Deebo Samuel remembers what it was like. Two years ago, he faced a similar situation with the San Francisco 49ers, frustrated by the slow progress of his contract extension. Samuel even requested a trade like his teammate Brandon Aiyuk this year. Although, Samuel's request came much earlier in the offseason.
Aiyuk tried to be patient and let things work themselves out. However, as the offseason progressed with seemingly no progress, Aiyuk grew more disgruntled. He reported to training camp to avoid adding to the approximately $100,000 in fines he accrued by missing last month's mandatory minicamp, but he hasn't been practicing.
Samuel spoke to reporters on Friday and was asked what kind of support he's offered his teammate and friend, Aiyuk.
"Me personally, I know what it feels like to go through what he's going through right now, and the only thing I can do is just tell him to keep his head up," Samuel said. "Things are gonna work out. Just day by day. It's a long process. Like, real long. It's frustrating.
"All I can do is just tell him to keep his head up, be where his feet are, just continue to do the things that he do as far as communication on his end and they end, and hopefully, things just play out."
Things eventually worked out between Samuel and the 49ers, and there's no reason to believe it won't for Aiyuk. Last year, defensive end Nick Bosa didn't end his holdout until just days before the start of the regular season, and he still became the league's highest-paid non-quarterback at the time.
Aiyuk has led the 49ers in receiving yards over the last two seasons, finishing last season with 1,342 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.
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