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The 49ers and receiver Deebo Samuel are currently at an impasse.
Samuel wants out. San Francisco has every intention of keeping him.
While the 49ers don’t want to part with a key offensive player, another factor is in San Francisco’s view, there hasn’t been a trade offer worth entertaining.
At his joint press conference with G.M. John Lynch following the conclusion of the draft’s third round, head coach Kyle Shanahan admitted he was surprised and a little disappointed by Samuel’s trade request. But Shanahan added it’s a part of the business.
“You’ll consider anything. You have a responsibility to help your organization the most you can,” Shanahan said. “But losing a player like Deebo, it’s hard to see how that helps your organization. So you try to look into all the aspects of it and what people are willing to do, and nothing was even remotely close to what we thought would be fair to us or fair for the Niners.”
Shanahan said he hasn’t talked with Samuel in a couple of weeks, but still feels like the receiver and the organization can work things out.
“We have a great relationship with Deebo,” Shanahan said. “I haven’t seen him a lot since the season ended. I think it’s a little bit easier when you’re dealing with people without screens and phones in front of you and what you guys read, whatever it is. Most of the world’s like that, I know my kids are. But I try not to get too caught up in it. You know somebody, they know you. And when there comes a time when it settles down — hopefully it’ll settle down more after this draft — and things get somewhat easier.
“But this isn’t someone that we just met. We’ve been with him for three years. I think we know him pretty well. He knows us pretty well. And things haven’t been the best over the last couple of months through outside perception. But I see that happen a lot in this league, especially in contract situations. So, you try not to overreact one way or the other on it. You try to be patient with it because emotions can get high with people, especially when you care about people and a lot is riding on it. But that’s what you’ve got to make sure you don’t react to. And you’ve got to make sure that when it’s all said and done, first and foremost, you do what’s right for the organization. And then second of all, you try to get a win-win for both sides.”
Shanahan declined to go into the details of why Samuel made his request or the specific issues the wideout has with the franchise.
“There’s lots of things that play into it,” Shanahan said. “I would love to share it all with everybody so people could understand more, but that’s really not right to Deebo, it’s not right to the 49ers. Hopefully, we can work this out and someday it’ll clear up for you guys.”
So at least for now, Samuel is still with San Francisco. Whether both sides will eventually be able to come up with a win-win remains to be seen.
