Dan Quinn entered the Washington Commanders' offseason workout program with some preconceived notions about Deebo Samuel -- all of them positive -- but what stood out to him the most about his new receiver wasn't quite what he expected.
"Somewhere along the way, I'd forgotten until [he was] out here how fast he is," Quinn said.
Samuel, who the Commanders acquired in a trade with the San Francisco 49ers in March, is known for being able to line up at multiple positions on offense, acting more as a weapon than a traditional receiver. His best trait, however, is what he can do after making catches and being able to break away from defenders.
Of course, Quinn has always known that about Samuel -- he had to game plan for it as the Dallas Cowboys' defensive coordinator -- but he has a deeper appreciation for it now that he has seen that skill set in person.
"He was such a difficult person to tackle that you spent so much time, 'How are you going to tackle this person?'" Quinn said.
It's true that Samuel's size (he's listed as 6-foot and 215 pounds on the team's roster) makes him a difficult target for defenders. He's broken 78 tackles over his six-year career, and he has turned them into 3,594 total yards after contact.
But Samuel also compliments that elusiveness with an above-average speed. He ran a 4.48 at the combine back in 2019, which isn't going to top the charts for his position, but it is enough to create enough distance between him and would-be tacklers.
Quinn said that combination makes Samuel a difficult player to prepare for.
"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.'" Quinn said. "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?"
Fans got a glimpse of Samuel's skill set during mandatory minicamp, when the Commanders posted a video of him juking and running past defenders on his way to a touchdown on social media. Quinn also mentioned another play fans didn't get to see that reminded him of Samuel's speed.
"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."
Quinn is familiar with how challenging Samuel can be as an opponent. In the two games Quinn had to prepare for the wideout as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator, Samuel had a combined 171 yards on 16 touches. Needless to say, he's excited to have that talent on his roster and see what offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury can do with it.
"He's got a natural feel for things as he's figuring this offense out, but [I] couldn't be more thrilled having seen it up close and personal for those years to actually get to work with him," Kingsbury said.
