How 49ers WR Deebo Samuel has Regressed

Samuel never has been a good route runner. He always has relied on Kyle Shanahan to scheme him open by running him into wide open voids in the opponent's zone coverage.

Deebo Samuel is still a good player, but he's not nearly what he was just a couple years ago.

In 2021, he was their No. 1 receiver AND their No. 1 running back. Now he's neither, partially because his performance has fallen off, and partially because they don't need him to play running back anymore. They have Christian McCaffrey, who's better than Samuel at running back.

Now Samuel has to be a wide receiver, not a hybrid player. And when the 49ers throw him a screen pass, he's still extremely dangerous after the catch. But he can't beat man to man coverage anymore.

Samuel never has been a good route runner. He always has relied on Kyle Shanahan to scheme him open by running him into wide open voids in the opponent's zone coverage. Samuel doesn't have the body control or finesse to work the stems of his routes and free himself against tight man-to-man coverage.

So in the past, when teams would play man coverage against Samuel, he could still win by running deep. He had the speed to win vertically, as coaches say. So teams had to be careful playing bump-and-run coverage against him.

Now Samuel doesn't have the speed to win vertically anymore. He's 28 and he has slowed down. And so now, opposing defensive backs line up in his face with no fear of getting beat deep. Which means any team can shut down Samuel simply by covering him man to man.

The 49ers can't trade him soon enough.