SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It was July 30, 2022, three months after Deebo Samuel had requested a commerce in the midst of prolonged and sometimes contentious contract negotiations, and the San Francisco 49ers receiver was sitting on a sofa in left deal with Trent Williams’ residence.
Samuel was ready on a telephone name, hoping to finish the “most disturbing” time of his life with a life-changing new deal. Lastly, it got here — official information from agent Tory Dandy that Samuel’s three-year extension with $58.1 million in assured cash was achieved.
“We was simply chilling,” Samuel informed ESPN, smiling on the reminiscence whereas sitting close to Williams on one other sofa within the 49ers’ public relations workplace. “After which we simply went loopy.”
Samuel jumped off the sofa, yelled and bolted out the door, working up and down the road of Williams’ Morgan Hill neighborhood in celebration. Williams, who served as consigliere to Samuel and Niners coach Kyle Shanahan all through the negotiations, filmed all of it.
“I simply went on forward and began recording,” Williams mentioned. “I wanted to seize that reminiscence.”
In 49ers lore, it is a second that could possibly be remembered for rather more, because the group stored considered one of its finest gamers and ensured that Samuel, 28, and Williams, 35, might proceed setting a bodily, assured tone within the franchise’s pursuit of a sixth Lombardi Trophy. It was a big benchmark in a quick friendship that has developed since Williams was traded to the Niners in 2020.
For Samuel, the do-it-all “extensive again,” it meant extra alternatives to select Williams’ mind and ideal his craft. For Williams, the stalwart blindside protector, it meant extra classes within the artwork of trash speak as a byproduct of Samuel’s supreme self-confidence.
Collectively, the previous roommates have constructed a bond that has turn out to be the heartbeat of the 49ers’ id. It is no coincidence they’re the primary two gamers opponents see when the Niners step on the sector of their WWE-style “Bumpboxx” entrances each week, a pregame custom the group hopes Samuel will have the ability to participate in earlier than Sunday’s NFC Championship Recreation towards the Detroit Lions (6:30 p.m. ET, Fox).
Samuel is coping with a left shoulder harm suffered in Saturday’s divisional spherical towards the Inexperienced Bay Packers and is 50/50 to play Sunday due to the harm, which isn’t a repeat of the hairline fracture he suffered earlier within the season. The offense struggled with out him in a come-from-behind victory Saturday.
“You’ll be able to simply see it each time our group walks out,” tight finish George Kittle mentioned. “It is swagger. It is like after they deliver that on the market, it simply sort of elevates everybody else round them and it simply offers this group a confidence. … They only have this aura about them that simply incites being an awesome soccer participant.”
GROWING UP IN South Carolina, Samuel cherished enjoying soccer however was by no means a lot for watching it. He nonetheless not often consumes video games for enjoyable and stays largely averse to in-depth movie examine, although he does that greater than he used to.
Which is why it is no shock that when Samuel joined former Niners working again Jerick McKinnon for a exercise at O Athletik health club in Houston in summer time 2020, he had no concept his new left deal with was not solely figuring out in the identical place but additionally half proprietor.
Samuel and McKinnon have been discussing how the 49ers would substitute retiring left deal with Joe Staley when McKinnon stopped Samuel, pointed to the 6-foot-5, 318-pound Williams on the opposite aspect of the health club and gave Samuel a fast scouting report.
“I did not actually know who Trent was,” Samuel mentioned. “I am like, ‘S—, appears to be like like we will want his ass.’ I walked as much as him and we have been simply chopping it up. … From there, the connection stored constructing and constructing and constructing.”
Regardless of the actual fact Samuel was about to be a freshman at Chapman (South Carolina) Excessive College when Washington chosen Williams with the fourth decide within the 2010 NFL draft, the duo wasted no time discovering frequent floor. They instantly bonded over grueling offseason exercises so troublesome each instantly curse at their mere point out.
5 or 6 days per week, Williams and Samuel participated in 2½-hour exercises, many underneath the blazing Texas solar. The worst of these have been spent on the observe, the place they’d alternate working 400-, 500- and 600-meter sprints adopted by 200-meter hurdles. These could be combined amongst hill runs and sand pit, pool and subject work.
The nearer to coaching camp they received, the extra they’d flip up the depth on the vomit-inducing classes. That shared expertise shaped the inspiration of Samuel and Williams’ friendship.
“It was only a litany of hard-ass exercises,” Williams mentioned. “The extra time we spent doing these issues and being energetic, it simply created dialog and reminiscences that solely individuals going by way of it with you’ll be able to have.”
Regardless of the distinction of their age and place, Shanahan wasn’t shocked that Samuel and Williams grew to become quick mates.
“They’re each such good gamers and such distinctive gamers,” Shanahan mentioned. “There aren’t any tackles like Trent, and there aren’t any receivers like Deebo. … When you would have requested me if they’d’ve been tight, I’d’ve positively thought so.”
AS IT TURNED out, the COVID-19 pandemic offered a chance for Samuel and Williams to go from teammates to roommates. When Santa Clara County shut down 49ers residence video games late within the 2020 season, the Niners relocated to Arizona to complete the 12 months.
Samuel and Williams rented a home and lived collectively for the ultimate month of the season. Dwelling within the Phoenix space, they spent most of their time on the home enjoyable and speaking about all kinds of matters, starting from their shared love of basketball and music to balancing soccer and household life.
“We needed to discover one thing to do after apply and enjoying the video games,” Samuel mentioned. “So, it was principally simply speaking s—. Simply regular stuff.”
The pair additionally found a number of of one another’s quirks. A lot to Samuel’s confusion, he would get residence from video games to search out Williams within the garments the 320-pound lineman wore residence, lined with a blanket and getting a full night time’s sleep on the lounge sofa.
That month not solely cemented their friendship and established Williams as the one participant Samuel would open up to about his contract scenario, however it additionally offered them a chance to study from one another.
Even because the 49ers slipped to an injury-ravaged 6-10 report in 2020, Samuel would stroll into the kitchen and be greeted with the identical sight almost each night time — Williams watching tape of upcoming opponents or himself, both from video games or in apply, and painstakingly evaluating every rep.
For Samuel, it was a front-row seat to how a longtime star is ready to persistently produce at an elite degree, a difficulty that has popped up a pair occasions within the receiver’s profession, together with in a 2022 season that Samuel has referred to as “terrible” as a result of he was out of form and sluggish.
Though Williams and Samuel play completely different positions, Samuel got here to acknowledge he and Williams have been uncommon skills and that by observing and following Williams, he might maximize his personal expertise.
“As you look across the league, you see the entire league making an attempt to repeat every part that he does,” Samuel mentioned. “However they can not do it. He is a one-of-one participant.”
It is a description that additionally applies to Samuel, who this 12 months joined Corridor of Famer Charley Taylor as the one gamers in NFL historical past to have no less than 4,000 receiving and 1,000 dashing yards of their first 5 seasons. Like Williams, Samuel additionally takes pleasure in ensuring his opponents really feel him days after they’ve performed.
Though Williams is the extra skilled veteran, he, too, has discovered a lot from Samuel. Odd because it might sound for an 11-time Professional Bowler and three-time first-team All-Professional, Williams spent most of his profession refraining from trash speak for worry he could not again it up.
However that is not how Samuel operates. Samuel runs with a fury and fervour that Williams mentioned is unmatched. Samuel’s father inspired him at a younger age to strategy each recreation as if he is the perfect participant on the sector, and if that became some selection phrases for his opponent as a motivational instrument, so be it.
That strategy usually manifests into Samuel being a keen trash talker earlier than, throughout and after video games. For some, that is likely to be an issue. For Samuel, it is a hearth stoker and sometimes ends in a few of his finest performances.
After dropping to the Philadelphia Eagles in final 12 months’s NFC Championship Recreation, Samuel repeatedly insisted the sport would have been completely different had quarterback Brock Purdy not suffered a season-ending elbow harm within the first quarter. He doubled down by calling Eagles cornerback James Bradberry “trash” on the “I Am Athlete” podcast.
Earlier than the Niners’ 42-19 December destruction of the Eagles in Philadelphia, Samuel stood behind every part he mentioned. He promptly dropped 138 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns.
“That is why I do not take nothing again that I say,” Samuel mentioned. “I stand on every part I say. When you cease me, you bought the perfect of me, however it should be arduous. It will be a protracted day.”
Whereas Samuel has at all times been as fearless along with his phrases as his play, it is a trait Williams has needed however by no means embraced. In watching Samuel repeatedly again up all of his phrases along with his actions, Williams has grown more and more unafraid to say what’s on his thoughts, irrespective of what number of feathers get ruffled.
That is why Williams joined Samuel carrying all black for that Philadelphia recreation and later declaring that they had dressed “for a funeral.”
“I speak s— after I’m mad, however I want I can get up out of the mattress and say you’ll be able to’t f— with me after which go on the market and present you could’t f— with me and there is nothing you are able to do about it,” Williams mentioned. “And once you’re coping with skilled athletes, to me that is just like the trump card.
“It is such as you received the arrogance to inform someone that will get paid hundreds of thousands of {dollars} that he cannot do one thing after which go and present him that he cannot do it. Now I’ve began to chill out a little bit bit and let go a little bit bit. … I actually discovered that from him.”
THE 49ERS HAVEN’T had many obstacles in reaching their fourth NFC title recreation up to now 5 years. There was, nevertheless, that three-game dropping streak that adopted a 5-0 begin. Given their worth, it is unsurprising that the dropping streak got here when Samuel and Williams have been out due to shoulder and ankle accidents, respectively.
After the Week 9 bye, Samuel and Williams returned and the Niners rattled off six straight wins by a median margin of 19 factors.
This season, when Williams and Samuel have been on the sector collectively, the Niners averaged 7.2 yards per play and posted 148.38 offensive anticipated factors added (EPA). When neither Williams nor Samuel was on the sector, the Niners averaged 5.3 yards per play and had a minus-19.85 offensive EPA.
“They’ve had a lot success and helped construct this place to what it’s now,” Purdy mentioned. “These are two of the fellows that I at all times wish to be enjoying with, and it helps out with my confidence each play.”
Purdy’s sentiment is shared by many within the 49ers locker room. Because the Niners chase one other Tremendous Bowl journey, they will discover confidence and inspiration just by trying and discovering Williams and Samuel of their customary spot on the entrance of the Bumpboxx line. It is a fashionable model of getting the baddest dudes on the group getting off the bus first.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘢𝘯𝘨’𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. pic.twitter.com/SL9SED3qiV
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) December 3, 2023
And when the video games begin, Shanahan will not hesitate to name for Samuel, when obtainable, to get a contact or to run the ball behind Williams when his group wants a spark. It is not nearly gaining yards, it is also about reminding your entire group what 49ers soccer is meant to be about.
“They’ve related kinds and simply the best way they’ve enjoyable earlier than video games, that is them,” Shanahan mentioned. “That is genuinely who they’re and that is why they’re at all times going to be entrance and middle. Whenever you received the kind of the expertise and charisma of these two guys, it sort of stands proud.
“I believe they feed off one another. And I do know our group feeds off them.”
