You’re right- they’re completely different. But to say that he isn’t replacing him isn’t correct imo. I think he’s going to be top 2 in WR snaps unless we trade up for Thomas or Mitchell. I think both of those guys would take Gabes spot and take 70-80% of his snaps. Many of gabes snaps were due to his blocking ability and had little to do with the routes being run.
Samuel eats in the intermediate routes. 10-25 yards, he’s a separation machine imo. There’s a chance he’ll be running a lot of the routes gabe ran as I think he’s better equipped to take on the outside role than shakir is. Both Shakir and Samuel will have pretty heavy roles in offense imo. With Kincaid and Knox also in the mix for snaps, whichever rookie WR we draft will have to beat out solid vets for snaps. Dunno if the Franklin, Leggette, pearsall types would run away with all of gabes snaps. Thomas or Mitchell, maybe.
I think samuel is an upgrade over Gabe more than he’s an upgrade over any other WR we lost. He’s going to get a lot of snaps. Just like Gabe. Unlike Harty. Unlike Sherfield. Shakir is still here and will be getting his share of snaps. Unlike Gabe, samuel gets open and can do so 25 yards down field. That’s why he’s an upgrade imo