Kyle Shanahan Addresses 'BS' with Deebo Samuel, 49ers' Contract Talks After Reunion

Any past issues with Deebo Samuel appear to be water under the bridge for San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan after the wide receiver rejoined the team this offseason.

"Deebo's always been one of the closest guys we've been to, just relationship-wise," Shanahan told reporters Saturday. "When Deebo went through his contract negotiations—[I'll] try not to put words in his mouth—but I think he thought it'd be advantageous to make it look like there was a little bit of a battle. Sometimes that helps, sometimes it doesn't.

"People forget that Deebo—those OTAs, I was at Deebo's house on the eighth OTA day, and I was talking about how all that was just BS. He came to minicamp. We had a great summer together. I think he signed the first day back at training camp. We got over that in OTAs. That was just stuff from the negotiating periods back in April and stuff. There were stuff, definitely, that made me like, 'What the hell is going on? We're not around Deebo.' Then we see him in OTAs and we got to talk man-to-man, and it was fine as soon as we got with each other."

Will Simonds of NBC Sports Bay Area noted Samuel requested a trade from the 49ers in 2022 prior to signing a three-year deal with the team and then requested a trade yet again in 2025.

San Francisco actually moved him to the Washington Commanders ahead of the 2025 campaign, and he put up solid numbers for the NFC East team with 72 catches for 727 yards and five touchdowns.

But those didn't live up to some of his best numbers with the 49ers, including when he led the league with 18.2 yards per catch on the way to 77 receptions for 1,405 yards and six touchdowns during the 2021 season.

Samuel is now back after signing a one-year deal with the team that selected him in the second round of the 2019 NFL draft, and there doesn't seem to be any ill-will between head coach and player given Shanahan's comments.

While it may be unrealistic to expect Samuel to lead the league in yards per catch again at 30 years old, the 49ers need him to be productive with Brandon Aiyuk on the reserve/left team list and Mike Evans dealing with a quad injury in training camp.

What's more, Ricky Pearsall will miss the 2026 season because of a knee injury.

Samuel has an opportunity to be a veteran leader at a position of need in a familiar place, and his head coach seems ready to work with him again as the Sept. 10 season opener approaches.