49ers star Deebo Samuel

In six NFL seasons, all spent with the 49ers, Deebo Samuel has put up impressive numbers, showing a dual-threat ability that few in the league can match. He’s notched 59.2 receiving yards per game, plus another 14.1 rushing yards per game in 81 total NFL appearances. He’s tallied 42 touchdowns.

Samuel had a memorable season in 2021, with 1,405 yards receiving and 365 rushing yards as he earned first-team All-Pro honors.

But that was four years ago, and even though he is just 29, Samuel hasn’t quite been the same player since. And with a cap hit coming in at nearly $16 million, plus significant dead money thereafter, the 49ers can’t quite afford to keep Samuel around.

It has not been a huge surprise, then, that the team granted permission to seek a trade out of San Francisco. Trading Samuel, even for a late-round draft pick, would be a huge boost for the 49ers, who would otherwise have a lot more of his cap on their books.

And ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported this week that, indeed, there was interest in Samuel.

“I just checked in on this,” Fowler said. “I was told that several teams have expressed interest, so at least preliminary talks on a potential trade have happened between Samuel, his agent and the team.”

Deebo Samuel Should Stick With Kyle Shanahan

But another ESPN insider, Dan Graziano, said this week that the best thing that could happen for Samuel is not to be sent to, say, Pittsburgh or New England, but rather, to figure out how he can stay with the 49ers, even if it means restructuring his contract.

That’s because the 49ers and coach Kyle Shanahan best know how to deploy Samuel as a weapon.

“I think the best thing for Deebo Samuel, and I am not sure it can happen, would be to find a way to stay in San Francisco, where Kyle Shanahan knows exactly how to use him and where he works brilliantly in tandem with Christian McCaffrey in that offense,” Graziano said on “Get Up” this week. “Deebo Samuel is a great player, but I am not sure he is ever going to be able to do elsewhere what he has been able to do in San Francisco, with that coaching staff, that surrounding cast.”

49ers Cap Crunch Is Mounting

Again, the issue with Samuel is less about whether the 49ers want to keep him as it is about the impending salary crunch the team is facing, especially as it prepares to deal with the prospect of a new contract for quarterback Brock Purdy.

The 49ers gave Brandon Aiyuk a $120 million extension last year and invested a first-round pick in receiver Ricky Pearsall, so there is some question as to the level of commitment the team should allocate to the WR room.

“A lot of work would have to be done on the contract,” Graziano said. “They just signed Brandon Aiyuk and drafted Ricky Pearsall, so I don’t know how likely this is. But if there was a way for him to stay in San Francisco, that’s the best play for him.”