Deebo Samuel took to social media on Friday to reveal that he has been receiving death threats and racist remarks from San Francisco 49ers fans due to being in contract negotiations with the team.
Samuel said that the fans sending him death threats and racial slurs are the same ones who were cheering him on during the season. The 26-year-old wide receiver also stated that he is unbothered by those fans who are in his DMs sending death threats.
“For all y’all fans that’s in the DMs sending death threats and racial stuff, that don’t bother me,” Samuel said. “It don’t. Because y’all was the same ones that was just hoo-rahing and saying, ‘Go Deebo!’ Now y’all want to send death threats and all this racial stuff — it don’t bother me. I’m cool. I’m chilling. I’m happy.”
Samuel, who removed most images of him in a Niners uniform from his Instagram, is currently in a contract negotiation with the team and is likely asking for a pay raise. Last season, Samuel garnered 1,770 yards from scrimmage — the second most ever by a San Francisco WR after Jerry Rice, who put up 1,884 yards from scrimmage in 1995.
He also had an All-Pro season in 2021 and has never asked for a trade despite the team using him as a running back midway through the year, which saw his targets decrease by half. Samuel doesn’t deserve the treatment he is getting from Niners fans and is in fact deserving of the franchise increasing his salary after being the driving force of the offense.