Deebo Samuel believes his NFL career is far from winding down. Still unsigned as training camps open around the league, the veteran wide receiver says his extended stretch as a free agent has been tough. However, not enough to make him doubt what’s left in the tank.

That confidence lines up with what he told his own YouTube audience directly. Entering his eighth season, he believes he’s got three or four food years left in him. The question is where those years actually happen, and Louis Riddick has an answer.

“I think the Kansas City Chiefs would be perfect. Personally, I think they’re undergoing a transformation in terms of how they’re gonna play this year,” Riddick said on the In Case You Missed It section of NFL Live. “They’re going to wanna be a tough, hard-nosed football team, especially in the months of September and October as Patrick gets his legs under him, literally, and starts to feel comfortable being able to move around in the pocket.” 

“They’re gonna run the football with authority. Deebo Samuel is as tough a player as there is in the NFL. He’ll fit perfectly in that kind of philosophical approach.”

What makes Samuel worth that kind of speculation in the first place comes down to what he actually does on the field. He’s the only wide receiver in the league with at least 20 receiving and 20 rushing touchdowns for his career, a receiver-running back hybrid whose 2021 season alone included 8 rushing touchdowns, more rushing scores of 10-plus yards than 23 NFL teams managed that year, and 1,405 receiving yards on just 77 catches. That combination of physicality and versatility forces defenses to account for him differently than a typical receiver, whether he’s split out wide, in the backfield, or motioning across the formation.

That skill set is exactly why Kansas City keeps coming up as a fit. Playing next to a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes, under a play-caller like Andy Reid, inside one of the league’s most consistent winning cultures, is the kind of situation most veteran skill players would take in a heartbeat. To be clear, there’s no indication of an actual contract being discussed between Samuel and the Chiefs. This is speculation about fit, not a deal in motion.

Kansas City isn’t the only team getting mentioned, either. USA Today’s Tyler Dragon has floated the Carolina Panthers as another possible landing spot, arguing their young receiver room could benefit from a veteran presence, even one past his statistical peak, to help speed up their development.

That leaves one more familiar name in the conversation, the team that drafted him, though a reunion there would come with real strings attached and a roster that may no longer have room for him.

Can Deebo Samuel get back with the San Francisco 49ers? 

Mark Schlereth addressed the idea of a Bay Area reunion on The Stinkin’ Truth Podcast, laying out exactly what that role would need to look like from San Francisco’s side.

“Like Deebo, man, we would love to have you back on this team,” Schlereth said, viewing it from the 49ers’ perspective. “But understand what your role is. And we’re gonna ask you to run out of the backfield; we’re gonna ask you to run the wide zone. We’re gonna ask you to be the gadget guy. We’re gonna ask you to do the jet sweeps and the orbit reverses.”

“These are the things that you’re going to do, and I’m gonna get you four or five explosives a game,” he continued. “Based on our run game, based on how we pair our run game with our play action. We make it look identical. We do all these things, but you’re gonna have to accept that role. Are you willing to accept that role?”

That scenario looks less likely than it did even a few months ago. San Francisco has already added Mike Evans, Christian Kirk, and rookie De’Zhaun Stribling to its receiver room this offseason, filling out exactly the kind of depth chart Samuel would be walking back into. It’s the same 49ers team that traded him to Washington last year after a down 2024 season, and there’s no sign yet that they’re planning to reverse that decision now.

Samuel earned his lone Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro nod back in 2021, the same season he set the record for rushing touchdowns by a wide receiver. He was drafted 36th overall by San Francisco in 2019 and reached the Super Bowl against Kansas City as a rookie, the same franchise now being floated as his top free-agent fit six years later. Whether that circle closes or not, training camps are already underway across the league, and Samuel is running out of time to find a team before the season starts without him.