A Deebo Samuel shaped cloud has hovered ominously over the 49ers’ offseason ever since he made his displeasure with the organization known with a pre-draft trade request. It appears the skies may be opening up though with the club getting set to report to training camp Tuesday. Head coach Kyle Shanahan is confident a deal is going to get done.
Shanahan told Tim Kawakami on the TK Show podcast that Samuel’s contract isn’t something he’s concerned about, although he’s also not involved in the process.
“What I do know is I’m not worried about it not getting done,” Shanahan said. “I feel very confident that Deebo’s gonna be on our team this year and he’s gonna be here for many years after. I do believe he’ll get a deal. I know that they’re working on it right now, our upstairs with (general manager) John (Lynch) and (executive vice president of football operations) Paraag (Marathe). I know they’ve been through negotiations with (Samuel’s agent) Tory (Dandy). So that’s something I know they’ve been doing, I wanna say the last couple weeks, but that’s also my time to really stay out of it. I think they’ll get something done sooner than later, but there’s no timeline and I’m not really concerned about it right now. I think it’s all gonna work out.”
It appeared headed this direction once the 49ers didn’t move Samuel on Day 1 of the NFL draft. San Francisco was never super motivated to move Samuel and once a high pick in this year’s draft was off the table, there wasn’t much that was going to move the 49ers off their stance.
Beyond that, the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement doesn’t leave Samuel with a ton of recourse for forcing a trade.
NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport has reported multiple times during the offseason that the impetus for Samuel’s trade request was displeasure with his role as a wide back where he was carrying the ball seven-plus times per game. Longevity would be a concern if that role continued, and the 26-year-old receiver is looking beyond just his 2022 extension and hoping for another pay day later in his career.
If that was the gripe, it’s hard to imagine the two sides weren’t going to be able to mend fences. Especially if Samuel’s two options were miss a year’s worth of pay checks and then go into next offseason as a restricted free agent, or get paid like a top receiver this year.
While Shanahan doesn’t have in-depth knowledge of the talks, it’s a good sign that the two sides are negotiating. It’s also good that he didn’t appear to have any trepidation about expressing confidence in the 49ers’ front office to hammer out a deal.
The 49ers report for camp July 26, and their first practice is July 27. Ideally they’d have Samuel signed long-term before then to avoid any type of hold out or “hold in” where Samuel is in attendance but not participating. Getting the First-Team All-Pro on the same page with Lance as soon as possible will be paramount to San Francisco’s success this season.
Samuel last year caught 77 passes for 1,405 yards and six touchdowns. He also rushed 59 times for 365 yards and eight scores. The 2019 second-round pick is entering the final year of his rookie contract and is due $4.8 million this season.
