The boys are back in town.
After respective one-year absences, both linebacker Dre Greenlaw and wide receiver Deebo Samuel have returned to the 49ers for the 2026 NFL season, each signing one-year contracts with the organization that originally drafted them.
Greenlaw believes both players realized the grass isn’t always greener in another NFL uniform, and he let Samuel know as much with an offseason text.
“I reached out to him a little bit during this free-agency time, just to kind of say, ‘Hey, man, come on back, man,’ you know what I’m saying,” Greenlaw told reporters after Saturday’s practice in Santa Clara. “Like, ‘Let’s have a reunion, let’s do this thing together, bro.’ I mean, he knows like it ain’t no place like San Fran.”
Samuel requested a trade out of San Francisco shortly after the 2024 season ended, and he subsequently was dealt to the Washington Commanders that March in exchange for a fifth-round 2025 NFL Draft pick (used on running back Jordan James).
Greenlaw, meanwhile, left the 49ers in NFL free agency just a few days later to join the Denver Broncos on a three-year contract.
Neither foray into new ventures ended in much success for the pair, as the Broncos released Greenlaw after just one season and the Commanders let Samuel walk. But hearing the way Greenlaw talks about the 49ers, he might look at it all as a blessing in disguise.
“Just talking to a bunch of different guys and getting their experience at different places, and then for myself, just the coaches, the people in the [49ers] building, the players, the leadership that we got on this team, just that warm feeling that you get — that it’s just time for battle, and that’s the only thing that matters,” Greenlaw continued. “And this place is just about football, and I mean, if you’re a football player, you love that.
“And just to have the the right group of guys around you that wants the same thing and that got that same motivation, man. It’s just an unbelievable feeling, unbelievable place, and I know that’s what [Samuel] wants, too. I know Deebo’s a football player as well, and sometimes you’ve got to go and see what’s out there, but once you go, you realize, hey, it ain’t nothing like San Fran.”
Greenlaw returned to the 49ers on a one-year contract worth a reported $7.5 million back in March, and Samuel officially inked his one-year deal putting him back in the Red and Gold on Saturday. In Samuel’s first practice back later in the day, he looked right at home and brought his familiar energy into the fold.
“He’s the juice of the offense,” Greenlaw said of Samuel’s return. “He’s the thing that keep that the offense going, you know, when they need a spark. So just knowing that he’s going to be back on our side, man, it just gives you all the confidence in the world that you know that we can get this done this year. And yeah, I mean, I’m excited for him.”
Together on the 49ers, Greenlaw and Samuel have played on the game’s biggest stage. And now that they’re back in the Bay, it’s clear their Super Bowl aspirations are more present than ever.