Think of Deebo Samuel’s inevitable departure from the 49ers — which will almost certainly happen in a matter of weeks — as the first concrete evidence of a different kind of attitude around team HQ heading into the most meaningful parts of the 2025 offseason.
It’s harder-edged. It’s a little more ruthless on the financial side. It’s a lot less forgiving on the performance side. It’s part course correction, going into the ninth season of the Kyle Shanahan/John Lynch era, and part full-speed preparation for the next stage — into the 2025 regular season and probably for years beyond that.
What I’ve heard from people who have talked to the 49ers over the last few weeks is consistent: Deebo was 20 pounds overweight at times last season, which at least partially led to his dramatic drop in production and sure doesn’t indicate that he’s still in his prime at 29. Meanwhile, Deebo clearly was frustrated during the season, saying on social media that he wasn’t getting enough chances to make plays. That frustration has not lessened.
So Deebo and the 49ers concurrently decided it was time to move on. Whether Deebo read the room before his end-of-season meeting with Shanahan and beat the 49ers to the punch by asking to be traded or whether the 49ers hit the eject button first, it feels different because it is different than anything else in this era.
Until recently, Deebo was a made man in 49ers land — one of Shanahan’s favorite players, a locker-room leader despite his previous 2022 trade request and difficult contract negotiation (or maybe even a little bit because of it), a team captain in 2023 and 2024, and, most importantly, the receiver/running back hybrid who saved the 2021 season and possibly ensured the continuation of the Shanahan/Lynch era back then.
But this time, nobody’s waiting around for Deebo and the 49ers to make up. The trade request proved that the relationship is over. He’s a past-tense 49er now.
“I don’t think you can really replace him,” George Kittle said of Deebo on USA Today’s “Sports Seriously” show. “We’re just going to have to build our offense a little bit differently because we don’t have that available to us. But Deebo’s a hell of a football player. I’ve loved being his teammate, I’ve loved sharing the field with him, I’ve loved going to war with him. If that is what happens and he gets traded, I’ll be very sad. But at the same time, I’m always happy for guys to get opportunities and that’s all you can ask for in the NFL.”
Past decisions that the 49ers now regret
Team sources have insisted that trading or, more likely, releasing Deebo before he has a $15.4 million option bonus due on March 22, won’t mean that the 49ers are backing away from the desire to win a Super Bowl, in particular the one that will be held at Levi’s Stadium next February. It won’t mean that there will be fewer demands and expectations on a roster that is still loaded with stars.
It will mean, though, that this is very much not 2021 or even 2023 anymore, and it’s time for everybody in the locker room and throughout the organization to understand that. Behavior or slumps that were accepted when the 49ers were competing for conference championships are not looked on kindly now that the 49ers are coming off a 6-11 season.
Of course, Deebo didn’t single-handedly cause the 49ers’ descent last year. He wasn’t the only player to lose momentum due to injury or the only headliner to fail to produce anywhere close to expectations.
But what I’ve heard from a few 49ers people over the last few months is that this offseason will be the time to try to counteract some faulty decisions and move on from poor performances. I think there’s regret among some in 49ers management that Deebo wasn’t traded during his tense negotiations three years ago instead of landing the extension the 49ers now will exit a year early — with the resulting salary-cap penalties. There’s probably even more regret that Deebo wasn’t traded last spring.
Also, I know that there’s still frustration about the way Brandon Aiyuk handled his bitter negotiations last summer and that members of the front office were never thrilled about giving him a $30-million-a-year deal on the eve of the regular season. And a team that absolutely hates setting contract precedents probably doesn’t feel great in retrospect for buckling and giving Nick Bosa $34 million a year (and $120 million guaranteed) — which still stands as the highest salary and most guaranteed money in the league among defensive players — two Septembers ago after his long holdout.
The 49ers made those deals because they were in a sprint to win a Super Bowl with this core group and while Brock Purdy was on an immensely cheap rookie deal. But the 49ers have not won a Super Bowl in this era and Purdy is due a huge new contract. The 49ers will have to do some retooling on the fly. There are bills due.
To that point, moving off of Deebo and eliminating that $15.4 million option bonus gives Jed York more cash to offer Purdy. It also solidifies the transition Shanahan started in the middle of last season, when he asked Purdy and Deommodore Lenoir, two of the team’s younger leaders, to speak to the team the night before the Bears game. Though Fred Warner and George Kittle still have the voices that mean the most, the locker-room leadership shift is happening.
Will the 49ers, in this new mindset, take a hard line on Purdy? There’s been no indication so far that either side is bracing for a grinding negotiation. I think York and his lieutenants understand that they have to do everything possible to avoid a problematic negotiation with their starting quarterback — a good team can’t afford to have QB1 missing OTAs, minicamp, and especially training camp.
The 49ers have to make their best offer pretty soon. I think Purdy will react positively if it’s a fair number. This deal can get done by April or so. But, in a post-Deebo environment, I don’t think 49ers management is in the mood to mess around too much. Even with their QB1.
How will the 49ers replace Deebo?
It won’t be too hard to replace the 796 combined yards receiving and rushing that Deebo put up in 2024. But the 49ers obviously want to be a better offense than they were last season and they want more out of their playmakers than they got.
If Christian McCaffrey is fully healthy, he’ll fill in a lot of gaps. If Ricky Pearsall takes a big jump from Year 1 to Year 2, that’ll help the 49ers enormously. They still have Jauan Jennings, who had more receiving yards last season (975) than Deebo had in all but one of his six seasons with the 49ers. Aiyuk should be back from his ACL tear by the first month of the season or so. Jacob Cowing might get a lot more reps in 2025 than he did in 2024. But that feels a pretty light group at such an important position, at least until Aiyuk is at full speed. The 49ers will probably have to add at least one veteran receiver in free agency and draft a receiver at some point.
What’s missing: Deebo from 2021 (when he had 1,405 receiving yards, 365 rushing yards, and 14 combined TDs) or, at worst, from 2023 (when he had 892 receiving yards, 225 rushing yards, and 12 combined TDs). That’s the guy Shanahan believed could win him the Super Bowl in February 2024; but Deebo only had 3 catches for 33 yards on 11 targets in the game. He also had 3 carries for 8 yards.
The 49ers sure missed Prime Deebo that night against the Chiefs. They missed him all last season (except that big game against Miami). They’ve decided that guy is gone. Soon, Deebo officially will be an ex-49er. It’s the end of something that was pretty special, though it hadn’t been the same for a while. And the 49ers are not wrong in finally, coldly acknowledging that and moving on.