The Commanders have acquired 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel in what will be the first major trade of 2025. Samuel is currently in the final year of a three year, $54 million contract that he signed with the 49ers back in 2022 and the Commanders will pick up the entire final year of his contract. The trade compensation is reportedly only a 5th round pick which essentially has this trade coming off as a salary dump on the part of the 49ers.

The 49ers will take on a massive amount of dead money with the trade- $31.02 million. This big number came about because the 49ers had to do some salary cap gymnastics the last few years and Samuel was one of the players whose contract was almost all made up of prorated money pushed into future years and void years in the contract. The team will lose about $15.2 million in cap room this year with the trade but they will save $17.55 million in salary and whatever contract headaches that may have come up in the summer if Samuel wanted an extension.

Washington, who is salary cap rich and can afford to take on some contract risk, will pick up Samuel’s $17.55 million salary. Samuel technically has an option in his contract that is due in mid March but my assumption is the 49ers will either renounce the option or rework his contract prior to the trade to remove it to avoid having to take on the proration from the option as dead money this year. If the option is not utilized Samuel’s cap number for Washington will be $17.55 million. If the option is included then his cap charge will only be $5.206 million this year and the remaining $12.344 will be put into void years starting in 2026. Given that the Commanders are expected to have over $80 million in cap room it would make sense to just take the hit now.

The next question will be whether or not Samuel seeks an extension prior to the season. Samuel was never able to come close to the production that helped him earn his $23.85 million per year contract extension. The year prior to the extension Samuel produced 1,405 receiving yards, 365 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns. In the three years since then Samuel has averaged 731/198/7. Samuel certainly adds another element to an offense but $20 million+ a year with those numbers is a big ask. A few wide receiver trades blowing up in recent years probably make it more difficult to negotiate an extension.

Technically the trade itself can not take place until the start of the league year on March 12th. We will process the trade early and make the assumption that the Commanders will pick up the whole salary on the salary cap. Once we hear otherwise we will adjust the contract accordingly.