INDIANAPOLIS — When wide receiver Deebo Samuel and the 49ers were negotiating a new contract three years ago, he asked the organization to trade him.
This time, 49ers general manager John Lynch believes Samuel means it. And the 49ers are prepared to fulfill the star wideout's trade request.
Lynch said Samuel is drawing considerable interest.
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“He’s asked for a fresh start, and I think we’re going to honor that,” Lynch said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Samuel, 29, has played six seasons with the 49ers after coming to the team as a second-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. After an All-Pro 2021 season, he signed a three-year, $71.5 million contract extension with the 49ers in August 2022.
Before Samuel signed his contract, which runs through the 2025 NFL season, he requested a trade. Lynch was adamant at the time that he would not trade Samuel.
“Maybe there was some frustration at the time, but I never felt like that was a real deal,” Lynch told NBC Sports Bay Area on Wednesday.
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But this time it's different.
After a season in which his production dropped and the 49ers stumbled to a 6-11 record, Samuel expressed his desire to end his union with the 49ers during a conversation with coach Kyle Shanahan.
“Then, he came up and talked with me and we had a very honest and frank conversation,” Lynch said. “He told us his reasons. I asked him to sit on it, sleep on it, and we’d do the same. We did, and we told him he could go talk to people.”
Lynch said it feels as if time has run its course with Samuel and the 49ers.
The 49ers granted Samuel and his agent, Tory Dandy, permission to speak with teams that might be interested in acquiring Samuel in a trade.
“That’s not to say it’s going to happen; that’s to say he can explore that,” Lynch said. “Like you’d expect, there’s a lot of interest. We’ll see if something gets done.
“But we’re in a good place with Deebo, and he’s done a lot for our organization, so the one thing I can tell you, if he indeed does move on, there would be nothing but love and gratitude for what he’s done for our organization.”
If the 49ers trade Samuel, his contract would account for $31 million in dead money on the salary cap. He is currently scheduled to count $15.9 million on the cap.
The 49ers could save $5 million on the cap this year, with a cap charge of approximately $20 million in 2026, if they were to release him with a post-June 1 designation. He is scheduled to earn an option bonus of $22 million on March 22.
It appears Samuel has played his final game with the 49ers. Brandon Aiyuk’s status is uncertain for the start of the regular season as he recovers from a torn ACL.
The 49ers’ top three healthy receivers are Jauan Jennings, Ricky Pearsall and Jacob Cowing.
“I think we’ve got work to do,” Lynch said. “But the good thing is, the season doesn’t start next week. There’s time.
“It’s what we’ve been working on, what we work on year-round to always have a plan in place. And sometimes that plan is fluid because it involves a lot of moving pieces. But we like the guys we do have.”