The NFL truly never sleeps: The San Francisco 49ers have traded longtime stud WR Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders in exchange for a fifth-round pick.

Trade Details: Deebo Samuel Traded To Commanders

Deebo Samuel has been traded to the Washington Commanders (although it won't be official official until March 12), sparking reason for even more optimism among fans in the D.C. area (as if they really needed any more?).

It's natural for the regular ball enjoyer to experience at least one of the following three reactions upon hearing this news:

  1. The Cowboys really traded a fourth-rounder for Jonathan Mingo lmao.
  2. The fifth-round price tag seems somewhat fair after considering Deebo is due for $17.55 million in 2025.
  3. This landing spot is pretty, pretty, pretty good for the 29-year-old veteran.

Fantasy Life's fearless leader and longtime Commanders diehard Matthew Berry is firmly in the latter camp, and why not? The playmaker easily gives Washington the best complement to Terry McLaurin that they've had … if Samuel is still capable of resembling the same guy who averaged the 18th most PPR points per game among all WRs during the 2019-2023 seasons.

Fantasy Fallout of The Commanders Trade For Deebo Samuel

Deebo Samuel Fantasy Football Outlook

That's the real elephant in the room here. The 2024 version of Samuel simply wasn't on par with what fans were used to seeing. Brutal efficiency numbers as both a rusher and receiver resulted in the least productive season of the 29-year-old veteran's career.

Samuel combined receiving and rushing yards per game and total TDs by season:

  • 2024: 53.7 yards per game, 4 total TD
  • 2023: 74.5, 12
  • 2022: 66.5, 5
  • 2021: 110.6, 14
  • 2020: 59.6, 1
  • 2019: 64.1, 6

Not great, especially considering the plethora of injuries that San Francisco had inside their RB and WR rooms. The typically crowded 49ers offense needed Samuel to be at his best more than ever last season, and he simply wasn't up for the challenge.

Of course, some context could help explain why Samuel struggled so much in 2024. Maybe Father Time simply came for the typically electric WR/RB hybrid, or maybe that September calf strain lingered more than we knew. He also suffered a rib injury during Week 8 against the Cowboys … right after he had ended up in the hospital with pneumonia!

I am NOT a doctor, but dealing with calf and rib injuries on top of an illness bad enough to require multiple nights spent inside a hospital doesn't exactly seem ideal. Samuel averaged 77.2 total yards per game during his first five games of the season before the latter rib and illness issues, compared to just 46.7 during his final nine contests. His efficiency on per-target (10.5 vs. 6.8) and per-reception (16.8 vs. 10.8) bases told the same story.

Overall, Samuel averaged 14.1 PPR points per game (WR25) in Weeks 1-6 last season before the rib/illness issues compared to 9.4 (WR54) in Weeks 8-17. Small sample size, sure, but then again, the latter disappointing stretch also doesn't exactly supersede, you know, the previous five years of excellence from the longtime baller.

And here's the other thing: Deebo remained objectively quite good after the catch, even if it wasn't up to his usual god-tier standards.

Deebo's yards after the catch above expected per reception (Next-Gen Stats): 

  • 2020: +4.4 (No. 1)
  • 2021: +5.2 (No. 1)
  • 2022: +2.6 (No. 3)
  • 2023: +3.9 (No. 1)
  • 2024: +2.3 (No. 7)

To summarize: Deebo wasn't very good in 2024 after largely doing nothing but ball the hell out during the five seasons of his career, but his early-season performance does suggest that perhaps illness and rib injuries played bigger roles than we realized.

This brings us to the present day: It's tough to deny that Samuel enjoyed one of the game's most fantasy-friendly roles over the years inside Kyle Shanahan's ever-well-schemed offensive attack, but the personnel and scheme in Washington are arguably the next best thing.

WR was a huge need for the Commanders with each of Noah Brown, Dyami Brown, and Olamide Zaccheaus hitting free agency, and obviously, that Jayden Daniels guy is awfully good at his job.

Don't count on Samuel rising up inside the position's top-24 options in 2025 fantasy drafts, but low-end WR3 ADP alongside fellow jack knives like Jayden Reed and Luther Burden makes a lot of sense given the upside of Samuel's environment and potential for triple-digit carries and targets.

San Francisco 49ers Fantasy Football Outlook

And then there are the 49ers, who suddenly have a clear top three in their WR room:

  • Brandon Aiyuk: An optimistic potential 9-12 month timeline from his torn ACL and MCL would put him on pace to perhaps get back to work at some point in September. At his best, Aiyuk combines lethal route-running with plenty of playmaking ability with the ball in his hands. A career-high total in targets is more on the table than ever … if he can overcome those damn Injury Gods.
     
  • Jauan Jennings: Finished just 25 yards short of 1,000 in 2024 despite missing two games. While Jennings didn't quite replicate his 11-175-3 explosion in Week 3 down the stretch, he still worked as the WR29 in PPR points per game in Weeks 10-18 with Aiyuk injured. The badass blocker was already tough to keep off the field before Samuel was traded; don't be surprised if a bigger role than ever in the pass game leads to more upside WR3 goodness throughout 2025.
     
  • Ricky Pearsall: The first-round rookie missed the first six games of 2024 while recovering from a gunshot wound, but Pearsall's performance down the stretch offered reason for optimism. Overall, he posted 8-141-1 and 6-69-1 receiving lines during the final two weeks of last season. Expecting a high target total in a passing game that also includes George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey is probably wishful thinking; just realize Pearsall's penchant for making spectacular catches and ability to eat up yards after the catch should make him an efficient No. 3 option at worst in this still-solid WR room.

Losing good football players is never ideal for any NFL team, but the 49ers were due to make a sacrifice or two with Brock Purdy poised to become a very rich man. Considering the decision to take Pearsall in Round 1 last year and the breakout of Jennings, they're about as well-positioned to survive without Samuel as they could ask for.