The San Francisco 49ers suffered a disappointing blowout loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, and it seems that Niners star Deebo Samuel was disappointed enough that he was even willing to violate an NFL rule rather than speak on the game.
Deebo Samuel is a team captain, meaning he is typically one of the first players to come forward and speak to the media on behalf of the team. But that was not the case on Sunday.
After what was one of the team’s worst offensive showings of the entire season, Deebo Samuel opted not to be interviewed after the game.
When approached by the media, Samuel declined to answer any questions.
“49ers WR Deebo Samuel declined to speak with the media after the game,” Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle said in a post on X, the social media website that was formerly known as Twitter.
As Sam Neumann of Awful Announcing points out, this is a pretty clear violation of an NFL rule.
The NFL’s media policy states that “players must be available to the media after every game.” Obviously, with Samuel declining interviews, he broke that rule.
Samuel is not the first player to break this rule. Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill avoided interviews after a loss earlier this season and star Marshawn Lynch famously avoided interviews throughout his NFL career.
Given that it’s a clear violation of the NFL’s media policy, Samuel will likely face a fine from the league.
But Samuel likely knew that when he made the decision not to speak to the media.
