It’s never too soon to speculate about the NFL offseason.
A number of teams will have to make hard decisions about which players to part with because of salary cap and other issues.
And it’s not just players at the low end of the totem pole who have to be worried. All-Pro players could be on the receiving end of getting cut or traded.
With that in mind, an NFL insider lists two surprising star players who could be on the move after this season.
Could these star wide receivers be on the move this offseason?
ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano is listing two All-Pro wide receivers who could be on new teams beginning next season: the San Francisco 49ers’ Deebo Samuel and the New York Jets’ Davante Adams.
For the 49ers, with a Brock Purdy extension looming, and San Francisco giving big money to Brandon Aiyuk, extending Jauan Jennings, and drafting Ricky Pearsall, Samuel could be on the outside looking in once the season is over.
Samuel is three seasons removed from being an All-Pro and has only two touchdowns in nine games this season, with just 33 receptions for 490 yards. He’s set to make $16.6 million next season, which might not be in San Francisco’s budget.
“Samuel’s contract structure is interesting. He’ll make about $16.6 million next year, but about $15.4 million of that is in the form of an option bonus the team has to decide on before the 10th day of the league year in March,” Graziano reports. “So the 49ers could trade him before that date, leaving his new team responsible for the 2025 cash — but the Niners would carry a dead-money charge of $31.55 million on their 2025 cap. Releasing Samuel and designating him as a post-June 1 cut would allow them to defray that cost over two years, and if they do decide to move on, that’s the more likely decision.”
As for the New York Jets, they’re essentially doing a complete home makeover for 2025. They have already let go of their head coach and general manager, and quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ time in New York seems tenuous.
The Jets traded for wide receiver Davante Adams — Rodgers’ former Green Bay Packers teammate — from the Las Vegas Raiders in hopes of reviving a stagnant offense. However, that hasn’t happened. In five games with the Jets, he has 26 receptions for 278 receiving yards and one touchdown.
Adams is scheduled to earn $36.25 million in 2025, and that’s not going to happen — anywhere.
“Adams’ deal — signed with the Raiders as a condition of his trade there from Green Bay in 2022 — has two years left on it, but neither of them was designed to ever actually exist,” notes Graziano. “He’s scheduled to earn $36.25 million in salary and bonuses in each of 2025 and 2026, but none of that is guaranteed, and there’s no way he’s making that money from the Jets or anyone else at ages 32 and 33. The Jets reworked Adams’ contract when they traded for him in October, so they have a roughly $8.4 million dead-cap charge for him in 2025 if they cut him.”
If both Samuel and Adams are available after the season, the two star wide receivers will have plenty of suitors to choose from.
Related: NFL insider speculates on Deebo Samuel ditching San Francisco 49ers for division rival