JACKSONVILLE — Let’s hope Deebo Samuel found a way to occupy his mind Thursday night. That he had a great dinner out or caught up on Netflix. Because no elite NFL player had a worse NFL Draft Night 1 than he did.
Samuel, the electric San Francisco 49ers wide receiver, not only had his trade request ignored, he could only watch as the rest of the league went wild loading up at his position.
NFL Draft Night 1 drastically alters the wide receiver landscape
In the span of 90 or so minutes, so much changed, and almost all of it was to the detriment of Samuel’s leverage.
The deepest cut? When the Titans traded A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles, and then the Eagles gave Brown the four-year, $100 million contract that Samuel believes he deserves. The Eagles gave up a first-rounder for the privilege. The Titans used that pick (18th overall) on Brown’s immediate replacement. They took Arkansas’ Treylon Burks, who was the last shoe to drop in an insane stretch of NFL history.
Five other wide receivers came off the board between picks No. 8 and 18 — Drake London (Atlanta Falcons), Garrett Wilson (New York Jets), Chris Olave (New Orleans Saints), Jameson Williams (Detroit Lions), and Jahan Dotson (Washington Commanders).
It was a breathtaking run on the draft’s second-deepest position — and it happened in an avalanche. Teams knew they had to get in to get theirs and did so aggressively. The Saints surrendered a third and fourth-round pick to move up five spots for Olave. The Lions gave up even more — a second and a third — to move up from 32 to 12. The Commanders used the pick they got from New Orleans to take Dotson.
And lost in the mayhem? The Baltimore Ravens shipped Hollywood Brown to the Arizona Cardinals for — you guessed it — a first-round pick.
All the while, Samuel went nowhere. The Niners are calling his bluff. They don’t believe he’ll hold out this year, or even next should they franchise tag him.
But anyone who thinks they know what comes next might have a few screws loose. Not what we’ve seen after the last two months.
