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The 49ers and receiver Deebo Samuel are currently at an impasse.
Samuel wants out. San Francisco has every intention of keeping him.
While the 49ers don’t want to part with a key offensive player, another factor from San Francisco’s perspective is that there hasn’t been a fun trade offer.
At his joint press conference with GM John Lynch following the conclusion of round three of the draft, head coach Kyle Shanahan admitted he was surprised and a little disappointed by Samuel’s trade request. But Shanahan added it’s part of the deal.
“You will consider everything. You have a responsibility to serve your organization as best you can,” Shanahan said. “But losing a player like Deebo is hard to see how that helps your organization. So you’re trying to examine all aspects of it and what people are willing to do, and nothing came close to what we thought was fair to us or fair to the Niners.”
Shanahan said he hasn’t spoken to Samuel in a couple of weeks but still felt the recipient and organization could work things out.
“We have a great relationship with Deebo,” Shanahan said. “I haven’t seen him much since the end of the season. I think it’s a bit easier when you’re dealing with people without screens and phones in front of you and whatever you’re reading, whatever it is. Most people in the world are like that, I know my kids are. But I try not to get too caught up in it. You know someone, they know you. And when it eventually calms down – hopefully it calms down even more after this draft – and things get a little easier.
“But that’s not someone we just met. We’ve been with him for three years. I think we know him pretty well. He knows us pretty well. And things haven’t been the best in the past few months as far as outside perception goes. But I see that happening a lot in this league, especially in contract situations. So try not to overreact one way or the other. You try to be patient with this because people’s emotions can run high, especially when you care about people and a lot depends on it. But that’s what you need to make sure you don’t react to. And you need to make sure that when all is said and done, you are doing what is right for the organization first and foremost. And secondly, you try to achieve a win-win situation for both sides.”
Shanahan declined to go into the specifics of why Samuel made his request or the wideout’s specific issues with the franchise.
“There are a lot of things that come into play,” Shanahan said. “I’d like to share it with everyone so people understand more, but that’s really not right for Deebo, it’s not right for the 49ers. Hopefully we can clear this up and one day it will be clear for you guys.”
So, at least for now, Samuel is still with San Francisco. It remains to be seen whether both sides can come up with a win-win situation in the end.