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George Kittle Says He's Sad the 49ers Traded Deebo Samuel

The 49ers want to get younger and cheaper.
Grant Cohn|
Nov 28, 2021; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel (19) celebrates with tight end George Kittle (85) after scoring a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings during the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
Nov 28, 2021; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel (19) celebrates with tight end George Kittle (85) after scoring a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings during the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images | Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers want to get younger and cheaper.

As a result, they no longer felt Deebo Samuel was worth the money they were paying him. So, they began to phase him out of the offense. And at the end of the season, he requested a trade, a request the 49ers granted. Now, he's on the Washington Commanders, a team that could win the Super Bowl next season.

Meanwhile, the 49ers are hoping that five rookies will be ready to start on defense for the season opener.

This week, Kittle went on Bussiin' With The Boys and was asked if he's bummed to see Samuel go to Washington.

"I'm happy for him that he went to Washington," Kittle said after taking a deep breath. "Guys need a fresh start sometimes, and he wanted a fresh start. I'm very happy for him. I'm sad that I don't have him on my team anymore because I just loved having him around the locker room and stuff like that. But, I'm happy he went to Washington because Adam Peters is there, our old assistant GM, and he's the man.

"And also, they're pretty good at football, too. Jayden Daniels is very talented. With the zone-read stuff that he does, and all the stuff we did with Deebo in the backfield, and you have Terry McLaurin on the outside, and then people continue to forget that Zach Ertz had a very good year last year. You throw him in the middle, and they have a very talented offense. And Daniels makes everybody better. He's insane."

Sounds like Kittle is more excited about the 2025 Washington Commanders than he is about the 2025 San Francisco 49ers. And I can't blame him. The Commanders are all-in, while the 49ers have more than $46 million in salary cap space they're planning to roll over to 2026.

I feel bad for Kittle. The 49ers are going to waste one of the final seasons of his prime unless they make a big move soon.

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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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