49ers biggest winners, losers from surprising 2022 NFL Draft class

49ers loser: Wide receiver Deebo Samuel… for now

For weeks, and essentially through the middle of Round 1, almost all the talk surrounding the 49ers was whether or not they’d move Deebo Samuel for a lofty trade package of some kind, surely involving at least a first-round draft pick plus additional selections.

With each passing pick, however, no deal materialized. At least not for Samuel.

There was plenty of wide receiver movement, though, with the Baltimore Ravens trading Marquise Brown to the Arizona Cardinals, then the Tennessee Titans shipping off Pro Bowler A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Brown, who shares an agent with Samuel, subsequently inked a four-year extension with Philly worth up to $100 million with $57 million guaranteed, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport:

In a way, the Niners win this. They now have a benchmark for helping determine what an appropriate extension should be for Samuel. Brown setting that part of the market helps a lot. And, more importantly, Samuel isn’t going anywhere.

That’s why Samuel loses, at least for now, as he didn’t get his trade wish, and the draft would have been the last feasible time he could have been moved.

Eventually, though, he’ll win when San Francisco finally gets around to issuing him a big-buck extension.