Should the 49ers Trade or Restructure Deebo Samuel?
The most overpaid player on the 49ers is Deebo Samuel.
He's still good -- he had 1,117 yards from scrimmage and 12 touchdowns last season. But he's not the focal point of the offense anymore -- Christian McCaffrey is. And he's not the best wide receiver on the team anymore -- Brandon Aiyuk is.
The 49ers gave Samuel that mondo extension thinking they would give him 130 to 150 touches per season, but they don't anymore. He had fewer than 100 touches each of the past two seasons. And he gets injured and misses time every year.
And yet Samuel is the highest-paid offensive skill player on the roster, as he's scheduled to cost the 49ers more than $28 million against the cap next season.
That number is outrageous. The 49ers have to do something about it. They can trade him and create $6.9 million in cap space for this year and a whole lot more for next year. Or they can restructure his contract and create $15.1 million in cap space this year while making it much more difficult to move Samuel in the future.
The decision comes down to this: If the 49ers think Samuel will maintain his current level of play for the next few seasons, they should restructure his contract and make him more affordable for 2024. If they think he's declining, they should trade him now and get what they can for him before he's worth next to nothing in a trade.
I think he's declining. I think he's a wide receiver who doesn't beat man-to-man coverage or play running back anymore. I think the 49ers offense would be just fine without. I think they should trade him, but they won't, because Samuel is friends with head coach Kyle Shanahan, and friends take care of each other.
