Tag: 49ers offseason

Has Deebo Samuel played his final game as a 49er?

Did we see the last of Deebo Samuel in red and gold?

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel is officially listed as ‘out’ on the team’s Week 18 injury report, meaning his four-touch, 17-yard, one-touchdown performance against the Detroit Lions in Week 17 could be his last in red and gold.

Samuel, who is nursing rib and wrist injuries, has one year left on his contract. His 2024 campaign was arguably the worst of his career and it came at an inopportune time for the one-time All-Pro.

His down year came on the heels of San Francisco selecting WR Ricky Pearsall in the first round of the draft, and coincided with WR Jauan Jennings’s breakout campaign. With Brandon Aiyuk still slotted as the team’s long-term No. 1 wide receiver, the space for Samuel to operate is starting to shrink.

If he was still playing at an All-Pro level, it would be a no-brainer to pay to keep him in 2025 and beyond. However, his play fell-off precipitously in 2024.

He posted 51 catches, the fewest full-season total of his career. His 670 receiving yards are the second-fewest of his career, and his 3.2 yards per carry were the lowest of his career. Samuel also struggled to break tackles through most of the year, finishing with 25 missed tackles forced on 93 touches (.27 per touch) according to Pro Football Focus. For reference, in 2023 he forced 55 missed tackles on 97 touches (.57 per touch). In 2022 he forced 59 on 98 touches (.60 per touch).

To make room for Pearsall and Jennings and to shave a little bit off their salary cap number for next year, the 49ers could designate Samuel as a post-June 1 release to take a $10,751,753 dead cap hit. They’d also pick up $5,206,105 in savings in 2025 according to Over the Cap.

They could also aim to trade him during this year’s draft. Samuel was in a ton of trade rumors leading up to the 2024 draft and despite a down year, a WR-needy team may still be eager to connect with one of the league’s most versatile offensive weapons in exchange for a mid-round pick.

Parting with Samuel may make sense from a roster and cap perspective, but it would signal a pretty substantial shift in the 49ers’ roster makeup. Samuel has been an integral piece of San Francisco’s offense since he joined the club as a second-round pick in the 2019 draft. His 2021 All-Pro season where he racked up 1,405 receiving yards and 365 rushing yards may never be touched by another WR in NFL history.

However, the 49ers are at the point where some tough decisions will need to be made on veterans. Even veterans as meaningful as Samuel. Given what we know about what’s ahead for the 49ers’ roster and salary cap constraints, there’s a strong chance his Week 17 performance was his last as a 49er.

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49ers take advantage of roster spot opened by Trent Williams holdout

Trent Williams is holding out which opened a roster spot for a familiar WR.

49ers star left tackle Trent Williams wasn’t among the players to report to training camp. San Francisco on Thursday took advantage of the absence and cleared a roster spot by placing Williams on the reserve/did not report list. In a corresponding move they signed wide receiver Malik Turner to the 90-man roster.

Williams is looking for an adjusted contract after the guaranteed money on his six-year deal ran out last year. His absence isn’t ideal, but he also has enough experience that missing a handful of practices shouldn’t be a problem for the 36-year-old.

Turner is a familiar name for fans tapped into preseason rosters. He spent the 2022 offseason with San Francisco and looked like he might be in line to make the team after a strong preseason performance. The 49ers wound up cutting Turner and re-signing him to their practice squad. He stayed there until he was let go in early November.

It’s likely the 49ers just need some camp bodies at receiver since Brandon Aiyuk isn’t participating and Ricky Pearsall is on the non-football injury list. Turner is a long shot to have a serious impact on the race for roster spots, although his special teams contributions give him a chance to stick around on the practice squad.

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49ers first on-field look at rookies coming soon

Hey the #49ers have some offseason stuff happening this week!

The 49ers won’t have to wait much longer to see their first-year players in on-field action. Draft picks and undrafted free agents will all report to the team facility on Thursday, May 9. Their first rookie minicamp will take place the following day.

In all there isn’t much to glean from rookie minicamp, but it provides different opportunities for different players.

Early draft picks will just be hoping to get through the sessions and prove to be competent at football. It’s likely the easiest thing they’ll do in an NFL uniform.

For the later draft picks and undrafted players it’s an opportunity to shine. Nobody is going to win a starting job or a roster spot. However, making an impression as a late-round pick, UDFA or minicamp invitee could set the table to show out in OTAs and beyond. Simply getting on the radar is a win for those players in the rookie minicamp.

Beyond that we won’t take too much away from the session. Those big takeaways can come from training camp and the preseason once the pads come on and real preparations are underway.

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Busted: 49ers lose 1 week of rookie development for rule violation

The San Francisco 49ers had to cut out a week of rookie development because of a rule they broke in rookie minicamp.

The San Francisco 49ers on Wednesday voluntarily cut their offseason program short. Thursday it was cut down even further because of a violation of NFL practice rules according to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero.

The 49ers per Pelissero’s report won’t be allowed to do a week of rookie development because of a video that surfaced on social media from rookie minicamp that indicated San Francisco wasn’t following the offseason practice rules. That video showed some contact between two players when contact during that time is not permitted.

This is entirely separate from the team cancelling the final two OTAs and mandatory minicamp. Shanahan on Wednesday in a press conference said the team had been planning for awhile to cut the offseason program short for a number of reasons.

What was eliminated by the league was a rookie development week that was not football-related. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco characterized the development in a tweet as, “non-football and life skills.”

The 49ers rookies that stayed behind will now likely head home and return for training camp in late July.

49ers cancel final 2 OTAs and mandatory minicamp

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan cancelled two OTAs and mandatory minicamp for a number of reasons.

The San Francisco 49ers’ offseason program is finished. Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday told reporters the team won’t hold another practice prior to training camp in part because of the truncated offseason schedule, the large turnout at the voluntary workouts, and because of the pair of major injuries the team sustained Monday.

This year’s OTAs started a week later than usual, which was part of the impetus for cutting the program short. Shanahan explained to reporters in a video chat that while he’d always planned to cut back on the mandatory minicamp in order to give the players some time away from the facility.

“We kinda decided awhile ago we weren’t gonna do minicamp,” Shanahan said in a videoconference. “I rarely do do minicamp when we get nine OTAs in. We usually do one practice, then we have like a team-building thing throughout that. I kinda decided earlier in this if we could get our OTAs in I wasn’t gonna keep them for minicamp because it’s a week longer than usual. I like the guys to get away for 40 days, and we started a week later this year than usual – the whole league did –  so they only would’ve gotten away for 32 days, and I think that does add up.”

Another factor in the team’s decision to eliminate their final two OTAs and their three-day mandatory minicamp was the number of players that showed up for OTAs. Turnout for the voluntary sessions was in question because of COVID-19 protocols, and limited turnout to the voluntary practices makes the mandatory practices more of a necessity.

Shanahan said all but one member of the 49ers’ roster showed up, rendering the need for additional practices moot.

“We had such a big turnout, too. I know there were some question around a lot of people around the league,” Shanahan said. “If we didn’t have a big turnout I obviously would’ve kept those guys because I know we had to get some work in. I mean, we really had 89 people show up to OTAs, which was unbelievable. … Having 89 guys here and getting seven OTA practices in, I felt great about it.”

While the 49ers did wind up eliminating five on-field practices, the change wasn’t a huge stretch from Shanahan’s original plan. His initial goal was to get eight practices in before cancelling the rest of the offseason program. The team wound up cutting it off after seven sessions because of two season-ending injuries suffered by OL Justin Skule and DB Tarvarius Moore on Monday.

“My plan was to get eight, then I was gonna surprise them on Thursday and take everyone bowling,” Shanahan said. “But after our seventh practice with those two injuries and just the aura it gave to it, I wasn’t gonna come back and do one more just to do one more.”

Now the 49ers, save for a few rookies that’ll stay at the facility, will head home until late July when training camp is set to start, although dates haven’t been officially determined.