The Washington Commanders have acquired veteran wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. in a trade with the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a fifth-round pick. He has been a big name in the fantasy football world, especially in 2021 when he had a career-high 338.9 points and averaged 21.2 points per game.
The problem is that those totals are a career outlier.
Prior to that season, Samuel Sr. averaged around 12 points per game. In the three years after his big year, his points per game average has dropped eight points. He’s also missed time due to injuries, and his touches per game have declined in each of the last four years.
A change of scenery could be a good thing in terms of his fantasy value, however,. Washington has a number of wideouts heading into free agency, so he should see plenty of targets in the pass attack. I’d still be wary of ranking Samuel too highly in fantasy drafts, especially if the Commanders add more wideout help. At this point, he’ll be on the WR3/flex starter radar in most 2025 fantasy football drafts.
Obviously, Samuel Sr. also helps Jayden Daniels’ draft value too (at least somewhat), giving him another weapon in the passing game to pair with another veteran, Terry McLaurin.
In San Francisco, the Niners will now have Brandon Aiyuk (coming back from an ACL tear), Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall atop their depth chart. However, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport has suggested that the team could also be open to dealing Aiyuk. For now, I’d put Jennings ahead of him in terms of the fantasy wideout pecking order in San Francisco. He’ll now be looked at as a WR3 who could post WR2 totals in coach Kyle Shanahan’s system.
Besides Jennings, the absence of Samuel Sr. will make Pearsall a popular sleeper in drafts. I could even see him being a better fantasy option than Aiyuk, especially when you consider how tough it is for many wide receivers to return to form the year after an ACL surgery.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fantasy Football Impact of Deebo Samuel Sr. Being Traded to The Washington Commanders.
