Deebo Samuel to attend San Francisco 49ers’ mandatory minicamp

Deebo Samuel, the star wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, has decided to attend the team’s mandatory minicamp, which is taking place this week.

The news broke early on Tuesday morning:

As Schefter points out, Samuel requested a trade earlier this spring, having grown dismayed over his usage in Kyle Shanahan’s offense last season. Samuel also declined to attend the team’s voluntary OTAs last month.

Samuel’s trade request came after the organization used him as both a receiver and a running back a season ago. A huge topic this off-season was how teams could find a similar player in the draft, an offensive weapon who could operate out of the backfield on first down, the slot on second down and perhaps along the boundary on third down.

How teams could find that kind of player seemed a heavy topic of discussion at the Combine, and it was among the many questions asked of new Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel during his media session in Indianapolis.

According to charting data, Samuel saw 145 snaps out of the backfield last season. While some of his usage out of the backfield was in the passing game, or on runs to the edges, Shanahan did not shy away from using Samuel between the tackles.

But with Samuel’s decision to attend minicamp this week, coupled with these comments from general manager John Lynch:

Perhaps the parties are starting to inch closer to a resolution that will keep him in San Francisco this season.