Despite some out-of-context videos you might have seen on social media, Deebo Samuel can still fly.
"Somewhere along the way, I'd forgotten until [he was] out here how fast he is," Commanders coach Dan Quinn said of Samuel, via the team's official website.
Samuel has admitted that he needed to lose a few pounds this offseason, but that didn't detract from Quinn's realization that the Commanders now employ a speedy weapon.
"I can remember one time he just ran by somebody down the field on a deep ball, and I was like, 'Yeah, I forgot about that,' " Quinn said with a laugh. "So, it didn't surprise me, but it was maybe [that] I missed talking about it to that space because I was easily reminded, he's one of the fastest players on the team."
Washington acquired Samuel in an offseason trade with the 49ers, adding the playmaker coming off a down season and on the last year of his big-money contract. The Commanders are taking a leap that Samuel can return to his multi-threat ways after last year's issues in San Francisco.
Quinn, having had to face Samuel during his years as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator, understands how difficult the receiver can be to deal with when he's clicking.
"He was such a difficult person to tackle that you spent so much time, 'How are you going to tackle this person?' " Quinn said. "And so, sometimes when you're playing against the receiver, you say, 'Man, you better either get him at the line or you better be on top of him.' With him, so many times there were so many runs after catch plays that we had a tackling plan, and how would you go about it?"
Assuming the contract situation with Terry McLaurin sorts itself out, Samuel brings a proven No. 2 opposite the incumbent star. Training camp will bring greater insight into how Kliff Kingsbury uses Samuel and whether he's mostly a WR-screen player, someone who is targeted over the middle, or whether the Commanders will deploy the wideout out of the backfield -- given that they didn't significantly add to the running back room this offseason.
