ASHBURN, Va. — After the Washington Commanders traded for him, then assured the final 12 months of his contract, receiver Deebo Samuel mentioned he needs to repay them for believing in him.
“They put this a lot belief in me,” Samuel mentioned. “I am unable to are available right here and allow them to down.”
Washington acquired Samuel from San Francisco for a fifth-round choose in a deal settlement on March 1 and made official 11 days later. Samuel had requested a commerce after the season.
Washington declined his possibility bonus of $15.4 million that might have allowed the Commanders to unfold out his cap hit over two seasons by including one other 12 months to his deal — however which might have been robotically voided.
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As a substitute, the Commanders assured the final 12 months of his contract — none of which had been beforehand assured — and added one other $3 million in incentives. He’ll rely $17.55 million vs. Washington’s cap.
In the meantime, Washington additionally signed receiver Michael Gallup to a one-year deal. He retired final 12 months after signing with Las Vegas shortly after being minimize by Dallas.
For Samuel, Washington represents a recent begin after six seasons with San Francisco. In his first press convention for the reason that commerce Samuel mentioned asking the 49ers to commerce him was “harder than you suppose” however that he cannot wait to indicate his new staff what he can nonetheless do.
“They’re getting a motivated Deebo,” he mentioned through a video convention name. “You get a dawg on the market. These younger legs are nonetheless transferring, this physique remains to be working fairly properly.”
Samuel had advised 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan after the season that he wished to be traded.
Washington was one among 5 groups on Samuel’s listing of desired organizations. He mentioned the explanation was easy — and his reply highlighted Washington’s fast transformation as a corporation.
“I like winners,” Samuel mentioned. “I am not one among your largest losers. They have a great staff for positive they usually have been simply standing out.”
Washington completed 12-5 — its first profitable season since 2016 — and misplaced within the NFC Championship Sport to Philadelphia. It was the staff’s first playoff win for the reason that 2005 season.
The Commanders have a standout younger quarterback in Jayden Daniels — who received the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the 12 months this previous season — that additionally appealed to Samuel.
He mentioned former 49ers teammate Brandon Aiyuk, who performed with Daniels at Arizona State, always raved in regards to the quarterback.
“That is all B.A. used to speak about, ‘My boy is about to win the Heisman. My boy is about to do that, my boy’s about to do this,'” Samuel mentioned. “He received the Heisman and got here to the league and performed extraordinarily properly. Every little thing Aiyuk mentioned would occur, occurred.
“Simply to see him develop and see how properly he performed final 12 months I used to be like, man why not attempt to come over right here and assist in any facet that I can.”
That is what he did in San Francisco, serving to the 49ers as a receiver (4,792 yards, 22 touchdowns) and as a runner (1,143 yards, 20 touchdowns). However Samuel was not as dynamic final 12 months whereas battling a number of accidents. He completed with solely 806 yards from scrimmage — the one time he completed with fewer yards occurred when he performed solely seven video games in 2020.
However he mentioned it was time to go away. That did not make it simple to ask coach Kyle Shanahan for a commerce.
“One of many hardest issues was strolling into the workplace and speaking to Kyle about this due to the connection we constructed,” he mentioned. “He was my coach on the Senior Bowl. He is all the time been a person of his phrase. It was a troublesome dialog. However we each understood the place I used to be coming from, and I understood the place he was coming from.”
Samuel additionally mentioned others round him are motivated to assist him as properly, stating how his brother not too long ago referred to as him to see if he’d labored out that day.
“Everybody needs to see me take my recreation to a stage I do not suppose it may go,” he mentioned, “however everybody says there’s one other stage so I am going to push myself to that stage.”
For Gallup, Washington represents an opportunity to resurrect his profession. He caught 266 passes in six seasons with Dallas — three of which occurred when Washington coach Dan Quinn was Dallas’ defensive coordinator.
Gallup mentioned he wasn’t “in the fitting head house” final season so he wished to step away.
“The best way I used to be let go from being in some place for therefore lengthy after which leaping to a complete different staff and never having the ability to course of it,” Gallup mentioned. “I by no means went by means of that earlier than. It was quick for me and I wasn’t there but.”
However, he mentioned, he all the time knew he’d attempt to get again into the NFL. He’d watch video games along with his son and mentioned “each time we turned on the sport it was like, I should be on the market making performs, too.”
Gallup averaged 15.6 yards per catch in his first three seasons; he averaged 11.9 yards over his final three years. In 2023 Gallup caught 34 passes for 418 yards.
“There’s a whole lot of meat on that bone,” Gallup mentioned. “I’ve obtained a whole lot of hearth up in me.”
