There should be plenty of suitors, but we trimmed the list to 5 teams who should be interested in Deebo Samuel’s services
Numerous outcomes could happen with San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel this offseason, who has one year remaining on his current contract. The Niners could:
- Let Samuel play out the final year of his extension
- Release Samuel with a post-June 1 designation and save roughly $17 million over the next two seasons
- Trade Deebo ahead of the NFL Draft for compensation to use in this year’s draft
- Wait to trade Samuel during training camp/early during the 2025 regular season/post-draft once an injury, a team misses out on a wideout during a draft, or separation settles in
The most plausible outcome would be to honor Samuel’s request and trade him before the 2025 NFL Draft. While it’s a longshot that the Niners will receive a top-50 pick in return for Samuel since his new team would have to sign him to an extension, it’s not far-fetched to imagine Deebo being dealt for a top-100 pick.
When you’re thinking about the list of teams interested in Deebo’s services, they’ll need cap space to take on Samuel’s existing contract and/or have enough to extend him. That team will likely have a quarterback on a rookie contract, which would give them the financial flexibility to pay Deebo’s $15 million option bonus. After that, Deebo’s base salary in 2025 is only $1.17 million, thanks to a restructure at the beginning of the season.
Another way of looking at it, at least for football reasons, is a team that faces more zone than man coverage. So, it’s likely to be a quarterback with above-average mobility. Perhaps this team has an established top wideout and views Samuel as the missing puzzle piece to supplement their top receiver.
It was a tale of two seasons for Deebo. He had 19 receptions on 30 targets for 310 yards across 231 snaps when playing alongside Brandon Aiyuk. Without Aiyuk, he recorded 32 receptions on 51 targets for 360 yards over 422 snaps.
Those numbers read like somebody who is a solid No. 2 option but not a wideout a defense would look to rotate coverage toward.
Here are a handful of teams who could inquire about trading for Samuel over the next couple of months.
Washington Commanders
Per Over the Cap, the Commanders have the third-most cap space in the NFL. Extending Samuel wouldn’t be an issue. They also have a mobile quarterback on a rookie contract. Terry McLaurin has one year remaining on his contract, so Washington could conceivably replace Samuel, who is two years younger, with McLaurin.
Jayden Daniels had a magical rookie season for Washington. He was the primary reason the Commanders made the NFC Championship game. Adding Samuel could be independent of what Washington does with McLaurin.
Best of all, Samuel is a scheme fit. Washington used play-action on 29 percent of its passes and ran screens 13 percent of the time. Add in all of the different elements would add to the Commanders’ running game, and it’s easy to see why they’d be interested in Deebo.
McLaurin led Washington with 136 targets. The next wide receiver was Olamide Zaccheaus, with 72. There’s a role in Washington for Samuel, and that’s before we make the Adam Peters connection.
Washington holds the No. 29th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. They also have a second-rounder and a third-round pick from the Philadelphia Eagles, but they don’t pick again until the fifth round.
Denver Broncos
The Broncos are the second team on this list with a rookie quarterback. Bo Nix was a pleasant surprise for Denver. The Broncos would be wise to add skill around Nix this offseason. Denver has $34 million in cap space.
Courtland Sutton turns 30 in early October. Plus, he’s entering the final year of his contract. Much like Washington, Denver needs a wideout to supplement its top receiver in 2025 and an option in case said wideout leaves after the season.
Sutton saw an incredible 25 percent of the Broncos’ target share in 2025. He had more targets than the second and third targets in Denver.
Sean Payton would love Deebo. If I had to pick a team that best fits Samuel, it’d be Denver. Fifteen percent of Nix’s passes were screens. He also used play-action over 28 percent of the time. The most telling stat was 38.5 percent of Nix’s throws were between 0-9 yards, while another 22 percent were behind the line of scrimmage.
Hello, Deebo.
Denver owns the No. 20th overall pick this year. They have picks in each round except the fifth. Denver also has three sixth-rounders. No. 85 would be awfully enticing.
New York Giants
The only reason to leave the Giants off the list is if you’re in the mindset that the 49ers would “do right” by Samuel and ship him off to a contender. If Samuel is looking for targets, he’ll love the Big Apple.
Wan’Dale Robinson had 132 targets in 2024. He’s also entering the final year of his contract. Sorry, Wan’Dale, but Samuel is taking those in 2025. We don’t even need to know who the quarterback is. Deebo could be Malik Nabers’ mentor and a promising secondary target for whoever New York drafts in the first round.
Brian Daboll is in a year where the offense needs to get off the ground. What better way to do that than by adding firepower alongside Nabers?
The Giants have each of their top picks, including a pair of fourth-rounders. Since they’re selecting at the top of the draft, they might be less inclined to deal one of their Day 2 picks. Combining the two fourths might pique the 49ers’ interest enough to make a deal.
Houston Texans
The Texans offense fell off a cliff in Year 2 under Bobby Slowik, so DeMeco Ryans pulled the plug from that operation. Tank Dell was hurt for the second consecutive year. Houston tried Diontae Johnson, but that was another failed experiment.
C.J. Stroud is on his rookie contract. He has a top-flight receiver in Nico Collins. But there weren’t as many easy throws for the Texans last season, which is where Samuel comes into play.
Dell had 81 targets. Stefon Diggs had 62. There’s no guarantee either player will be healthy to begin the season. Plus, Diggs looked like a shell of himself and is on the wrong side of 30.
Despite parting ways with Slowik, it’s unlikely that Ryans makes major changes to the offense, making Samuel an easy piece to slide into the offense.
Houston owns the No. 25 pick in this draft, and has a pick in each round through the fifth. Their defense was stellar, so perhaps No. 89 is where negotiations begin.
Pittsburgh Steelers
There was a report over the weekend saying “According to a source from another NFL team, Samuel and his agent Tory Dandy are ‘absolutely’ going to attempt to engage with the Steelers, making them an immediate candidate if they share the same interest.”
Pittsburgh has a question mark at quarterback. They could bring back Russell Wilson. They could move forward with Justin Fields. They could bring both back, or some different competition. We don’t know that they know.
The Steelers are another team lacking a WR2. George Pickens had 105 targets. The next wideout had 58. The more you look around, the more you realize that Samuel has plenty of value for other teams. The Steelers aren’t turning up their nose to Deebo because 5’9, 162-pound Calvin Austin is on the depth chart.
Last offseason, we were on edge waiting for Pittsburgh to pull the trigger in a potential Brandon Aiyuk trade. Now that Aiyuk is locked up, the Steelers could turn their attention to another receiver on the Niners.
Pittsburgh has over $40 million in cap space. Pittsburgh owns the No. 21 overall pick and has a pick in each round through the fifth, then three 7th round picks.