For Trey Lance’s sake, Niners should show Deebo Samuel the money

By Eric D. Williams
FOX Sports NFL Writer

San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan has attempted to quell speculation that his best player on offense, Deebo Samuel, is headed to another team.

Samuel asked to be traded last month after contract negotiations became contentious. Entering his fourth season and in the final year of his rookie deal that will pay him nearly $4 million in 2022, the South Carolina product wants a new deal at the top of an exploding wide receiver market.

"We were disappointed a little bit, but it’s part of this business," Shanahan told reporters at the draft when asked about Samuel’s trade demand. "You’ll consider anything. You have a responsibility to the organization to help it as most as you can. 

"But losing a player like Deebo, it’s hard to see how that helps your organization. So you try and look into all aspects of it and what people are willing to do, and nothing was even remotely close to what we thought would be fair to us or fair to the Niners."

Samuel will stay put for now. That makes sense for San Francisco, considering the Niners' plan to go with second-year pro Trey Lance as the team’s starting quarterback for the upcoming season, even though veteran QB Jimmy Garoppolo remains on the roster.

The 22-year-old Lance, who started two games as a rookie and completed 57.7% of his passes, needs all the help he can get. The incredibly versatile Samuel can make Lance’s transition to QB1 much easier.

The self-labeled "wide back" was one of the top offensive weapons in the league last season. Only NFL leading rusher Jonathan Taylor (2,171 yards) and receiving triple-crown winner Cooper Kupp (1,965) had more scrimmage yards than Samuel (1,770) in the 2021 regular season.

However, part of the concern for Samuel likely is how much he will be used as a runner in 2022 and beyond. Will the Niners compensate him for the extra touches out of the backfield? Samuel ran the ball 86 times for 502 yards and nine touchdowns during the regular season and playoffs in 2021. He averaged an impressive 5.8 yards per carry.

At age 26, Samuel is still in the prime of his career. But running the ball that much every season could affect his ability to stay on the field and impact the length of his career. Samuel has missed 11 games in three NFL seasons due to a foot fracture and lingering hamstring injuries.

Fellow receiver A.J. Brown recently received a four-year, $100 million contract after a draft-day trade sent him from the Tennessee Titans to the Philadelphia Eagles. The new deal includes $41 million in fully guaranteed money and pays Brown an average of $25 million a year.

Agent Tory Dandy represents both Brown and Samuel, so Brown's deal provides a potential guideline for the Niners to get something done with their superstar. However, Tyreek Hill signed a four-year, $120 million contract with the Miami Dolphins after being traded by the Kansas City Chiefs in April. Hill’s deal includes $52.525 million in fully guaranteed money and pays him an average of $25 million per year, based on the first three years of the deal.

Samuel has an argument that he’s just as impactful a player as Hill and should seek similar compensation.

One way the Niners can cut down Samuel's usage as a rusher is by building more depth at the running back position. They know they want to run the football, so Shanahan and general manager John Lynch loaded up on backs this offseason to better prepare for the inevitable injuries that happen every season. (Injuries to Elijah Mitchell and Trey Sermon forced Shanahan to use Samuel in the backfield more last year.) San Francisco selected LSU running back Ty Davis-Price in the third round of this year’s draft and added Georgia Tech runner Jordan Mason as an undrafted rookie free agent. They join runners already on the roster such as Mitchell, Sermon and Jeff Wilson Jr.

"There’s plenty of room for these guys," Lynch told reporters last week. "In most seasons we’ve used four, and we’ve used five [running backs]. We emphasize the run game here. We want versatile backs. I think we have that with our collection of guys, and we’re excited about that group."

Speaking of running the football, Shanahan might be time-traveling back to 2012 when creating an offensive attack led by an athletic, dual-threat quarterback such as Lance. Back then, Shanahan, as offensive coordinator in Washington, mentored another dynamic athlete in Robert Griffin III.

Griffin won Offensive Rookie of the Year that season as Washington led the league in rushing yards (169.3 per game), average yards per play (6.17) and average passing yards per play (7.74).

That Washington team was also third in the NFL in turnover differential (plus-17), turning the ball over a league-low 14 times. Last season under the direction of Garoppolo, the Niners averaged a league-high 8.21 yards per pass play and had 63 plays of 20-plus passing yards. However, they turned the ball over 24 times, ranking 20th in the NFL. Garoppolo was responsible for 15 of those turnovers.

San Francisco tight end George Kittle has compared Lance to another athletic quarterback, Buffalo Bills signal-caller Josh Allen.

"Trey has an insane ceiling," Kittle told the "I Am Athlete" podcast. "He just needs some reps here and there. He’s just got to throw the ball a little bit more. You can’t really get better without playing games.

"How much better were you your rookie season to your third year — just playing and going against competition. Getting hit and getting back up. Dealing with adversity. How do you deal with it? Guys that come to the NFL and win their entire life, and then they get hit in the face a couple times, it’s different. It’s just a learning process. And Jimmy was a fantastic person for Trey to learn under, for sure."

Now, as the starting QB, Lance will be leaning on Samuel — if the Niners can keep him in the fold.

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.