4 reasons why 49ers shouldn’t budge on Deebo Samuel trade request

Reason No. 2: Trey Lance should make Deebo Samuel much better

There’s been enough knocking on quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, so we don’t need to expand too much on how Jimmy G could never truly take advantage of Deebo Samuel’s downfield threat and instead had to rely on his yards-after-the-catch abilities.

Quarterback Trey Lance, however, has a much stronger arm. Remember Lance’s long touchdown pass to Samuel against the Houston Texans last year? Yeah, Garoppolo isn’t making this throw:

Lance, fully poised to start in 2022 with Garoppolo on the outs, needs Samuel to ensure his own development progresses accordingly.

At the same time, and as Samuel even pointed out, Lance could turn into “a superstar” in the not-so-distant future, thereby increasing the wide receiver’s own prowess well beyond whatever Garoppolo could have helped engineer.

Remember, every good wide receiver needs a good quarterback. Better quarterbacks make good wide receivers great ones.

Samuel won’t automatically find that wherever he’s traded, should the Niners accommodate his wishes.