The emergence of Deebo Samuels as a gadget recipient was San Francisco’s equivalent of discovering they could channel electricity. With a defective quarterback in Jimmy Garoppoilo under the middle, Samuels changed the whole game for their offense and kept the defense guessing.
However, Samuels’ breakout season came at a price. His rookie contract expires after the 2022 season, but the Niners may franchise him for two more seasons. However, the Niners have reportedly been actively working with his agent to work out an extension close to $25 million a year. Instead of following the route taken by Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill, he’s burned his bridges back into the Levi’s Stadium dressing room.
Two weeks ago, Samuels joined a long line of stars growing up on social media, and adults have grown accustomed to it scrub their social media pages of references to their current teams while they search for new contracts. On Tuesday, however, ESPN’s Adam Schefter suggested that Samuel is the one who doesn’t want to make a deal to stay in San Francisco. Samuels’ brother logged onto Facebook and praised an MOlotov cocktail into the discourse by leaking Samuels’ request for a trade.
On Wednesday, Samuels confirmed ESPN’s Jeff Darlington that was him request a trade. It’s a surprising turn of events that added a new layer to a sideseason that has more plot twists than any other in recent history. The trades of Hill, Adams, Russell Wilson and a Saul Goodman-esque Tom Brady retirement provision rocked the entire NFL.
Samuels’ trade demands came out of left field. After leading the NFL in yards by catch per reception, yards per route on goals of 20 yards or more across the field, eclipsed the NFL record for rushing touchdowns by a wide receiver, and fifth in total received Yards became he was bound to seek more money.
Deebo Samuel theories
After his first All-Pro season in 2022, Samuels burst into the discussion about the NFL’s top wide receivers, and San Francisco intended to pay him like one.
While the details of Samuel’s problems with the front office are still unclear, he is angered enough to call off negotiations. Shanahan’s critical nature has led to touchy relationships with players before, but there was no smoke to indicate a fire of this magnitude. It cannot be the desire to play for a winner. San Francisco is a long-established franchise that has competed in two conference championship games in the past three seasons. The Niners were minutes away from defeating Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LIII and were level on points with the Los Angeles Rams until Matt Gay’s field goal with 1:46 minutes remaining threw their NFC West rivals into the Super Bowl.
There is some evidence that San Francisco’s frequent use of Samuels as “broad back” could be the root of his trade request. In 2021, he was mainly used in San Francisco as a highly effective screen pass specialist and running back because of their lousy quarterback game.
Corresponding Thirty-five60 players have 50+ runs and 70+ catches in one season. Among running backs, Samuels finished second in the league in yards by contact per attempt and second in the league in breakaway, which measures the percentage of a player’s rushing yards that are rushed for 15 yards or more. Running backs take the grounding and pounding, but their durability is short. No receiver of Samuels’ worth would want to spend his prime jeopardizing his long-term health by being a running back on a train.
Samuel’s request may not be a glowing endorsement of his belief in the 49ers’ quarterback depth. As a freshman, Trey Lance looked raw in limited snaps and Garoppolo was playing lazy when he wasn’t injured. A number of teams are already turning the corner, waiting to slip an offer onto the 49ers table for Samuels, who has reportedly given no hints as to where he prefers to play.
