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Deebo Samuel Explained Simple Reason He Wanted to be Traded to Commanders

Eva Geitheim

Former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr.
Former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. / Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
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Deebo Samuel had a list of five teams he was open to getting moved to when he requested a trade from the San Francisco 49ers—including the Washington Commanders, who he was ultimately traded to earlier this month for a fifth-round pick.

After six seasons with the 49ers, Samuel was looking for a fresh start but still wanted to maintain one aspect that defined much of his time in San Francisco—winning. Though the 49ers went through a disappointing 6-11 season in 2024, Samuel and the 49ers made the NFC championship game and/or Super Bowl in four of his six years with the team.

Now, Samuel comes to an emerging Commanders team that is coming off its first NFC championship game appearance in decades—the key reason he was interested in joining Washington.

"I like winners," Samuel said, via ESPN's John Keim. "I'm not one of your biggest losers. They've got a good team for sure and they were just standing out."

Along with the Commanders coming off a successful season, Samuel was also interested in pairing up with Commanders rookie phenom Jayden Daniels. Samuel's former 49ers teammate Brandon Aiyuk, who played with Daniels in college at Arizona State, regularly talked about Daniels, adding to Samuel's interest in playing with him.

"That's all B.A. used to talk about, 'My boy is about to win the Heisman. My boy is about to do this, my boy's about to do that,'" Samuel said, via Keim. "He won the Heisman and came to the league and played extremely well. Everything Aiyuk said would happen, happened.

"Just to see him grow and see how well he played last year I was like, man why not try to come over here and help in any aspect that I can."

Samuel adds that he is motivated for his first season with Washington, where he will look to rebound from a 2024 campaign in which he produced just 806 yards from scrimmage and averaged 3.2 yards per carry.

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Eva Geitheim
EVA GEITHEIM

Eva Geitheim is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor's in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or re-watching Gilmore Girls.

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