The San Francisco 49ers need some more wide receivers, and Deebo Samuel is set to be a free agent.
Naturally, there is going to be speculation that the two sides could reunite.
Niners tight end George Kittle and running back Christian McCaffrey have already talked about the possibility of Deebo coming back to the Bay Area, but now some outside voices are also seeing it as a possibility.
NFL analyst Gregg Rosenthal recently said, "I can absolutely see Deebo Samuel coming back to the 49ers on a two-year, $12 million dollar contract because he doesn’t have a market elsewhere."
At that price, it would not be all that crazy for the Niners to bring Samuel back into the fold. He's obviously not the elite, multi-use threat he used to be, but Samuel proved last season with the Washington Commanders that he at least has a little gas left in the tank.
In 2025, Samuel had 72 receptions for 727 yards and five touchdowns. That's a far cry from the numbers he put up at his peak withSan Franncisco, but those are acceptable numbers for the third wide receiver on the depth chart.
A few things would have to happen for a deal like this to happen, though.
Samuel's market would have to be really quiet just like Rosenthal said. If there's a team out there that thinks Samuel can still be a WR2, then he should go to that team. But it is tough to see many teams viewing him that way.
Maybe a team like the Los Angeles Chargers, who just hired Mike McDaniel to be their offensive coordinator, would be willing to take a chance on Samuel. There are certainly plenty of Kyle Shanahan acolytes across the league, so all it takes is one to give him a chance.
But it is easy to envision Samuel, along with other wide receivers on the wrong side of age 30 set to hit free agency like Mike Evans and Tyreek Hill, lingering in free agency the way that guys like Amari Cooper and Keenan Allen lingered last offseason.
If that happens, the Niners might be willing to sign Samuel if they strike out on some of their other preferred targets or have a lot of young receivers that they end up drafting. It wouldn't be the worst idea to have a veteran like Samuel around to add depth and serve as a mentor.
Some fans would roll their eyes at a reunion, but at the same time, it would feel right to have Deebo back even if he's not the same player he was.
He may have no other choice if other teams aren't all that interested.