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49ers WR Deebo Samuel Returns to Practice After Injuring Calf Week 2

Grant Cohn

Sep 15, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. (1) looks on before the game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Sep 15, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. (1) looks on before the game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
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How unexpected.

Deebo Samuel returned to practice today after missing Week 3 with a calf injury he suffered at the end of the 49ers' Week 2 loss to the Vikings. When Samuel initially went down, head coach Kyle Shanahan said that Samuel would miss a couple weeks, meaning last week and this week. Now, it seems that he has a chance to return earlier than expected and play Sunday against the New England Patriots.

We'll find out later this afternoon if Samuel was a limited participant in practice or a full participant. He seemed to run full speed during the portion of practice which the media can watch, but I'd be surprised if he participated in 11-on-11 team drills on his first day back from a calf injury.

Still, even if Samuel is limited today, that doesn't mean he won't be ready to play on Sunday. I'm guessing if he feels healthy and wants to play against the Patriots, the 49ers will let him. He certainly looked healthy on the practice field.

It will be interesting to see how the 49ers use Samuel when he gets back. Because he's averaging just 4.2 yards after the catch per reception this season -- down from 8.8 each of the past two years. Plus Jauan Jennings has asserted himself as the no. 1 option in the passing game. He should continue to start over Samuel who's more of a wide back than a wide receiver.

Perhaps the 49ers will make Samuel their third-down back. In Sunday's loss to the Rams, the 49ers' third-down back was Kyle Juszczyk, who's not much of a threat anymore. Samuel would be more dangerous.

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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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