Deebo Samuel returns to the 49ers on a 1-year deal worth up to $7M, AP source says

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Deebo Samuel returns to the 49ers on a 1-year deal worth up to $7M, AP source says

2026-07-31 09:44 Last Updated At：09:51

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers are bringing back former All-Pro Deebo Samuel for a second stint after starting receiver Ricky Pearsall got sidelined by a knee injury.

A person familiar with the deal said Samuel agreed on Thursday to return to the 49ers on a one-year contract worth up to $7 million. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal hadn't been announced.

NFL Network first reported the agreement.

Samuel spent his first six seasons with the 49ers after being drafted in the second round in 2019, helping the team reach the Super Bowl twice and earning All-Pro honors in 2021 when he had 1,770 yards from scrimmage and 14 touchdowns.

Samuel was traded to Washington in 2025 for a fifth-round draft pick and had 72 catches for 727 yards and five TDs for the Commanders last season. He became a free agent in March and now will join the Niners to provide reinforcement with Pearsall out.

Samuel has 406 career catches for 5,519 yards and 27 touchdowns and has been one of the most dynamic players after the catch in the NFL. His average of 8.7 yards after the catch on receptions rank first among all receivers with at least 100 catches since 2019. He also has rushed for 1,218 yards and 21 TDs in 97 career games.

The move comes a day after the 49ers announced that Pearsall was sidelined with a knee injury that could require surgery. The team said Pearsall had swelling in the right knee that was related to the posterior cruciate ligament injury that forced him to miss eight games in the 2025 regular season. The Niners are concerned that the knee is still an issue after Pearsall participated in just two practices in training camp and were evaluating all options.

Pearsall has flashed when he is healthy, but has struggled to stay on the field since being drafted in the first round in 2024. He missed most of training camp as a rookie with a shoulder injury and then was shot in a robbery attempt just before the start of that season. Pearsall returned to make 31 catches for 400 yards and three TDs in 11 games.

Pearsall was slowed early last summer by a hamstring injury, but got off to a fast start with 20 catches for 327 yards in his first four games before going down with a knee injury in Week 4. He has 67 catches for 928 yards and three TDs in 20 games over two seasons.

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Hope dwindles for rescue in southwestern Japan quake as death toll climbs to 25

KUMAMOTO, Japan (AP) — Residents in southwestern Japan camped in classrooms and vehicles Thursday, stocked up on water and tried to get back to normal, two days after a powerful quake set off an explosion at a mall, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes in a disaster that killed at least 25 people.

Time was running out to find survivors, as rescuers continued to work in the Kumamoto area on Japan ’s southern main island of Kyushu, where the magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Tuesday. The number of people missing was unclear.

Of the deaths given in the latest tally, 25 have been confirmed as related to the disaster, but there were nine more deaths under investigation as likely to be connected, the Kumamoto prefectural government said. The quake left at least 86 people injured, five of them seriously, it said.

Survivors spoke about desperately pulling family members out of the wreckage. Some had suffered injuries and were rushed to the hospital.

Thousands of people spent another night at evacuation centers set up throughout the area at schools and other big spaces. Some homes were still without water or electricity, while others were simply afraid to go back.

Nearly 19,000 homes were still without electricity and more than 9,000 people were staying in the roughly 400 shelters, where power sources were being added to provide air conditioning.

Concerns were growing about illness, including from the sweltering heat. The Ministry of Environment sent out a heatstroke alert for the Kumamoto area, with temperatures rising above 33 C (91 F) Thursday.

In the town of Hikawa, one of the hardest-hit areas in Kumamoto, many residents are without water or electricity, or both, and some were staying inside their vehicles in parks, at the town hall parking lot, or outside their homes. More than 800 of the town of about 4,500 households were destroyed or damaged, officials said.

At the front entrance of the town hall, officials delivered bottled water and packaged instant rice, while the Ground Self-Defense Force service members came with a trolley to provide fresh water.

Hirokazu Sato, a nurse, whose house was destroyed, is staying in his passenger car at the town hall parking lot with his wife and three children, because he worries that his 1-year-old baby could be a nuisance to others if they take shelter at an evacuation center.

“I can't sleep sitting in the car, so sometimes I go out for a walk during the night,” Sato says. “I hope the town will provide temporary housing soon.”

Yoshiaki Nakashima, a 66-year-old resident who came with two bottles and his beloved pet dog to get water, said he is staying in a car because of his reluctance to stay at one of the three evacuation centers in the area. He also said he doesn’t want to sleep at home because aftershocks made him feel uneasy.

“It’s difficult to turn over while sleeping in a car,” he said, but added that living at a shelter is even more difficult.

Akiko Inazaki, another resident in her 30s, is living in a tent set up in the yard of her home, which has been without water and electricity since the quake. Inazaki, who also came to get water, said she will use it little by little.

“Fresh water is so valuable,” she said. Inazaki said she drank so little that she almost had a heatstroke.

Risks of heatstroke are a major concern among officials.

Yutaka Kobayashi, a doctor dispatched from central Japan's Aichi prefecture, said he was touring evacuation centers Thursday to assess the condition of evacuees, especially elderly people and those with injuries as they cope with a harsh environment.

“We have to make sure elderly people are not developing heatstrokes or dehydration,” he said in Hikawa.

While the town parking lot was nearly packed the first night, some residents have moved to three public schools where air-conditioning is running, Hikawa officials said.

A town official, Yuzuru Tamura, said they are starting to run out of emergency food supply, such as canned bread and instant rice.

The most serious damage was at the Aeon Mall shopping center in the town of Kashima, which was bustling with thousands of people when the quake struck in the late afternoon.

The company said some 3,000 customers were evacuated to a parking lot before the explosion happened in another part of the mall, where some people were still working. The mall’s second floor collapsed, trapping people.

On Thursday, seven people were confirmed to have died at the mall site among the 12 people pulled out of the wreckage, according to Kumamoto authorities.

In the Yatsushiro area, where a chimney collapsed at a Nippon Paper Industries factory, 10 people were rescued, but eight others died, and one remained missing, the Kumamoto prefectural disaster team said.

Footage provided by the Japanese government and military showed rescue workers drilling through the collapsed parts of the building in an attempt to get to anyone who may still be trapped inside.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters the central government will take a lead role in coordinating the various rescue efforts. Restoring electricity, gas and water to stricken areas, while providing a supply of fresh water is key, she said.

“The needs on the ground are constantly changing. To put to rest the people's feelings of uncertainty, we will do all that needs to be done,” she said.

Associated Press writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report.