It’s no surprise, but the San Francisco 49ers should not have a problem acquiring assets in exchange for Deebo Samuel should both parties remain steadfast in their anticipated separation.
Samuel asked to be traded by the 49ers recently, a report that initially surfaced Wednesday by ESPN’s Jeff Darlington. NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport added some context Wednesday on “NFL Now” as to why Samuel requested a trade.
“It’s not great,” Rapoport said regarding the current standing of the situation.
Rapoport also dropped a nugget that nobody should be surprised about: San Francisco has received, and continues to receive, calls on the 2021 All-Pro wideout. If they move forward with trading Samuel, as indicated by Rapoport, they will have no problem finding an accepting partner.
“It’s been ringing. It’s been ringing ever since, you know, we talked about this some times on the show when a guy does the whole I’m unfollowing the team on social media and we make a big deal of it. Guess what? Teams notice,” Rapoport said. “So ever since this became an issue in the media, teams have been calling the 49ers about this. It’s unclear as of now whether of not they would take what is on the table, but it seems to me, just reading the tea leaves, that they have enough interest where, at the very least, they will have a decision to make about whether of not they could trade him.”
Samuel, 26, is set to enter the final year of his rookie contract meaning any trade partner almost certainly would be coming with a long-term extension. Rapoport and others acknowledged how Samuel’s trade request is not strictly based on finances given that the 49ers are willing to pay him what he wants. It has more to do with his workload on the offense and simply wanting to move on.
Given Samuel’s ability on the field, his skillset with the ball in his hands, there’s a very real possibility that every team in the league calls San Francisco in order to hear the price of doing business. That will only help the 49ers, should they opt to move on, and reap the benefits of a bidding war.
