Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Monday, February 10th, 2025
Report: 49ers begin contract talks with Brock Purdy, want deal done ‘soon’
“And the 49ers aren’t dragging their feet — the team wants a deal soon and have started conversations with Purdy’s camp.”
““If you truly watch the tape and you watch all the other elite quarterbacks in this league, there’s a common thread amongst all of them: The fact that they’re able to process the game at such a high level, able to create plays with their feet, and make the high-level throws up and down the field,” Warner told Russini. “Brock Purdy does all these things. And he was in the MVP conversation a year ago—let’s not forget that he took us to a Super Bowl and he gave us the lead before, obviously, Patrick Mahomes and them took it away from us.
“Everybody out there, if you have any questions about Brock Purdy, I’m here to tell you — I’m not biased, I know ball — he’s the guy.”
Hutchinson: Deebo Samuel requests a trade, but it’s not that simple
“With McCaffrey, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk, the 49ers had an elite receiving trident. Samuel, meanwhile, was an after-the-catch receiver, and with Jimmy Garoppolo’s departure, and defenses shifting to take away the middle of the field and playing more press-man coverage, Samuel increasingly struggled.
That playbook by the Chiefs, with them sending (mostly) Trent McDuffie on Samuel, was a major component of the team’s last Super Bowl loss. He was targeted 11 times for three catches for 33 yards.
Samuel was poor this season, and complained about getting the ball after a win over the Chicago Bears. Samuel had 81 targets this season compared to 89 the year before, and 42 rushing attempts compared to 37 the year prior. That’s three fewer touches in the same number of games, with 222 fewer receiving yards, four fewer receiving touchdowns, and 89 fewer rushing yards and four fewer rushing touchdowns (again, on five more touches).”
49ers’ Deebo Samuel again wants to be traded and his exit now appears inevitable (paywall)
“The 49ers weren’t eager to trade Samuel in 2022. And they were only prepared to part with him for a high price last year. But Samuel’s age, 2024 decline and their roster is why his exit now appears inevitable.
The 49ers have never been better positioned to part with Samuel due to the presence of Pearsall and the emergence of Jennings, 27, who shattered career-highs in catches (77) and receiving yards (975) in 2024. They will also have Aiyuk, whom they signed to a four-year, $120 million extension last year, although he is rehabbing from a complex knee injury that included two torn ligaments. In addition, they are expected to have 10 picks in this year’s draft.
Samuel carries a $15.8 million salary cap charge in 2025, the fifth-highest on the team, and the 49ers would absorb a $31.55 million dead-money cap hit if they trade him before June 1. The 49ers would want to complete a trade before March 22, when Samuel is due a $15.4 million option bonus. If the 49ers release Samuel with a post-June 1 designation, they would assume a $10.7 million dead-cap charge in 2025 and 2026.”
“The deal is structured in such a way to make it convenient for them to designate him as a post-June 1 release at considerable cap savings this year.
If the 49ers opted to release Samuel with a post-June 1 designation, it would have created $5 million in cap savings, while he still would have counted $10 million against the cap.
If San Francisco were to trade Samuel before June 1, the team would absorb $31.55 million on this year’s contract due to previous money Samuel collected from the 49ers that was prorated against the cap on an annual basis.
If the 49ers take on that big cap hit this year, Samuel would be completely wiped off the books for future seasons.
The 49ers reportedly gave Samuel’s agent permission to seek a trade. Although he has just one season remaining on his contract, Samuel would not come with a steep price tag for a new team. He might seek a new contract with any team interested in trading for him, but his current costs would consist of only his $1.17 million base salary, $750,000 in total roster bonuses (paid out per game) and a $200,000 offseason workout bonus.”