SANTA CLARA – Deebo Samuel’s self-authored goodbye story is titled “Thank you, San Francisco.” What transpires over the subsequent 2133 phrases reads like a Deebo Diary, plus a Expensive John (and Kyle) letter.
The 49ers’ commerce of Samuel to the Washington Commanders was agreed to Saturday and might’t grow to be official till Wednesday’s begin of the brand new league yr. It would finish a six-year tenure that ranks as the most effective in 49ers historical past, mixing dual-threat achievements and big-time swagger with disappointing dips and inevitable accidents.
Samuel, in a dispatch posted Thursday on ThePlayersTribune.com, expressed his gratitude to the 49ers’ group and his optimism to the Commanders at what’s to return.
Listed here are key takeaways from what he wrote (and people phrases do come throughout in Deebo’s direct dialect):
1. SINCERE THANK YOU
Samuel actually didn’t burn bridges on his approach out of Santa Clara, nor ought to he contemplating he put the onus on him for requesting a commerce at season’s finish in January, when he first appealed to educate Kyle Shanahan after which normal supervisor John Lynch.
“The relationship that me and Kyle got is ridiculous. You can ask anybody in the building. One minute, he wanna knock my head off, and the next he’s just going crazy, excited at something I’m doing. I’ve always felt like he coaches me harder than anybody else because at the end of the day, he knows I ain’t no sensitive-ass player. If you tell me I messed up, I take it on the chin and go fix it instantly.
“But our relationship is more than just ‘The Coach’ and ‘The Player,’ ” Samuel added. “Kyle knows damn near everything that I’ve been through in my life, and I damn near know everything he done been through. It’s like that. It’s a bond you could never break. So, we talked it out. It was hard, in its own way. But more than anything, I was just proud of the way we both handled it, as men.”
Samuel traced that bond with Shanahan and Lynch all the way in which again to the 2017 Senior Bowl, the place the 49ers vowed to draft him and did simply that with a second-round choose.
Samuel described the 49ers as a “top-tier, world-class” group from the York-family possession on down. Six years into their union, a mutual parting is the way it ends.
“For John and Kyle to send me to a team in the NFC that was almost a Super Bowl contender, it just shows you the type of love and relationship that we have,” Samuel wrote. “I know at the end of the day, they didn’t have to do that. So, it’s not a lick of bad blood when it comes to me and that organization. It’s always love.”
2. ACHIEVEMENTS/SHORTCOMINGS
Samuel referred to his six-year tenure as a “fairytale” filled with “all these damn memories, man.” He didn’t regale too lengthy about his yards-after-the-catch highlights or rushing-and-receiving exploits, although he did pinpoint how his 189-yard output within the 2021 opener foreshadowed his breakout, All-Professional season – and one which he mentioned then-receivers coach Wes Welker predicted.
Like most anybody who goes to the Tremendous Bowl as a rookie, Samuel mentioned he thought that will be an annual expertise, and going deep within the playoffs certainly was nearly a birthright for he and different members of that 2019 draft class, together with Nick Bosa and Dre Greenlaw. however it wasn’t one he received to once more till the 2023 season.
“All we know is like NFC Championship, Super Bowl, NFC Championship, Super Bowl. But my biggest regret is that we never finished the damn job,” Samuel wrote. “The second one actually hurt more because I’ve been in the game long enough. And at that point, you know you’re going to lose some players, key players at that. But in that moment, not only am I thinking about myself, I thought about the other players who were almost at the end of their career. Trent Williams, one of my best friends, like a big brother to me and mentor, I wanted it so bad for him. I was ready to put it all on the line to help him get his ring. I wanted that for all of us. I was just like, Bro, we gotta win. This is the year that we have to do it. And we fell short.”
Samuel singled out his receiver-room teammates together with Kendrick Bourne, Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings, Ricky Pearsall and Jacob Cowing.
Wrote Samuel: “When the trade happened, and my mind was flipping through all the memories like a scrapbook or something, I just kept reflecting on how our guys put in so much work together. Our locker room gave college vibes, you know what I mean? It wasn’t like your typical locker room. Everybody’s so close, everybody hangs out. I think about how close I got with Aiyuk when he first came in as a rookie, back when he wasn’t talking to nobody lol. I knew J.J. a little bit from college. And then younger guys like Ricky and Jacob that I built relationships with, who are close as hell to me to this day. It’s not as easy as people think.”
3. BACK TO THE EAST COAST
Samuel shared a humorous anecdote concerning the tradition shock he skilled coming to California: He made a visit to Goal and couldn’t fathom that baggage value “10 cents!” He relayed that to his mother again dwelling and though they laughed about it, Samuel mentioned it made him questioning “What am I getting into?”
Now he’s getting again to the East Coast. And it isn’t misplaced on him that his new quarterback, Jayden Daniels, is one in all Aiyuk’s greatest buddies and somebody they’d watch in school. Samuel says he knew Daniels can be a “stud” within the NFL (he gained NFL Offensive Rookie of the Yr honors final season), and Samuel famous how he’s able to work alongside Commanders main receiver Terry McLaurin and acquainted items on Dan Quinn’s teaching workers.
“I got a feeling this season is about to be one of them ones,” Samuel wrote.
Quite than go away his closing phrases with Commanders hype, Samuel circled again and insisted it isn’t “bittersweet” to depart the 49ers. He prolonged additional due to coaches, cooks, the communications czars, the “amazing” gear workers, and “the whole media squad.”
A goodbye letter wouldn’t be full with an compulsory shoutout to the 49ers Trustworthy:
“Thank you for showing up to our games, showing up to my kids’ camps. When I was just a young’un with a dream, I used to picture thousands of fans packing out the building, cheering for me as I racked up TD’s. Y’all made that real. You made a kid from Spartanburg, South Carolina’s dreams come true.
Alright, time to get back to work.
—Deebo”
