The fact the 49ers didn't trade Deebo Samuel out of the conference entirely tells you how they truly feel about him as a playmaker.
The San Francisco 49ers shook up the 2025 offseason by trading away one of their star players, wide receiver Deebo Samuel, to the Washington Commanders.
All the Niners got back in return was a mere fifth-round pick in this year's draft while absorbing a $31.5 million salary cap hit in the process.
From an outsider's vantage point, it seems like pure mismanagement on San Francisco's part. All the 49ers could manage in negotiations was a day-three pick while heeding to Samuel's demands, weakening what was a Super Bowl-caliber roster only a year ago.
However, most non-Niners fans are probably recalling Samuel's All-Pro 2021 campaign when they think about the kind of impact he'll now have with Washington. Those fans and analysts probably overlook Deebo's "awful" (his comments, not ours) 2022 campaign, and to a lesser extent, his pedestrian numbers from 2024 at a time when an injury-plagued San Francisco offense needed him most.
Putting things bluntly, the 49ers knew Samuel was no longer a top-caliber player. His trade details reveal this in full.
Deebo Samuel trade reveals how 49ers truly felt about his playmaking impact
Teams with playoff aspirations typically don't trade top weapons to fellow postseason contenders within the conference. All it would take is for the Samuel-led Commanders to oust the Niners in a playoff showdown to rub that transaction in San Francisco's collective face.
But, the 49ers moved Samuel anyway while getting awfully little in return and absorbing that substantial cap hit.
If they felt Samuel was still a legitimate threat, things likely would have been much, much different.
Tim Kawakami of SF Standard explained:
"Teams usually try to place their exiting stars in the other conference, so they’re not jousting with him repeatedly in big games. But the 49ers weren’t so worried about that with Deebo, even though Washington raced to the NFC Championship Game last January and has a great young quarterback, Jayden Daniels.
Also, the 49ers had zero problem trading Deebo to Washington general manager Adam Peters, who was John Lynch’s first hire when Lynch was putting together the 49ers’ front office in 2017. ...
The 49ers won’t look good if a Deebo/Peters team knocks them out in the playoffs or rises to the Super Bowl before they do. The 49ers clearly don’t think this will happen.
"
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Samuel's injury history, paired with the fact he's now 29 years old and coming off three consecutive so-so (at best) seasons, ultimately led the Niners to believe the 2019 second-round draftee out of South Carolina was little more than a shadow of his former self.
Had all other things been equal, yet San Francisco felt Samuel was still elite, he wouldn't have been traded to a top contender within the conference for such a low draft pick.
But he was. And that tells you what the 49ers feel about him.