How Deebo Samuel has Improved Without the Ball

Kyle Shanahan recently introduced a new way to judge offensive skill players.

SANTA CLARA -- Deebo Samuel is one of the best players in the NFL and he's still getting better.

Everyone knows Deebo Samuel is deadly with the ball in his hands because he's one of the most difficult players in the NFL to tackle. His effort as a ball carrier is unmatched.

But recently, Kyle Shanahan introduced a new way to judge offensive skill players when he said Christian McCaffrey is the best player without the ball in his hands that Shanahan ever has coached. That means McCaffrey carries out every fake and runs every route 100 percent whether he's getting the ball or not.

On Wednesday, I asked Shanahan how good Samuel is without the ball.

"I think he's getting there," Shanahan said. "I'm not giving him the best ever. First of all, to be that good without the ball everyone's got to be concerned with you. People are concerned with Deebo all the time. That's why we're constantly stressing to him the importance of doing stuff on the backside because people will watch him hard. I think Deebo has struggled with it when he has been banged up. Anytime you can't practice and stuff, it's hard to do that play in and play out. That's why I love when he can string together some weeks, stay healthy, be able to continue practicing, which he's done here for about a month and now he's a big effect without the ball." 

TRANSLATION: Samuel has a tendency to jog through his routes when he thinks he won't get the ball, but he's done less of that the past few games, which is a big reason the 49ers offense has been so difficult to defend.

Good to see Deebo pay attention to the little things.