49ers receiver Deebo Samuel has seen his production drop in 2024, averaging a career-low 43.8 receiving yards per game.
But from a big-picture perspective, head coach Kyle Shanahan said during his Wednesday press conference that Samuel is still plenty capable of making plays.
“I don’t think Deebo’s slowed down,” Shanahan said. “I think he got banged up earlier in the year. I thought he had an awesome training camp to where I’d say he didn’t slow down at all. We were real excited going into the year and I want to say it was Week 2 he got hurt in. I think Week 2 versus Minnesota, he had over 100 yards and then we didn’t get him versus the Rams. I don’t know if he missed two games or one, but it set him back for a few weeks and then when he came back he had pneumonia, he had a rib thing. I think that set him off for like a month where he couldn’t practice as much. When you build up a bunch in camp and then you miss a lot of time in practice it is hard to maintain that stuff.
“But by no means do I think he’s lost it or anything. Then his looks haven’t been quite as good this year, just like for everybody. When the 10 guys around you aren’t doing quite as good, whether it’s him, whether it’s the quarterback, whether it’s O-Line, you’re not going to do as good as you did the year before.”
Samuel has caught 43 passes for 569 yards with one touchdown this season while also taking 34 carries for 95 yards with a TD. We’ll see if Samuel can up his production through the last three weeks of the season.
