Another day, another turn in the Deebo Samuel saga. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco appeared with Tolbert and Copes on KNBR and provided the latest fuel on which this story continues to burn.
“This, seemingly, has gotten personal. I just don’t see how it could have gotten so personal when just two, three weeks ago Kyle Shanahan was raving – and this was away from cameras – raving about Deebo Samuel as a person and as a player, and his relationship with Deebo. How this could have gone south so quickly, I just can’t explain it at this point.”
I’ve pulled no punches when it comes to saying I think the team gets their message out through Maiocco, and I can’t help but wonder if they’re trying to do that again here. During his press conference Monday, John Lynch went out of his way to praise Deebo’s leadership and character. Could the 49ers be going through Maiocco to publicly praise Samuel once again in a last-ditch effort to mend fences?
“I know for a fact that they were very cognizant about the fact that the first offer they give to Deebo can’t be an insulting offer,” Maiocco said, “The 49ers were very much like, ‘Okay, we know we can’t offer a number that is considered an insult.’ They were prepared to pay him.”
Of course, things never got to that point because Deebo told the team not to make a contract offer. In any event, the earliest we’re likely to hear the truth is at an introductory press conference after Deebo gets traded, though he may decline to get into it even then.
Before the end of the interview, Maiocco did mention that the 49ers don’t expect Deebo to play for his current salary if he remained on the team this season.
“This is a huge week. If he’s not traded by the end of the day Thursday, that would be an indication that the 49ers are committed to paying him big money. I just don’t think that they would even consider the idea of having him play this season on the contract that he’s currently scheduled to make, which is four million dollars. That would be a huge slap in the face, and I just can’t see any scenario where that would happen.”
The problem with this whole situation, of course, is that none of us could have ever seen a situation where Deebo and the 49ers would be parting ways after the year. Yet, here we are. Life comes at your fast.
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