The 49ers must decide what to do with Deebo Samuel.

He’s entering a contract season next year and he’s rapidly declining. They could try to trade him, although the market for him might not exist anymore. They could release him, but that would cost them tons of dead cap money. Or they could extend his contract and make him a Niner for life.

The NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero recently discusses Samuel’s future.

“They’ve got a pretty expensive roster,” Pelissero said. “They’ve got about six or seven guys who are all due at least $15 million in cash in 2025. One of the names we’re going to be talking about is Deebo Samuel. He’s on the books for about $17 million in 2025. We know the 49ers got calls on him in a potential trade back before the draft. They were not at that point willing to part with him unless somebody gave them just a crazy price for him. And he’s one of Kyle Shanahan’s favorite player of all time, maybe the favorite.

“But he’s in a contract year, he’s making about half the money of what the top of the wide receiver market is at this point, can they get another big wide receiver deal done, or potentially could Samuel be on the move. If Brandon Aiyuk hadn’t gotten hurt, we would have real conversations about whether they would answer calls if somebody wanted to trade for him. That’s not going to happen now because of the knee injury that he suffered, but there are a lot of moving parts with the 49ers. They’re always going to be well coached by Kyle Shanahan and this is just the nature of when you invest over and over in your best players and they’re getting older and they’re becoming more and more expensive, at some point there are little pivots that have to take place. And the number of games missed by Aiyuk, by Christian McCaffrey, by Nick Bosa — your best and most expensive players have to play their best to win a lot of games in the NFL, and the 49ers haven’t won a lot of games and they’re a prime example of it.

MY TAKE: The 49ers can’t extend Samuel’s contract. That’s not an option. He’s no longer a top wide receiver in the league. They also probably can’t trade him because no one wants his contract or needs his attitude. Which means the 49ers most likely will keep him one more season or release him with a post June 1 designation. I’m guessing they’ll keep him. If they wanted to cut him, they would have phased him out of by now, but they haven’t.

Download and follow The Cohn Zohn Podcast.