He still has a lot of talent; in the previous season, he ran for 1,117 yards and 12 touchdowns. However, Christian McCaffrey now serves as the offense’s main focal point, replacing him. Furthermore, Brandon Aiyuk now leads the club in wide receiver efficiency instead of him.
The 49ers thought they would give Samuel between 130 and 150 touches a season when they handed him that mammoth deal, but they no longer do. For the previous two seasons, he had fewer than 100 touches per season. Each year, he sustains injuries that cause him to lose time.
And yet Samuel is the highest-paid offensive skill player on the roster, as he’s scheduled to cost the 49ers more than $28 million against the cap next season.
That number is outrageous. The 49ers have to do something about it. They can trade him and create $6.9 million in cap space for this year and a whole lot more for next year. Or they can restructure his contract and create $15.1 million in cap space this year while making it much more difficult to move Samuel in the future.
Ultimately, the 49ers must decide whether to restructure Samuel’s deal and make him more affordable for 2024 or to keep him at his present level of performance for the foreseeable future. If they believe he’s deteriorating, they ought to deal him now and try to collect as much as they can before he becomes almost useless in a trade.
I believe he is becoming worse. He can no longer play running back or defeat man-to-man coverage, in my opinion, and is more of a wide receiver. Without, I believe the 49ers offense would be just fine. Although I believe they ought to move him, they won’t as Kyle Shanahan, the head coach, and Samuel are friends, and friends look out for one another.
