Deebo Samuel on Friday went on Instagram Live and told viewers he was receiving racist messages and death threats in his direct messages on social media. While Samuel expressed calm over the situation, it’s still unacceptable that this happens to a human being over a contract negotiation.
Ultimately this is about treating humans with decency and respect. This isn’t only an issue because of the fan-athlete dynamic, but that’s the lens we’ll view this through for now.
Samuel is coming off the most uniquely productive season by a wide receiver in NFL history where he had 1,405 receiving yards to go with 365 rushing yards and 14 total touchdowns. He was the offensive MVP and their go-to player whenever they needed a big play.
Now he’s entering the final year of his rookie contract and presumably would like to guarantee his financial future before stepping foot on the field again now that he’s eligible for an extension. Given the incredibly high injury risk in football, that’s a perfectly reasonable stance that virtually any star player takes going into the final year of their four-year rookie contract.
We don’t know what negotiations have been like. We don’t know what offers the 49ers have or have not made. We don’t know what offers Samuel and his agent have proposed. Whatever rift there is between the two sides, at least for now, seems like part of the normal ups-and-downs of complicated contract negotiations.
There are zero things he could do in this negotiation to warrant the type of behavior he said is happening in his direct messages. Which makes it even more ludicrous when considering so far the only thing he’s done is scrub his Instagram and “like” a photo on Instagram. That’s hardly anything worth getting worked up over.
Whatever happens with Samuel and the 49ers in their contract talks, the result cannot be fans spewing hatred in the receiver’s direction. That should never be part of the fan-player interaction. We have to do better as fans and people. Football is supposed to be fun, and athletes are not here to serve the whim of every person who cheers for them. And we cannot continue reacting with extreme vitriol every time an athlete does something we don’t like.
Just be nice to people. It’s not hard.