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49ers WR Deebo Samuel is Questionable for Sunday with a Rib Injury

Look for Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall to catch more passes than usual.

Grant Cohn

Oct 27, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr (1) carries the ball against Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs (7) and safety Donovan Wilson (6) during the third quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
Oct 27, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr (1) carries the ball against Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs (7) and safety Donovan Wilson (6) during the third quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images / Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
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Even coming off a bye week, the 49ers are extremely banged up.

Christian McCaffrey is set to make his season debut, but Nick Bosa is questionable with a hip injury and Deebo Samuel is questionable with a rib/oblique injury. Samuel was limited in practice all week and wore a blue non-contact jersey as well, so he hasn't taken a hit in two weeks.

That could mean that he's fresh and ready to return from a painful injury. Or it could mean that one big hit to his ribs could take him out of the game. If he couldn't handle contact in practice this week, is he really ready for the live bullets of an actual game?

To be fair, Samuel is extremely tough plus he's a veteran. He doesn't necessarily need a full week of practice to get himself ready to play in a game. Having a limited and compromised Samuel on the field this weekend would be better than having no Samuel at all.

But rib/oblique injuries can get worse. And if he reaggravates his injury at some point during the game, the 49ers must be prepared to play without him. Because there's no guarantee he'll make it through the game if he plays in it.

Look for the 49ers to use Samuel as a bit of a decoy on Sunday. Because even when he doesn't get the ball, he draws so much attention from the opposing defense.

In addition, look for Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall to catch more passes than usual.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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