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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that San Francisco 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel told ESPN’s Jeff Darlington on Wednesday he has requested a trade.
There were signs over the past month or so that Samuel was increasingly unhappy with the 49ers, including scrubbing the team from his social media accounts and, this week, declining to attend the opening of the 49ers’ offseason conditioning program.
And now there are plenty of questions about how a once-strong relationship between a team and one of its best players has reached a critical inflection point.
What is the issue?
Samuel is entering the final year of his rookie contract and would like a lucrative extension. The Niners view Samuel as a foundational player and have said repeatedly they’d like to keep him long term. The Niners are also poised to give defensive end Nick Bosa a mega contract extension soon. In recent years, the Niners have gotten deals done with players in similar situations (tight end George Kittle and linebacker Fred Warner) after lengthy negotiations. Those agreements have happened closer to training camp, however, allowing the Niners to go through free agency and the draft first.
The receiver market has exploded this year with Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill and Stefon Diggs earning contracts that have re-shaped the going rate for a top wideout. And while the ceiling has been reset, the floor has too, as a less accomplished wideout such as Jacksonville’s Christian Kirk received an eye-opening contract averaging $18 million per year.
So Samuel wants a new deal and he isn’t the only one. Tennessee’s A.J. Brown, Seattle’s DK Metcalf and Washington’s Terry McLaurin were all non first-round picks in the same draft as Samuel (2019) who are eligible for extensions.
Samuel’s…
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Source : espn
