After the San Francisco 49ers loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night, backup linebacker De’Vondre Campbell rightfully dominated the headlines after refusing to enter the game when called upon. But immediately after the game, Shannon Sharpe was far more interested in discussing another lackluster performance from 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel.
The past five weeks have perhaps been the worst stretch of Samuel’s career. In each of those games, the former All-Pro has failed to record over 25 receiving yards.
Faced with criticism for these disappointing outputs, Samuel took to social media in a now-deleted post on X after the team’s Week 14 game to let his fans know that he is not struggling, instead blaming the lack of production on “not getting the ball.”
“Not struggling at all just not getting the ball,” wrote Samuel.
Perhaps even worse than that, he doubled down in a discussion with reporters on Wednesday.
“I mean, you read what you read,” Samuel told reporters. “A little frustrated for sure.”
Here’s a compilation of Deebo Samuel answering questions from the media about his “not struggling at all just not getting the ball” tweet. pic.twitter.com/ULeioqEjBi
— KNBR (@KNBR) December 10, 2024
In Thursday’s game, Samuel received seven targets, which was tied for second with Jauan Jennings on the team behind just George Kittle. But he would haul in just three of these seven opportunities. One was a crucial drop that likely would have been a touchdown in the third quarter.
The Deebo Samuel noise is going to get a lot louder after this third down drop… pic.twitter.com/PhXVptCivh
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulliNFL) December 13, 2024
This drop would ultimately loom large as the Rams won, 9-6.
On the latest Nightcap podcast with Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson, Sharpe took the opportunity to point out Samuel’s latest shortcomings.
“He did have an opportunity to get a touchdown and Deebo dropped it,” said Sharpe of 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. “He had split the seam and he just flat out dropped it. There is no other way around it. And that’s why you don’t complain about when you don’t catch it. I’ve seen the chats and I was online and now you see what everybody said. Now you see how you make yourself look foolish when you start complaining. And now you drop a touchdown.
“The thing with Deebo that he has to understand is it’s funny how the football gods will humble you. He’s complaining and he put up a tweet and he took the tweet down. Now here it is for the whole world to see and look what you did. I mean if it wasn’t raining we would have seen you wet the bed. But your clothes wet so we don’t really know. But you did. You did all that talking. ‘Oh, I want the ball. Nothing wrong with Deebo.’ Bro, you are not the same. Even when they show the cut-ups, bro you had no separation.
“Even on the ball he didn’t catch, did y’all see any separation? How is Purdy going to drop the ball in there? There is no separation. I just don’t get these guys. They start reading the comments. Oh Deebo, you should do this. You should go somewhere else. And you start getting high on your own supply and you start feeling yourself. And then when the 49ers put you in a situation where you can make plays, you come up small. Just like you had the nerve to go out there and tweet ‘Oh, nothing is wrong with Deebo.’ I want you to say that was on me tonight. That’s what you have to do.”
Whether Samuel has gotten in his own head or his athleticism isn’t quite what it used to be, as Sharpe is suggesting, there do appear to be signs of concern.
To make matters worse for the 49ers, a win on Thursday night was crucial for their postseason chances. Now, San Francisco sits at 6-8 on the season, 2.5 games behind the division-leading Seattle Seahawks.
