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49ers Likely to Cut Deebo Samuel with Post-June-1 Designation

At his end-of-season press conference, John Lynch said the 49ers wouldn't just give away Deebo Samuel this offseason. Turns out, that's exactly what they might do.
Grant Cohn|
Oct 27, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr (1) during warm ups before the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
Oct 27, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr (1) during warm ups before the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images | Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

At his end-of-season press conference, John Lynch said the 49ers wouldn't just give away Deebo Samuel this offseason. Turns out, that's exactly what they might do.

Ideally, the 49ers would trade Samuel for a draft pick, but they might not be able to get anything more than a fourth-round pick for him. And if they trade him before June 1, they'll lose more than $15 million in salary cap space. Is a fourth-round pick really that valuable given the cap penalty the 49ers would take? Probably not.

That's why NFL.com's Matt Okada expects the 49ers to release Deebo Samuel with a post-June-1 designation.

"The goal for San Francisco will likely be to trade former All-Pro wideout Deebo Samuel, but if the Niners can't find the right suitor or the right return, he might be a post-June-1 cut candidate instead," writes Okada. "Samuel had a down year in 2024, totaling just 806 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns, dropping five passes (per Pro Football Focus), fumbling twice and even struggling as a rusher, putting up a career-low 3.2 yards per carry. The Niners committed to Brandon Aiyuk as their WR1 last offseason while entertaining trade discussions for Samuel and eventually restructuring his contract. If another offensive mind has interest in Samuel's unique skill set, perhaps general manager John Lynch can net a mid-round pick for the former star. But if the market doesn't look promising, he might simply be released for the $5.1 million in cap savings that the post-June-1 designation would create."

To summarize: a post-June-1 release of Samuel would save the 49ers more than $5 million, trading him before June 1 would cost them more than $15 million.

No brainer.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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