Getty 49ers star Deebo Samuel
Safe to say that the 49ers drafting of Florida’s Ricky Pearsall was, at the very least, a heads-up for star receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel, whose tenures—one or the other, depending on whom you listen to—appear on shaky ground these days.
Aiyuk wants a contract extension from the team, with his current deal heading into his fifth-year option number of $18 million. That’s not commensurate to his value, so he is expected to continue to push for a new contract and might even hold out until he gets one, as Nick Bosa did last year. The 49ers, though, don’t have a whole lot of money to pay him.
Samuel got a three-year, $73 million contract extension from the team in 2022 after a contentious period in which he reportedly wanted out of San Francisco. He is signed for the 2024 season, but the 49ers have an out on his deal next offseason.
Thus there were hot-and-heavy rumors throughout the draft that either Samuel or Aiyuk would be traded.
Now that it’s over and little has changed—other than the addition of Pearsall—Samuel told The Athletic, “I know what’s going on but it is what it is. I’m good staying with them. I’m chilling.”
Deebo Samuel Far Ahead of Ricky Pearsall
It doesn’t sound like Samuel was jubilant about his situation in San Francisco. Certainly, Pearsall has been compared with Samuel in terms of his bruising style of play at the receiver position, and it stands to reason that the 49ers’ plan is to keep Samuel for the final year on his contract and exercise their out after that.
Pearsall would then take the reins from Samuel.
Of course, the Pearsall-Deebo comparisons are nifty now, but ahead of the draft, Pearsall was not exactly seen as Deebo II. He is a very good route-runner with good hands, but no one had him as being as physical and tough to tackle as Samuel is. In fact, NFL.com’s scouting report wondered if he was a punt returner and backup receiver, at best.
The site’ Lance Zierlein wrote: “Dependable slot target with good size and soft hands who will need to prove that he has the ability to free himself against NFL man coverage. Pearsall might get the stereotypical ‘crafty route runner’ label, but it suits him. He appears to play with an idea of how to manipulate certain coverage looks and leverages. … While the hands are reliable, he’s not physical enough to tilt contested catches in his favor and might have a ceiling of quality backup with punt-return value.”
49ers Ready for ‘Last Dance’
Still, the 49ers find themselves in the same position now they were in a week ago, except that now they can’t trade Aiyuk for a draft pick and land a top first-round receiver. They could trade Aiyuk later in the offseason, and that is an option that is very much on the table. There are reports that the 49ers and Aiyuk are far apart on a new deal, but it’s only April and that gap will close quickly once we get into training camp.
But if the 49ers and Aiyuk just can’t make the numbers work, they will have to trade him. Or they will jump the gun and trade Samuel. The best bet, though, is that they get Aiyuk to stay, either by reworking his deal or calling his bluff on a holdout, and keep Samuel in place.
It will make 2024 the last time the 49ers as currently constructed take the field. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Michael Silver compared it to the 1998 Chicago Bulls, subject of “The Last Dance” documentary (only without the championships).
He wrote that the 49ers chose not to trade Samuel or Aiyuk to take one last Super Bowl try: “Instead, the plan is to kick the can and make a ferocious push for a championship — and then, regardless of outcome, deal with the fallout next spring.”