Deebo Samuel attended the San Francisco 49ers' mandatory minicamp earlier this month but did not participate in the practices. General manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan continued to share their optimism that the 49ers will sign Samuel to a contract extension despite the wide receiver requesting a trade earlier in the offseason.
Samuel's willingness to report to the mandatory minicamp gave the impression that there is hope that the rift between player and team can be resolved and that a contract extension might come before training camp. However, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reports that nothing has changed regarding Samuel's stance.
"I'm told status quo is really when he reported to minicamp; that's the last piece of news that we have here," Fowler said Sunday on SportsCenter (h/t Bleacher Report). "Nothing else significant has happened behind the scenes between Samuel and the 49ers. In fact, he hasn't officially rescinded his trade request as far as I've heard.
"But the 49ers are still hopeful that they can mend this relationship [and] come to a long-term agreement at some point. Could be closer to training camp or around then, but they'll chip away at this. And really, the trade market has sizzled; around draft time was really the best time to do that. Now, there really hasn't been a lot of buzz or traction."
Mentioned on @SportsCenter this AM that there's been no official rescission of the trade request, at least that I'm aware of -- but he did show up for minicamp, which is a positive, and there's not a lot of league-wide chatter about a potential trade right now. https://t.co/zicGXCSGBp
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) June 26, 2022
Earlier this month, Lynch stated that he expects Samuel to be a part of the 49ers during the 2022 season.
"We haven't traded him, and I'd be a fool to trade him," Lynch responded when asked about the situation. "So yes, Deebo will be part of the 49ers this season."
While the wide receiver market exploded this offseason, with Samuel watching as many of his peers, including Tyreek Hill and Davante Adams, received massive deals with new teams, the 49ers still have a lot of leverage. Samuel is under contract for one more season, and the team can utilize the franchise tag after that, should they wish to do so. However, San Francisco may have saved a lot of money and trouble by getting a deal done sooner.
Obviously, signing Samuel to a long-term deal and making the do-it-all wide receiver happy again is the best course of action. The 49ers would likely prefer to get something done before training camp rather than allow the situation to fester.
Samuel had a breakout season in 2021, recording 1,770 all-purpose yards and 14 total touchdowns while being a potent weapon in the 49ers' passing and rushing attack.
