SANTA CLARA — 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel never wants to repeat his 2022 on-field performance ever again.
“It was awful,” Samuel said. “In every aspect.”
On Tuesday, when the All-Pro spoke to local Bay Area media, he was very blunt about how disappointing his fourth season with San Francisco was.
The offseason leading up to the 2022 season was tumultuous for the South Carolina product. Samuel infamously requested a trade from the 49ers while waiting for a contract extension, for which the reason(s) were never made public. Now, under contract through the 2027 season, Samuel has turned the page.
“Me and Kyle had a long meeting the other day,” Samuel said. “We watched the tape, we talked about it, we put it behind us. Just going through the tape, just looking how sluggish and how bad it looks on tape.
“Just reflecting on last offseason it kind of played a big role and I’ll never put anything like that on tape again.”
Samuel appeared in 13 regular season games last season — 12 as a starter and caught 56 of his 94 targets for 632 yards and two touchdowns as well as 42 carries for 232 rushing yards and three additional scores on the ground.
While the 27-year-old’s production contributed to the 49ers’ success, it was still a steep drop off from his 2021 campaign that earned him First-Team All-Pro honors. In that season, Samuel racked up a whopping 1,405 receiving yards and 365 rushing yards with 14 all-purpose touchdowns.
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Samuel admitted that the contract issues were a distraction that kept him from the team’s offseason program that was so successful for him in 2021. The versatile receiver vowed to return to what worked so well for him in order to be in the best shape possible before training camp.
“I was kind of behind the eight ball as far as being in the routine that I normally am in as far as the off-season because of the distractions,” Samuel said. “I kind of felt it, but I was kind of trying to will my way to help the team in every aspect possible.”
Samuel was at the team facility during the last week of OTAs and mandatory minicamp doing conditioning work with the 49ers training staff. The “wide-back’s” return to team drills won’t occur until training camp in more than five weeks.
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