sideline mini-scrape with holder Taybor Pepper after being less than supportive to place kicker Jake Moody after missing three field goal attempts against Tampa Bay. Following a 38-13 win over Chicago, Samuel took to social media to bemoan a lack of opportunities. Those were games the 49ers actually won.
Samuel had his biggest opportunity of the season in a 12-6 loss to the Rams, but dropped a would-be touchdown pass from Purdy on the kind of quick in-cut he used to catch in his sleep.
Now that Samuel wants out, the 49ers will look to Jennings and Ricky Pearsall. Maybe they move some money around and make a big strike if Davante Adams is cut by the Jets or Tee Higgins of Cincinnati as a free agent, although it’s conceivable those players would probably want something approximating Aiyuk’s deal. If Cooper Kupp is released by the Rams, he could be an option — if at a team-friendly price.
Regardless of how it plays out, Samuel has made it clear he’s doing what’s best for himself. The bonus is that he’s also doing what’s good for the 49ers.
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