Deebo Samuel is working his butt off during the offseason. Well, not entirely off.
One of the 49ers receiver’s greatest assets, after all, is the thick lower body he used like a wrecking ball to smash through would-be tacklers last year. Of his 802 receiving yards, 484 came after the catch, most of it coming on throws in the middle of the defense. His yards-after-catch total led all rookies and was fifth overall in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus.
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The 49ers, however, worry that Samuel might become too unwieldy. They felt he was too heavy when he arrived in Santa Clara after the 2019 draft, which led to long, daily, pre-practice runs with position coach Wes Welker. Welker initially wanted Samuel at around 212 pounds. When the extra running failed to significantly flatten Samuel’s curve, they came up with a compromise: Samuel could play at 220 pounds and not a pound more.
“Wes is hard on Deebo,” Samuel’s college coach, Will Muschamp, said recently. “Deebo’s a guy that’s always got to worry about his weight a little bit as far as the offseason and those things. And I think Wes took him on some 6 a.m. runs when he first came out to San Francisco to introduce him to getting into real good shape.”
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Welker and the 49ers’ strength and conditioning staff aren’t able to work in-person with Samuel and his teammates for the usual offseason conditioning program, raising the question: If Welker isn’t there to be hard on Samuel, who will?
The answer: Samuel’s doing it himself.
When the offseason began, he was working out with 49ers running back Jerick McKinnon in the Atlanta area. Last week, McKinnon left for Houston so he could ramp up his routine by training alongside one-time teammate Adrian Peterson at his gym. McKinnon asked Samuel if he wanted to join him in Houston but warned that the sessions would be more intense than anything he was used to. Samuel quickly learned that was no exaggeration.
“Our first workout was last Wednesday and it was three hours long,” Samuel said while noting the regimen included an artificial hill, running in sand and track-style work. “Whenever it’s time to go back — even if it’s tomorrow — we’ll be ready to rock.”
Another 49ers teammate, newly acquired tackle Trent Williams, also trains at the 35,000-square-foot facility.
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Samuel said that when the 49ers are permitted to train in Santa Clara again, he wants to surprise Welker by arriving at a new weight, something under 216 pounds. When asked if he’s worried about shedding too much bulk and thus losing the very thing that made him special last season, Samuel said the collisions might be even more violent because he’ll have gained a bit of speed, which is the reason Welker wanted him lighter in the first place.
“The mindset ain’t gonna change,” he said. “You’re going to feel the pain either way.”
During his Wednesday interviews with reporters, Samuel not only sounded like someone intent on avoiding the sophomore slump that has affected a few teammates in recent years but also like he was ready to take on a bigger leadership role, especially among the wide receivers.
The 49ers lost their most veteran players at the position in recent months when Emmanuel Sanders signed with the Saints and Marquise Goodwin was traded to the Eagles. Sanders had a particularly big impact when he arrived in October last year with everyone from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to tight end George Kittle seeing upticks in their production.
Samuel did, too. He averaged 33.6 receiving yards per game before the 49ers acquired Sanders. After the trade? That average nearly doubled, to 63.4 yards per game with Samuel coming up big in a home loss to the Seahawks and a narrow win over the Cardinals in November when the team’s injury issues were especially severe.
“When we got Emmanuel — you could see it — the whole room changed,” Samuel said. “He brought the leader mentality, the vet mentality we needed in the room. Any time we needed advice or anything, he was always there.”
Now it’s Samuel who’s dispensing advice.
Last month, he made two phone calls following the first round of the draft. The first was to his former South Carolina teammate, Javon Kinlaw, who will slide into the defensive tackle spot DeForest Buckner had the last four seasons.
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Samuel’s message: “He’s got big shoes to fill,” he said. “And he’s more than ready — just ready to get out there and show coaches what he’s capable of. And I’ve seen it firsthand when he was there.”
After the 49ers selected Arizona State receiver Brandon Aiyuk later in the first round, Samuel texted Welker and asked for Aiyuk’s number. Samuel said he liked Aiyuk’s blend of finesse and power and thought he and the newcomer had similar skills. One of the 49ers’ bread-and-butter plays in 2019 was a jet-sweep handoff to Samuel, and he said having another receiver who was dangerous on those plays would knock defenses off balance even more.
Last year, Samuel worked with the 49ers coaching staff at the Senior Bowl in January and then had the benefit of a full offseason. Still, he found it difficult to both digest Kyle Shanahan’s voluminous playbook and operate at full speed. He realized that will be even more challenging for Aiyuk, whose inaugural NFL offseason already has been curtailed.
That’s why he got the rookie’s number.
“I knew how hard it is to be as good as you want to be in this offense, without thinking,” Samuel said. “So I gave him a call and was like, ‘Hey, man, I just want you to know, it’s going to take time.’ … Because I was around the coaches and able to use the coaches as much as possible. With him, it’s just a Zoom call and it’s kind of hard to listen to a guy telling you what to do and not being able to go out on the field. So I was just like, ‘You just have to lock in, pay attention. I know it’s hard, but if you need anything, feel free to call me, (Kendrick Bourne) or even Wes.'”
(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
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