Part of what has made Deebo Samuel such a valuable player is the San Francisco 49ers’ revelation that he is a great fit as a dual running back/wide receiver.
Apparently, that is at least partly the reason for his desire to be traded.
After some speculation that he wanted out, Samuel told ESPN’s Jeff Darlington on Wednesday that he asked the 49ers for a trade. He didn’t explain why, but NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero told the “Rich Eisen Show” that Samuel was growing displeased with his high use as a rusher.
“It sounds like there’s multiple layers to this, but certainly one of them is Deebo Samuel wants to be a receiver and not a receiver/running back," Pelissero told Eisen. "His rushing attempts were significantly up last season from where they had been in the past. We know he’s a really, really physical player, but there probably are some concerns here about longevity. The counterpoint to that, of course, is that part of the reason Deebo Samuel is so valuable is because he’s versatile. …
“In the big picture, it sounds like the role is part of the reason that Deebo wants to play someplace else where he may just be able to be a true wide receiver and potentially tack on some years to his career.”
If Samuel doesn’t want to be used so often as a rusher, that could, potentially, impact his value in a trade, as Pelissero alluded to. That said, wide receivers don’t generally take the beating that running backs do, so from a health preservation standpoint it is probably more shrewd for him to just be a wide receiver.
Last season, Samuel has 121 targets as a receiver and 59 carries as a rusher across 16 games. His previous two seasons combined (which consisted of 22 games), he had 125 passing targets and 22 rushing attempts.
Some team is going to give Samuel a big contract, and the 49ers reportedly want to be the ones to do it. Whether they would consider handing the ball off to him far less to make that happen remains to be seen and will be a storyline until the situation is resolved.
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