How 49ers trading Deebo benefits team's murky financial future originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The decision to trade wide receiver Deebo Samuel has the immediate drawback that the 49ers are parting ways with one of the league’s most unique players.
But the 49ers expect a couple of benefits that could play out over the next four years.
Samuel had one year remaining on his contract. He was scheduled to make $17.55 million this season. Now, the Washington Commanders will pick up the terms of his contract.
The 49ers do not owe Samuel another penny. However, he still will count $31 million on the team’s salary cap in 2025. That figure comes from money already paid to Samuel that had yet to count against the cap because of the structure of the contract.
Next year, Samuel’s contract will be completely wiped off the 49ers’ books.
San Francisco was the NFL’s top-spending team in 2024. They spent $334.5 million in player compensation, according to Spotrac.com, while the salary cap was set at $255.5 million per team.
In essence, the 49ers have been doing a lot of credit-card spending. At some point, that money must count against the salary cap.
“(There are) some tighter constraints than we’ve had in the past,” Lynch said last week at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
“You just got to be smart and you have to think about long-term health.”
In theory, taking a big hit of dead money with Samuel’s contract this year enables the team to begin to get their future cap health under control.
“At some point, you have to reset a little bit or at least recalibrate,” Lynch said. “You can’t just keep pressing the pedal, and I think there’s some good that could come out.”
Samuel’s value in a trade was tamped down because any interested team would be getting him for just one year.
The 49ers acquired the draft pick from Washington. That selection is expected to land at No. 148 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Whomever the 49ers select with that pick, they will have him under contract for four seasons at a price tag of slightly more than $1 million per season.
“We need to get younger,” Lynch said. “I think we’re the oldest team in football trying to make a run at the deal last year. And I think it’s good to constantly get younger. Our draft class last year was a great move towards that.”
Each of the 49ers’ top four picks last year might be starters entering their second seasons: wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, cornerback Renardo Green, guard Dominick Puni and safety Malik Mustapha.
In addition, the 49ers expect contributions from others in their 2024 draft class, including running back Isaac Guerendo, wide receiver/return man Jacob Cowing and linebacker Tatum Bethune.
