The San Francisco 49ers didn’t have the best start to the season and still have a few rough spots on the schedule they need to go through. Depending on how the next few games go, they could offload a player or two before the NFL trade deadline.

Keep in mind that this is possible. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini has listed a few names she’s hearing “many around the league” are keeping an eye on. Along with names like Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young and Cleveland Browns defensive end Za’Darius Smith, Deebo Samuel is listed.

This should surprise no one. When Ricky Pearsall was drafted, there was some speculation that it meant the end for Deebo Samuel. While Brandon Aiyuk was getting more attention, there were reports that the league was inquiring about Samuel, most notably the Pittsburgh Steelers, but they couldn’t meet the 49ers’ price. In fact, there were reports that Samuel was ‘more likely’ to be traded than Aiyuk.

Russini’s mention that teams are watching Samuel is not earth-shattering in the slightest. Teams have already tried prying Samuel away, and the 49ers haven’t been interested.

Now, if the 49ers take a nosedive, they could always decide to offload Samuel. Many have speculated that this could be the case if Pearsall were Samuel 2.0. The problem is the 49ers are caught in the molasses of a record right now, neither crushing it nor heading toward a dumpster fire.

And with the way that schedule is lining up, they might still be in the exact same position by the deadline. The only way the 49ers would give up on Samuel mid-season is if their record was plummeting and someone like Brock Purdy was out for the year.

The final year on Samuel’s contract is 2026, with four void years following. The 49ers very well could work something out to keep him around. A friend of the site and salary cap guru, Jason Hurley, posted a few months ago the 49ers can extend Samuel and George Kittle on top of doing a few other extensions (thread linked above). Yes, this was before the Aiyuk extension happened, but it doesn’t mean the 49ers are going to be in salary cap hell, even with the Brock Purdy extension looming.

Sounds appropriate teams are watching the Samuel situation, but given what we’ve seen since April, the fact they are watching for what the 49ers do with Samuel isn’t too shocking either.