How serious is Deebo Samuel about holding out until he gets the contract he wants? That remains the question of the offseason for the 49ers.
Initial negotiations don’t seem to have gone well. Samuel deleted all reference to the 49ers from his social media after tweeting “OHHH OKAYYY THEN” on April 6, a move many assume coincided with a contract extension offer that Samuel did not find satisfactory.
49ers beat writer Matt Maiocco doesn’t think there is a real issue here. He believes the two sides will eventually agree to a deal near the top of the WR market, even if Samuel doesn’t completely get his way and become the league’s highest paid receiver.
Adam Schefter at ESPN isn’t so sure. The reporter said on “NFL Live” Tuesday that he thinks Samuel doesn’t want to get a deal done with the 49ers for the time being, implying that some feelings have been hurt.
“Listen, San Francisco wants to pay Deebo Samuel, but Deebo Samuel was the one who scrubbed the 49ers’ logos off his social media page,” Schefter said. “Deebo Samuel was the one that essentially made it known that he wanted to move on. San Francisco wants to pay Deebo Samuel today, tomorrow, the next day. It’s not hard to figure out what the contract would look like. We’ve seen some of the top numbers in the league.
“This right now I think is Deebo Samuel not wanting to get a deal done. It’s not San Francisco not willing to do the deal. The 49ers are ready. Deebo Samuel has put a halt to everything for right now.”
It would be quite a shock if Samuel is really not willing to negotiate with the 49ers for the time being, or if he would prefer a trade. One possibility is that Schefter has been fed that information as a negotiating tactic from people on the 49ers side, to make it look like Samuel is being difficult.
Maiocco said last week that 49ers fans ultimately shouldn’t be concerned.
“So 1 to 10, just because there is that little sliver of a question about what is happening behind the scenes is 8 or 9 that he’s back with the 49ers,” Maiocco said. “The only reason I don’t say 10 is because you just never know what could happen…
“But [the 49ers] don’t see a whole lot of obstacles standing in the way of getting that [deal] done.”