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John Keim
ASHBURN, Va. — After the Washington Commanders traded for him, then guaranteed the last year of his contract, receiver Deebo Samuel said he wants to repay them for believing in him.
“They put this much trust in me,” Samuel said. “I can’t come in here and let them down.”
Washington acquired Samuel from San Francisco for a fifth-round pick in a deal agreement on March 1 and made official 11 days later. Samuel had requested a trade after the season.
Washington declined his option bonus of $15.4 million that would have allowed the Commanders to spread out his cap hit over two seasons by adding another year to his deal — but which would have been automatically voided.
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Instead, the Commanders guaranteed the last year of his contract — none of which had been previously guaranteed — and added another $3 million in incentives. He’ll count $17.55 million vs. Washington’s cap.
Meanwhile, Washington also signed receiver Michael Gallup to a one-year deal. He retired last year after signing with Las Vegas shortly after being cut by Dallas.
For Samuel, Washington represents a fresh start after six seasons with San Francisco. In his first press conference since the trade Samuel said asking the 49ers to trade him was “tougher than you think” but that he can’t wait to show his new team what he can still do.
“They’re getting a motivated Deebo,” he said via a video conference call. “You get a dawg out there. These young legs are still moving, this body is still working pretty well.”
Samuel had told 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan after the season that he wanted to be traded.
Washington was one of five teams on Samuel’s list of desired organizations. He said the reason was simple — and his answer highlighted Washington’s quick transformation as an organization.
“I like winners,” Samuel said. “I’m not one of your biggest losers. They’ve got a good team for sure and they were just standing out.”
Washington finished 12-5 — its first winning season since 2016 — and lost in the NFC Championship Game to Philadelphia. It was the team’s first playoff win since the 2005 season.
The Commanders have a standout young quarterback in Jayden Daniels — who won the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year this past season — that also appealed to Samuel.
He said former 49ers teammate Brandon Aiyuk, who played with Daniels at Arizona State, constantly raved about the quarterback.
“That’s all B.A. used to talk about, ‘My boy is about to win the Heisman. My boy is about to do this, my boy’s about to do that,'” Samuel said. “He won the Heisman and came to the league and played extremely well. Everything Aiyuk said would happen, happened.
“Just to see him grow and see how well he played last year I was like, man why not try to come over here and help in any aspect that I can.”
That’s what he did in San Francisco, helping the 49ers as a receiver (4,792 yards, 22 touchdowns) and as a runner (1,143 yards, 20 touchdowns). But Samuel was not as dynamic last year while battling several injuries. He finished with only 806 yards from scrimmage — the only time he finished with fewer yards occurred when he played only seven games in 2020.
But he said it was time to leave. That didn’t make it easy to ask coach Kyle Shanahan for a trade.
“One of the hardest things was walking into the office and talking to Kyle about this because of the relationship we built,” he said. “He was my coach at the Senior Bowl. He’s always been a man of his word. It was a tough conversation. But we both understood where I was coming from, and I understood where he was coming from.”
Samuel also said others around him are motivated to help him as well, pointing out how his brother recently called him to see if he’d worked out that day.
“Everyone wants to see me take my game to a level I don’t think it can go,” he said, “but everyone says there’s another level so I’ll push myself to that level.”
For Gallup, Washington represents a chance to resurrect his career. He caught 266 passes in six seasons with Dallas — three of which occurred when Washington coach Dan Quinn was Dallas’ defensive coordinator.
Gallup said he wasn’t “in the right head space” last season so he wanted to step away.
“The way I was let go from being in some place for so long and then jumping to a whole other team and not being able to process it,” Gallup said. “I never went through that before. It was fast for me and I wasn’t there yet.”
But, he said, he always knew he’d try to get back into the NFL. He’d watch games with his son and said “every time we turned on the game it was like, I need to be out there making plays, too.”
Gallup averaged 15.6 yards per catch in his first three seasons; he averaged 11.9 yards over his last three years. In 2023 Gallup caught 34 passes for 418 yards.
“There’s a lot of meat on that bone,” Gallup said. “I’ve got a lot of fire up in me.”