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Ever since Deebo Samuel requested a trade ahead of the 2022 NFL season, it's seemed as if San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch could decide to make the call at any point in time. The 49ers reportedly explored moving Samuel ahead of and during the 2024 NFL Draft, and the selections of wide receivers Ricky Pearsall and Jacob Cowing seemed to indicate that San Francisco was more willing than ever to trading the former All-Pro “wide back” out of the Bay Area.
Well, now it appears as if there is once again interest in exploring a deal that would ship Deebo Samuel out of San Francisco. Per NFL insider Ian Rapoport, “Sources say the 49ers are expected to explore trading Samuel this offseason. While it's not a certainty that Samuel is done in San Francisco, it's enough of a possibility that both sides appear to be at peace with moving on if it goes that way.”
In fairness, this seems to have been the state in which the 49ers and Samuel have existed over the course of each of the last three seasons. He's been gradually phased out of San Francisco's offense, slipping to arguably option number four behind Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle. Samuel was limited to just 806 yards of total offense during the 2024 season, his lowest total in any year in which he played at least half of San Francisco's games.
Samuel only has one year left on his current deal before he could become an unrestricted free agent after the 2025 season. Given his age — he's already 29 — his injury history and his public dissatisfaction with his role in San Francisco, it'll be interesting to see what the 49ers can get for him if John Lynch did decide that now was the time to seriously pursue trading him.