Deebo Samuel Hasn't Lived Up to his Contract Extension with the 49ers

Since Samuel signed his mega contract extension with the 49ers before the 2022 season, he has just three games in which he has gained more than 100 yards from scrimmage.

Grant Cohn | Oct 19, 2023

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San Francisco 49ers

Once upon a time, Deebo Samuel was a great player.

He was an All Pro two years ago, the focal point of the 49ers offense. The go-to guy. One of the most dangerous weapons in the NFL. That's why the 49ers gave him an extension that averages nearly $24 million per season even though he requested a trade.

Then in 2022, he was overweight and out of shape -- he acknowledged this a few months ago. Said he had rededicated himself to his craft and was in the best shape of his life. Seemed on the verge of another great season, like the one he had in 2021. But that hasn't materialized.

Since Samuel signed his mega contract extension with the 49ers before the 2022 season, he has just three games in which he has gained more than 100 yards from scrimmage, and two of them came against the Rams, a team he always gets up to play. In addition, Samuel has scored just 7 touchdowns and missed five games. And a few weeks ago against Arizona, he played but he was a non-factor because he was injured, and had 3 carries for 6 yards and no catches.

And yet, Samuel is the player on the 49ers who does the most talking. He's the one who went on the press tour after the NFC Championship Game and said that the 49ers were going to expose Eagles cornerback James Bradberry if Brock Purdy has been healthy. Then last week he went back and forth repeatedly with Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons after the 49ers beat them. Then Samuel got in a fight with the Browns before Sunday's loss. And now he's beefing publicly with Lions safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson.

Samuel needs to stop chirping and start earning his contract.

Published Oct 19, 2023

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.