The 49ers have granted Deebo Samuel and his agent Tory Dandy permission to find a trade partner for the wide receiver, Samuel told ESPN. This comes after Samuel asked San Francisco to trade him during the players’ exit meetings after the season.
“It was a hard conversation to have with Kyle (Shanahan) because of the relationship that we have,” Samuel said today.
“But I have to do what’s best. I’m more than thankful for the Niners giving me the opportunity of a lifetime, but now I think it’s best that we find another team.”
Trading Samuel would come with significant salary cap ramifications for the Niners. They restructured Samuel’s contract in September, a move that means if they were to trade him before June 1, they would absorb a $31.55 million dead money hit on the cap.
Samuel is also due a $15.4 million option bonus on March 22, which means the Niners would almost certainly want any deal completed before then.
If a trade can’t be consummated, the possibility remains that the Niners could release Samuel despite general manager John Lynch saying on Jan. 8 that such a move isn’t an option.
In that scenario, the 49ers could use a post-June 1 designation on the transaction after the new league year begins on March 12 and before his option bonus is due; if they do that, that cap hit would be decreased to $10,751,753 over the next two years.
“Deebo is under contract,” Lynch said then. “[He’s] a good player and has done a ton for this organization and we’re not in the business of letting good players out of here.”
But unlike Samuel’s 2022 trade request, the Niners are more inclined to part ways him this time around. Samuel’s previous request came when he was going through contract negotiations with the 49ers. When those discussions were slow to materialize, Samuel grew frustrated and asked to be dealt.
At the time, Samuel was coming off his best season, nearly leading the Niners to a Super Bowl appearance, and he was viewed as a key part of the team’s future. San Francisco never seriously entertained offers for Samuel then and ultimately signed him to a three-year, $71.5 million extension in August 2022.
This time, Samuel, 29, is coming off arguably his worst season, with 806 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns (both career lows save for a 2020 season in which he played just seven games).
