Philly Front Office

Full disclosure, I don’t like Deebo Samuel. I don’t like Washington or San Francisco either, but Deebo is the face of all Eagles/49er hatred I’ve built over the last few years. As an Eagles fan, him going to the Washington Football Team for a 5th round pick and eating up cap space from both teams makes me happy. Let’s take a look at this trade from all sides.

Deebo Samuel

Deebo recently showed up to Super Bowl week wearing an AJ Brown Eagles jersey. He looked out of shape. Maybe that’s just me trying to fit the narrative already written by his declining numbers. Still, it was a bad look. In 2021, Deebo was a first team All-Pro who lead the league in yards per catch and was a huge threat as a running back as well. The 49ers did everything they could to get the ball in his hands. The following year they traded for Christian McCaffery and Deebo’s numbers took a dive, never again coming close to his crazy 2021 season. Now he is 29 years old and coming off his worst season.

Washington Football Team

It is entirely possible that Deebo is re-energized coming to Washington. Samuel’s time in SF had run its course and he was never exactly treated well by the organization (rumor had it that they wanted to pay him more like a running back instead of a wide receiver when he was up for his extension, ultimately agreeing to a 3y/$71m contract, far less than the 4/$100m the Eagles gave AJ Brown a few months earlier). Last year, Washington was able to get great seasons out of older players like Bobby Wagner and Zach Ertz. Well, at 29, Deebo ain’t that old. There is a good chance that Samuel has a contract-year and new scenery fueled bounce back season catching passes from Jayden Daniels and next to Terry McLaurin. At least that’s what Washington is hoping for.

The trade isn’t finalized yet, but Samuel comes with a roughly $17m option bonus due at the beginning of the season. It is assumed that Washington will just take this hit straight on since they have a ton of cap room. However, that isn’t a guarantee. They could look to extend Samuel rather than have his contract situation hanging over their heads. Maybe he would prefer to prove himself before agreeing to anything? We’ll see.

My problem with the deal is taking such a big cut of cap space on a flier. Deebo may have a solid season, but he also might be washed and a team cancer. Since any unused cap space carries over to the next season, this seems like a bad use of resources to me. Just because you have cap space, doesn’t mean you should light in on fire. Plus, they don’t know what other cap casualties will shake free from penny pinching teams.

Speaking of bad use of resources, Washington already traded a 3rd round pick for Marshon Lattimore last season. They now only have 6 picks this draft (1, 2, 3, 6, 6, 7) and nothing coming in or going out in the future. Their recent drafts have been TERRIBLE outside of Jayden Daniels. They should be trying to gain picks and young talent, not trade them for older players. Daniels is only 24 years old. He may be great, but that doesn’t mean you should surround him with vets in order to win now. That’s what the Cavs tried to do with Lebron James the first time. How did that work out? The focus should be on getting young guys to learn and grow with Daniels. Instead, they are going to use their cap space to over-pay older free agents to try to get past the Eagles right now. Granted, because they’ve drafted so poorly, it’s not like they have their own roster to worry about paying.

San Francisco 49ers

Deebo was scheduled to cost the 49ers $16m against the cap this season. His option bonus would have put another $17m on to future years. Because SF has had some serious cap problems recently, they already had to put most of his salary into the future anyway. This maneuvering means that even though his $17m salary this season will not be on their cap sheet at all, they will be responsible for $31m in dead money accounting for Samuel right now (but none in the future).

My first thought was, “the 49ers really don’t want him around at all anymore, do they?” What serious contender chooses to take a $31m cap hit in order to NOT play someone? This is the guy Washington fans are happy about? Well, maybe the most telling thing was my “serious contender” phrasing. The 49ers apparently are not that. The logic behind the deal is to basically use this season as a bridge year to the future. Their cap has been gross for a long time, and this might be the year to clean it up, right when Brock Purdy is due his gargantuan extension. Years of paying everyone not the QB are over in the Bay Area. They simply did not want to be responsible for extra Deebo money in the future.

Purdy is going to command something in the realm of 5/$275m. $50m+ is simply the going rate for good QBs right now. He isn’t the only one looking for an extension either. George Kittle is in the final year of his contract and still very productive. Fred Warner has this year and next on his deal and will be looking for an extension to match his HOF level play. Trent Williams held out last year and does not seem to have any interest in giving the 49ers discounts. His guaranteed money ends this season. They might finally decide to let him go if his play slips at all and that’s a completely different worry. Then there are their significant free agents: Dre Greenlaw, De’Vondre Campbell, and Charvarious Ward. All might be let go. All of a sudden that vaunted 49er defense has some holes.

Outside of the late rounds, the 49ers have simply not drafted well the last few years, not unlike Washington. They have whiffed on several high round picks and what was once a loaded roster is now depleted.

Eagles

Why do we care about this? Even if Samuel was not putting any fear into our hearts, he symbolically shows that SF has fallen from the contender category in the NFC. Samuel in Washington shows that they are serious about contending this year and could be a strong bidder for top free agents. Our top competition is now the Lions and Rams with Washington trying to make themselves a problem. The bill finally came due for San Francisco and Washington is trying to take shortcuts.