Niners Nation
There should be plenty of suitors, but we trimmed the list to 5 teams who should be interested in Deebo Samuel’s services
Numerous outcomes could happen with San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel this offseason, who has one year remaining on his current contract. The Niners could:
The most plausible outcome would be to honor Samuel’s request and trade him before the 2025 NFL Draft. While it’s a longshot that the Niners will receive a top-50 pick in return for Samuel since his new team would have to sign him to an extension, it’s not far-fetched to imagine Deebo being dealt for a top-100 pick.
When you’re thinking about the list of teams interested in Deebo’s services, they’ll need cap space to take on Samuel’s existing contract and/or have enough to extend him. That team will likely have a quarterback on a rookie contract, which would give them the financial flexibility to pay Deebo’s $15 million option bonus. After that, Deebo’s base salary in 2025 is only $1.17 million, thanks to a restructure at the beginning of the season.
Another way of looking at it, at least for football reasons, is a team that faces more zone than man coverage. So, it's likely to be a quarterback with above-average mobility. Perhaps this team has an established top wideout and views Samuel as the missing puzzle piece to supplement their top receiver.
It was a tale of two seasons for Deebo. He had 19 receptions on 30 targets for 310 yards across 231 snaps when playing alongside Brandon Aiyuk. Without Aiyuk, he recorded 32 receptions on 51 targets for 360 yards over 422 snaps.
Those numbers read like somebody who is a solid No. 2 option but not a wideout a defense would look to rotate coverage toward.
Here are a handful of teams who could inquire about trading for Samuel over the next couple of months.
Per Over the Cap, the Commanders have the third-most cap space in the NFL. Extending Samuel wouldn’t be an issue. They also have a mobile quarterback on a rookie contract. Terry McLaurin has one year remaining on his contract, so Washington could conceivably replace Samuel, who is two years younger, with McLaurin.
Jayden Daniels had a magical rookie season for Washington. He was the primary reason the Commanders made the NFC Championship game. Adding Samuel could be independent of what Washington does with McLaurin.
Best of all, Samuel is a scheme fit. Washington used play-action on 29 percent of its passes and ran screens 13...
