Why the 49ers Need Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel

On Thursday, George Kittle explained in the locker room why Williams and Samuel are indispensable to the 49ers.

SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers have one of the most talented offenses in the NFL, and yet it falls apart when it doesn't have Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel.

Granted, those are two All Pros. But the 49ers still have Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, Kyle Juszczyk and George Kittle -- quite a group. And yet, in the three games when the 49ers didn't have Samuel and Williams, they scored no more than 17 points and lost all three times.

On Thursday, Kittle explained in the locker room why Williams and Samuel are indispensable to the 49ers.

KITTLE "You can see it every time our team walks out with the boombox. That energy, swagger, confidence that they bring, it elevates everyone else around them, and it just gives us confidence. When they're not out there, is it a little different, and we have to be able to win without Trent and Deebo, which we didn't. But whenever they're in the locker room, walking out to the field, in warmups, they just have this aura about them that incites being a good football player. That's the best thing they bring besides their awesome ability."

Q: How did you feel that on Sunday?

KITTLE: "Any time I'm in the huddle with Trent Williams, any time you call a run play, I'm incredibly confident because I don't think there's anybody who can go against me and Trent as a combo. And then all the stuff we can do with Deebo to where we can move him to the backfield and put Christian McCaffrey out wide -- that part of our game makes defenses have to think about so many things, and if they're thinking about a whole bunch of things, they're playing a step slower. And that's why you see all these explosive plays. Deebo and Trent just bring so much to this offense every time."