(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is Deebo Samuel's profile from the Harris Football Almanac, which is on sale right now: 230 profiles, film grades, research projects and many, many jokes about the upcoming 2025 season.)
DEEBO SAMUEL
age: 29; 6'; 215 lbs; injury: 9 games over past 3 seasons
speed: C; elusiveness: B+; end zone: C; hands: C-
You were so young and naïve last summer. Remember? Late in the second round or early in the third, your eyes got wide and your finger got itchy and you drafted Deebo Samuel. And why not! You knew what you were getting into. Samuel’s injury downside was gnarly, of course, and there’d be weeks where he barely touched the ball. But whenever the 49ers decided it was a Deebo Game™, you’d get red-zone carries and tight-end targets and multi-touchdown explosions, and those week-winning extravaganzas—in your dewy eyes—were worth the risk.
And then things got even rosier! Christian McCaffrey missed two months to begin the season. Jordan Mason got hurt in Week 6. Brandon Aiyuk tore an ACL in Week 7. The Niners were running out of guys, while Deebo Samuel stayed mostly healthy. You were delighted. You’d lucked into a league winner. How would Kyle Shanahan not go back to his 2021 plan for Deebo???
2024 aged you. You watched strange people like Jauan Jennings and Isaac Guerendo have moments of glory, while the Coconut Deeboni made horrendous mistakes and vaporized from 49er game plans. Shanny Junior tried him occasionally as a running back, and he looked slow. His second-half drop in a de facto playoff game against the Rams where Samuel had gotten wide open over the middle and probably would’ve scored the go-ahead TD was a blow to your soul. Deebo went 11 straight games without catching more than four passes, and the game plan told you everything. Shanahan didn’t believe in the Deeboni anymore.
I told you back in February when we talked about cap casualties that I thought Deebo was gone, because he was nearly out of guaranteed money. People yelled at me in the comments, then the Niners ditched him to the Commanders for a fifth-round pick. And then the Commanders did nothing (at least not yet) to address Deebo’s expiring contract.
The fantasy price will certainly be more attractive in ’25. Samuel joins the NFL’s hottest young QB Jayden Daniels. He’s never been a good route runner or even a good receiver of footballs, but at his best Deebo is a wrecking ball, and if he finds that form with a new team and you only have to use a mid-round pick, it’ll be worth it. But Deebo Games™ were hard to find in ’24, which makes you think six seasons of the most physical play anyone’s ever seen may have permanently slowed Samuel down. Whether you want to put yourself through this wringer again? That’s up to you.