Deebo Samuel a Full-Go Against the Rams
The 49ers won't get back all their injured players this Sunday, but they will get back their offensive MVP.
Wide receiver/gadget player Deebo Samuel was not on the 49ers injury list Friday afternoon. Meaning he's a full-go to play against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
Samuel had missed the past three games with a hamstring. The 49ers are winless since Samuel has been out.
In addition to Samuel, the 49ers could get back Raheem Mostert and Richard Sherman, who will be activated from Injured Reserve on Saturday, plus Javon Kinlaw, whom the team took off the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Friday. There's also an "outside chance" they'll have Trent Williams, who still is on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. But head coach Kyle Shanahan is not optimistic Brandon Aiyuk will be off the list in time to play.
Still, Samuel will be the 49ers' biggest returnee against the Rams, because he's the most healthy.
"He was able to practice throughout the week," Shanahan said on Friday. "But we had to do a bunch of walkthroughs these past two days. It has been good to get him out there, but no one has been able to go that much. So we're just going to have to be smart with him (in the game)."
Samuel's return will help big time -- he seems to unlock Shanahan's creativity and make life easy for the 49ers quarterbacks. But the 49ers still have six players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, and they're still underdogs.
So what gives them confidence they can beat the Rams, who are red hot?
"It's about going to work and believing in your guys," Shanahan said. "We don't sit there and say, 'What can give us confidence?' You just work and try to do the best you can and then you live with the consequences. We know we're going against a good team. We thought we were going against a good team the last time we played them. You're always going against good teams in this league. The Rams happen to be one of the better ones.
"But I thought we had really good effort today, a really good walkthrough. I'm hoping we can get lucky with some of the guys we get back, but when you play good ball and everyone is in it together and you don't turn the ball over, then you always have a chance to win. We never go into games without thinking we have one, but we try to earn that throughout the week, and there have been some challenges with that this week, but I like where our team was at today. They were ready to go and locked in. Our guys are excited to play Sunday."
