The 49ers are optimizing around quarterback Brock Purdy, both financially and stylistically — and doing so will require some jarring course adjustments that disregard nostalgia from the not-too-distant past. One came on Saturday evening, when the 49ers completed a trade sending receiver Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders for a fifth-round draft pick.
This wasn’t exactly surprising. The 29-year-old Samuel had requested a trade last month and 49ers general manager John Lynch subsequently acknowledged a divorce made sense for both sides. But it’s jolting news regardless, simply because it marks a distinct shift for the team.
With Purdy expected to sign the largest contract in franchise history this offseason, the 49ers are working to ensure their offense is tailored around his skill set. The team ranked No. 32 — dead last — in average separation at the time of catch or incompletion in 2024, Samuel’s worst season since entering the league in 2019.
Although his style, which emphasized bulldozing over separating, had delivered massive production for the 49ers in prior seasons, it clearly didn’t pair optimally with Purdy’s aggressive downfield focus.
So when Samuel — likely seeing writing on the wall after rookie Ricky Pearsall emerged to collect 18 targets over the 49ers’ final two games — requested to be traded in February, Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan quickly signaled their willingness to oblige their receiver.
The 49ers weren’t willing to extend Samuel’s contract, which expires after this next season — at least not at the price he desired. So they dealt him to a Washington team whose general manager is Adam Peters, a former 49ers executive who was around when San Francisco drafted Samuel out of South Carolina in 2019.
On the big-picture scale, the 49ers open up $17.5 million in salary-cap space with this maneuver. With over $50 million of 2025 cap space available, they’re willing and able to absorb $31.6 million of dead money — all of which would’ve hit the cap at some point — in this cycle.
The 49ers were reportedly interested in adding Washington’s Jonathan Allen in the trade, but the defensive tackle’s $16.4 million salary would’ve essentially offset any savings from trading Samuel and would’ve made for an inefficient play on the 49ers’ part.
“We’ve had high cash spend, and at some point you have to recalibrate a bit,” Lynch said at this week’s NFL Couting Combine. “You can’t just keep pressing the pedal. But I think there’s some good that can come out of it. I think we need to get younger. We were the oldest team in football trying to make a run at it last year.
“I think it’s good to constantly try to get younger, and our draft class last year was a great move towards that. We’ll have four picks in the top 100. We’re excited about adding more youth to the great core of players we already have.”
In Deebo Samuel trade, 49ers save and Commanders acquire:
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) March 2, 2025
$1.17m base salary
$15.4m option bonus
$750k total per-game roster bonus
$200k workout bonus
$17.5m total savings for SF
The fifth-round pick that the 49ers have recouped for Samuel will allow them to add even more youth. They now have 11 picks in the 2025 NFL Draft. The selection from Washington will be No. 148. It allows the 49ers to re-enter the fifth round after the NFL stripped them of their original 2025 pick as punishment for a salary-cap accounting error.
Lynch and Shanahan have enjoyed notable success in the fifth round, drafting players like tight end George Kittle, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, cornerback D.J. Reed and safety Talanoa Hufanga there.
Washington, meanwhile, will hope that a change of scenery allows Samuel to rediscover at least some of his pre-2024 form. A Week 2 injury coupled with an October bout with pneumonia made this past season a nightmare for Samuel. The nadir came in December, when he dropped a perfect pass from Purdy against the Los Angeles Rams that probably would’ve been the game-winning touchdown.
In all, Samuel’s receiving success rate dropped from 56.2 percent to 40.7 percent and his rushing efficiency plummeted from 6.1 to 3.2 yards per carry.
The Commanders feature star young quarterback Jayden Daniels and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who might be able to leverage Samuel’s versatility the way the 49ers did over his tremendously productive six-year run with them.
Samuel amassed 4,972 receiving yards, 1,143 rushing yards and 42 touchdowns over his time with the 49ers. He was the team’s best player in 2021, racking up 1,770 yards from scrimmage and 14 touchdowns on his way to All-Pro honors and a new contract with the 49ers. Samuel kept delivering big games after that, most notably a three-touchdown explosion in the 49ers’ blowout win over the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023.
A crowning moment came about two months after that, when the 49ers trailed the Detroit Lions by 17 points at halftime of that season’s NFC Championship Game. Lynch told a story about Samuel from the locker room that 49ers owner Jed York later relayed to the media.
“Down by 17 points, and [Lynch] said Deebo was just sitting there, just shaking,” York said. “He’s like, ‘Just tell Kyle to get me the damn ball.’
“And I mean, that’s who Deebo is. He’s just ready to take over a game at any point, and I’m very, very glad that he is on our football club.”
The 49ers, sparked by some big Samuel receptions, roared back to beat the Lions and head to the Super Bowl. It was a quintessential spark-plug performance from a receiver who’d specialized in turning the 49ers’ fortunes around. The team was coming off a 4-12 season when its coaching staff discovered Samuel at the 2019 Senior Bowl. The 49ers went 13-3 and waltzed all the way to the Super Bowl during Samuel’s rookie season, fueled significantly by a bruising style that was unique to a receiver position typically featuring much nimbler athletes.
The story took turns for the worse in both of the 49ers’ Super Bowl losses to the Kansas City Chiefs, of course. Samuel pulled his hamstring in the most recent of those two defeats to close the 2023 season. Injury and health issues then persisted into the 2024 season, leading to a disappointing performance and this big shift.
Life changes fast in the NFL, and Samuel’s exit from the 49ers was certainly emblematic of that.
“He’s asked for a fresh start and I think we’re going to honor that,” Lynch said as the 49ers were working on a trade this past week. “There’s a lot of love, respect, shared experiences there. It’s difficult to let go of that. But time happens, and if it makes sense for both sides — you at least give it a chance.”