When 49ers star Deebo Samuel made his trade call Wednesday, he didn’t give a specific reason why he should leave San Francisco. In most situations like this, a player makes a trade request because they’re unhappy with their contract, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
In fact, ESPN.com reported Wednesday that the 49ers WANT to pay Samuel, but it’s not happening because he’s canceled all contract talks with the team.
So why did Samuel make the trade demand? According to multiple reports, it’s because he doesn’t like the way he’s being used on offense by the 49ers. During the 2021 season, Samuel had a historic year playing both wide receiver and running back. The Pro Bowler not only rushed for 1,405 yards and six touchdowns through the air, but also added 365 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. Those numbers made Samuel just the third player in NFL history to finish a season with at least 1,000 yards and at least five touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns. With 1,770 scrimmage yards, Samuel accounted for 28% of the 49ers’ overall offense, which was the fourth-highest percentage by every player in the NFL.
Despite those historical numbers, it seems Samuel isn’t thrilled with the number of hits he’s scored as a utility player. According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, Samuel isn’t “comfortable” with the way the 49ers are using him.
“There are some questions and some frustrations from his point of view about this usage,” Rapoport said Wednesday on the NFL network. “He’s taking a lot of hits, being used like a running back, all over the field, and it just doesn’t sound like he’s comfortable with the way it’s being used.”
Samuel’s running back kicked into high gear starting in Week 10 when he had five carries for 36 yards and a touchdown in a 31-10 win over the Rams. In the last 11 games of the season, including the playoffs, Samuel lined up in the backfield for just over 21% of San Francisco’s offensive snaps. according to NFL.com. To put that in perspective, Samuel had only used 2.1% of offensive snaps as a running back in his career prior to Week 10 of the 2021 season.
With Samuel spending so much time running back, his reception performance faltered in the last 11 games of the season. Samuel has caught five or more passes in seven of San Francisco’s first eight games of 2021. However, in the last eight games he played in last year, including the playoffs, Samuel has only caught five or more passes in two of them.
NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero has reported that Samuel prefers to give up his running back role so he can focus on just being a receiver.
“Deebo Samuel wants to be a receiver, not a receiver slash running back,” Pelissero said in conversation with Rich Eisen. “His quick attempts last season were a lot better than in the past. We all know he’s a very, very physical player but there’s probably some longevity concerns here.”
Former NFL player Su’a Cravens made the same point about longevity in a tweet about Samuels, and the point is that the 49ers star won’t last much longer in the NFL if he continues to be beaten at two positions.
Basically, it seems like Samuel wants to cut back on the number of hits he takes.
Samuel’s consumption is probably not the only reason he wants out of San Francisco, but right now it seems to be the main reason. Pro Football Talk have also speculated it’s possible Samuel just wants to be closer to home. The 26-year-old attended high school and college in South Carolina.
Whatever the reason, the 49ers star hasn’t felt the need to reveal it just yet. Samuel has been pretty quiet since his trade calls were posted on Wednesday, but he’s done two notable things on Twitter in the past 24 hours.
The first came when he liked a tweet that said he’d look great in a Cowboys uniform (he later disliked the tweet so it didn’t show up on his profile).
Samuel also sent out a tweet of his own, which he later deleted.
“A reporter’s job is to write stories that only people will know are the truth about the 49er situation. [my agent Tory Dandy]and Deebo Samuel,” the 49ers star wrote.
You can see the tweet below.
The problem for the 49ers is that it won’t be easy to deal with a player who doesn’t want to play for your team. It will also be difficult to negotiate with a player if you don’t know exactly what role he will play in the future.
A little over a month ago, Samuel told 49ers fans he wasn’t going anywhere, but now it seems something has changed in his mind in the last six weeks.
A swap might end up being the best move for all parties and with the possibility now on the table we’ve made a list of possible places for Samuel to land and you can check it out by clicking here.