The Dallas Mavericks aren’t the only team concerned about the weight of one of their players. The San Francisco 49ers evidently have conditoning concerns with WR Deebo Samuel. That comes from 49ers’ beat writer Tim Kawakami, who believes one source of frustration with the 49ers and why they’re ready to move on stems from his weight.
“He had a bad year,” Kawakami said on The TK Show via 49ers Web Zone. “He is not in shape. I said it on last week’s podcast, 20 pounds. I keep hearing it over, 20 pounds overweight. That led to a lot of his lack of explosion in their belief, his lack of ability to get through tackles. That’s kinda been who he is. That’s why he’s so valuable.”
Kawakami also added he believes the 49ers and Samuel are headed for divorce and the team will cut him if unable to find a trade partner.
The organization granted Samuel permission to seek a trade earlier this month. The writing has seemingly been on the wall since WR Brandon Aiyuk signed his long-term deal shortly before the 2024 season began, making it difficult to keep him and Samuel long-term. That belief was only strengthened with Samuel coming off on of the worst seasons of his career, catching just 51 passes across 15 games with four total touchdowns.
His big-play ability was reduced, his yards per catch falling by nearly two yards while his yards per rush fell by three. As a receiver, his broken tackle rate regressed. The same applied to him as a runner. An increase in weight is a logical reason for the reduction in production though it may not have all been because of lazy work habits. He battled injury and illness throughout the season, plagued by a wrist injury and a brief hospital stint after coming down with pneumonia.
Being traded or released could energize Samuel into showing what the 49ers moved on from. Of course, it could go the other way and Samuel could continue regressing, creating projecting and risk for any team acquiring him.
For Pittsburgh, the ideal scenario is the 49ers release him and make Samuel a free agent. Meaning the Steelers no longer need to give up draft capital for him. Naturally, that will give him his pick of suitors and the possibility he chooses someone else. But this isn’t a Luka Dončić situation. Samuel isn’t still playing at an elite level and probably won’t recapture the prime of his career. Still, if he gets back in shape, stays healthy, and puts a chip on his shoulder, he still could help out a team like the Steelers searching for a No. 2 receiver and offensive chess piece.
