One day after 49ers general manager John Lynch gave assurances his team was intent on working towards a contract extension with wide receiver Deebo Samuel, head coach Kyle Shanahan gave a thumbs-up of his own, saying he'd "recommend" keeping Samuel around for the long term.
The price of wide receivers has skyrocketed this offseason, as demonstrated by new contracts given to Christian Kirk (four years, $72 million from the Jaguars), Davante Adams (five years, $140 million from the Raiders), and Tyreek Hill (four years, $120 million from the Dolphins). Even with the guaranteed money in those deals coming in at noticeably lower figures than the overall value, the costs of those players has led to some speculation over how willing the 49ers would be to give a similar amount to Samuel.
The 49ers seem to have answered that question over the past couple of days. Lynch gave his thoughts on the issue while speaking to reporters at the NFL's Annual League Meetings on Monday, saying there is a plan in place to keep Samuel in the Bay Area for a "long, long time," then Shanahan voiced his support for that idea while talking with reporters on Tuesday.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan on a Deebo Samuel extension: "I'd recommend it."
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 29, 2022
Lynch and Shanahan's comments will at least calm any concerns about the 49ers making the same decision that the Packers and Chiefs did in trading Adams to the Raiders and Hill to the Dolphins, respectively. But the 49ers will still obviously have to pay Samuel a significant sum if they want to keep him around, a task made more challenging after Samuel added value to his name by making a major impact as a running back last season.
Samuel's rookie contract runs through the end of the 2022 season, which makes it seem likely the 49ers will try to get a deal done in the near future. Time will tell how everything works out, but at least now it's known the 49ers continue to plan on making it work with Samuel instead of going in a different direction.