Wanting to part ways with the 49ers was a decision that did not come easy for Deebo Samuel.
Prior to San Francisco agreeing to trade the veteran wide receiver to the Washington Commanders on Saturday, Samuel formally requested a trade from the team in a conversation with coach Kyle Shanahan and president of football operations/general manager John Lynch shortly after the 2024 NFL regular season ended.
Samuel, in an article he wrote for the Players' Tribune on Thursday, reminisced about his tenure with the 49ers and revealed how his difficult conversation with Shanahan and Lynch unfolded earlier this offseason.
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"One day, back in January, I walked into Kyle’s office and said, 'Bro, I don’t think you actually know how hard it is for me to come in here and have this conversation with you,' " Samuel recalled.
"After I talked with Kyle, I talked to John, and he understood where I was coming from and gave me his perspective on everything. He called me and gave me permission to seek a trade, and we talked about why we thought it was a good move for both of us."
Samuel appears to be leaving the 49ers on good terms with those inside the organization, and perhaps none of those relationships are as important to him as his bond with Shanahan.
"The relationship that me and Kyle got is ridiculous," Samuel wrote. "You can ask anybody in the building. One minute, he wanna knock my head off, and the next he’s just going crazy, excited at something I’m doing. I’ve always felt like he coaches me harder than anybody else because at the end of the day, he knows I ain’t no sensitive-ass player. If you tell me I messed up, I take it on the chin and go fix it instantly.
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"But our relationship is more than just 'The Coach' and 'The Player.' Kyle knows damn near everything that I’ve been through in my life, and I damn near know everything he done been through. It’s like that. It’s a bond you could never break. So, we talked it out. It was hard, in its own way. But more than anything, I was just proud of the way we both handled it, as men."
Once Samuel received word of the trade to the Commanders on March 1, it began to settle in that he was leaving the only NFL organization he has known in six professional seasons.
"When the trade happened, and my mind was flipping through all the memories like a scrapbook or something, I just kept reflecting on how our guys put in so much work together," Samuel admitted. "Our locker room gave college vibes, you know what I mean? It wasn’t like your typical locker room.
"Everybody’s so close, everybody hangs out. I think about how close I got with Aiyuk when he first came in as a rookie, back when he wasn’t talking to nobody lol. I knew J.J. a little bit from college. And then younger guys like Ricky and Jacob that I built relationships with, who are close as hell to me to this day. It’s not as easy as people think."
Samuel re-emphasized how difficult the decision to request a trade was for him and shared his appreciation for not just Shanahan and Lynch, but other important figures behind the scenes.
"I’m not gonna lie. A lot of people think it’s easy. I promise you nothing about this is easy," Samuel wrote. "That organization is top-tier world-class from John York, Jed York, f--king John Lynch, Prog, my receiver coach, Hank, especially Kyle … I’m a firm believer in loyalty and being a man of your word. And that’s one thing he showed me from the jump. At the end of the day, these guys put their trust in me to help turn their organization around, and I’ll forever be grateful for that. And thank God I was able to come in and make a difference."
At the end of the day, Samuel got his wish. He not only gets to start fresh, but he has the opportunity to do so with one of the NFC's best teams, a move he greatly appreciates.
"For John and Kyle to send me to a team in the NFC that was almost a Super Bowl contender, it just shows you the type of love and relationship that we have," Samuel added. "I know at the end of the day, they didn’t have to do that. So, it’s not a lick of bad blood when it comes to me and that organization. It’s always love."