The weekend saw multiple examples of social media allegations regarding the 49ers . receiver Debo SamuelIntent to leave the team. Some claims have yet to be verified, including a supposed text message exchange with the Seahawks’ safety Jamal Adamswho, if a legit “round trip” feature, signs all of his text messages with “#prez”.
A video clip shows him making the rounds inside a crowded nightclub. A large banner carried across the club announces, “Depo stays #49. Then the camera turns around Samuel, who smiles and runs his fingers under his chin, sending a clear message that he disagrees with the message on the sign.
Wherever you go from here, it’s amazing to get to this. Although we still don’t know the exact reason(s) for Samuel’s trade order, the fact that he got to this point amounts to a failure, on some level, by the team. Unless the only reason was that he didn’t want to be in San Francisco, the 49ers could have said or done something to keep the relationship from unraveling to that point. And even if it’s as simple as Deebo’s unwillingness to live and work in California and nothing more, his decision to reveal his desire to seek a deal indicates a level of animosity that shouldn’t exist between an NFL team and such an important player.
It is still unknown what the 49ers are doing in an attempt to defuse the situation, if anything. It is not known if they will trade it. The fact that many other receivers have gotten what they want in recent years (starting with Stefon Diggs He tweeted his way out of Minnesota and continued with recent deals for Devante Adams and Terek Hill) creates a natural expectation that other players will get it when they want it and when they want it.
This is the question that needs to be answered. Will the 49ers Samuel take the old-school approach, play for us or play against no one, or will they accede to his request? Some kind of clarity necessarily comes this week.
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