Deebo Samuel Injures Ankle Against Buccaneers
The 49ers may have dodged a bullet.
Deebo Samuel left Sunday's game with an ankle injury, but initial reports indicate the injury isn't serious, which suggests he should return at some point this season.
When Samuel went down, the injury looked extremely serious, because he grabbed his left knee. Then he stayed down for a few minutes, got up, tried to walk off the field on his own but couldn't, so he dropped to the ground again and a cart wheeled him out while he covered his face with his hands. He looked like he thought the injury was serious, and so did his teammates who knelt around him quietly as he lay on the ground.
The 49ers were winning 21-0 when Samuel injured his ankle. He lined up in the backfield and received a handoff like a running back, which is normal for him -- he plays wide receiver AND running back. Plus he scored a rushing touchdown in the first quarter. But the carry that led to the ankle injury occurred near midfield while the 49ers held a three touchdown lead -- it was unnecessarily risky with very little reward. It would have been smarter to hand the ball off to Jordan Mason, the undrafted rookie running back who is heavier than 220 pounds and built to take a beating.
Kyle Shanahan has a bad habit of running non running backs between the tackles -- he did the same thing with Trey Lance, and he broke his ankle.
When will Shanahan learn?
