Why Sherman believes 49ers trading Deebo ‘simplifies' the offense
Why Sherman believes 49ers trading Deebo 'simplifies' the offense originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The 49ers agreeing to trade wide receiver Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders on Saturday, if nothing else, provided San Francisco clarity on its offensive pecking order for the 2025 NFL season and beyond.
Former 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman reacted to the trade on the latest episode of the 'Richard Sherman Podcast' and explained how the move can benefit the still-star-studded offense as a whole.
"Sometimes you have too many mouths to feed"@RSherman_25 reacts to the 49ers trading Deebo Samuel to the Commanders pic.twitter.com/kKq93KZIJf
— Richard Sherman Podcast (@RShermanPodcast) March 5, 2025
'Sometimes you have too many mouths to feed and you don't have enough footballs,' Sherman explained. 'There's only one football and you're trying to feed Christian McCaffrey, [George] Kittle, [Brandon] Aiyuk, you're trying to get it to Deebo and now you got this draft pick in [Ricky] Pearsall and you're trying to make sure you keep everybody happy and it's very difficult to do.
'And I think this kind of simplifies things. I think it gets Kittle more involved in the offense, and he obviously has been fantastic and one of the best tight ends in the game, and I think that's something down the stretch that Kyle Shanahan realized, that 'Hey, we're not using George Kittle enough, we need to find a way to get him the ball' and you cannot get everybody the ball when you have so many mouths to feed.'
Sherman not only believes trading Samuel simplifies the 49ers' offense, but takes some pressure off quarterback Brock Purdy's shoulders.
'I think this is, sometimes, addition by subtraction,' Sherman said. 'Kinda simplifying 'Hey, I don't have to get the ball to all these guys anymore, I can just run the offense more straightforward.'
'If the San Francisco 49ers were going to have to pay Deebo's bonus and pay his salary for the year, then of course they would get more draft compensation. This was a situation where they got something for him and they put him in a place he wanted to be and he was able to keep the salary that he was making.'
Sherman and Samuel were teammates on the 49ers for two seasons in 2019 and 2020, and if there is any former player who knows how valuable Samuel was to San Francisco — and could be for the Commanders — it's Sherman.
However, the five-time Pro Bowl corner believes a parting of ways was best for both parties.
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