San Francisco is 5-0 with the best point differential in football and the NFC’s only unbeaten record. The 49ers are also down to roughly four healthy wide receivers, and they just lost the most versatile one.
Deebo Samuel strained his right hamstring in Sunday’s 32-29 win at Seattle. A Monday MRI showed enough damage to cost him multiple weeks.
What Kyle Shanahan Said
Shanahan did not soften it. Samuel “got it pretty good,” he said, and “is going to miss at least a couple weeks.”
The likely math is Week 6 against Washington and Week 7 at Atlanta, with a possible return after the Week 8 bye. Shanahan called the broader receiver situation “a huge challenge,” which from him counts as alarm.
Samuel’s Second Act in San Francisco
Samuel, 30, is back with the 49ers on a one-year, $7 million deal he signed in August, a year after San Francisco traded him to Washington for a fifth-round pick. The reunion has worked.
He has 16 catches for 206 yards and three touchdowns, plus nine carries for 78 yards, and he is the team’s top kick returner. In Week 3 against Arizona he set an NFL record for most receiving yards on a single play without being credited a reception, on a lateral sequence that defies description.
That is the thing about Samuel. He is a receiver, a runner, a returner and a gadget, and replacing him means replacing four jobs rather than one.
The Room Was Already a Mess
Ricky Pearsall had season-ending knee surgery. De’Zhaun Stribling had ankle surgery and is out at least another month. Demarcus Robinson is on injured reserve. Christian Kirk is on injured reserve with a calf and is not ready to come off it.
What is left: Mike Evans, who leads the group with 24 catches for 326 yards and three touchdowns, plus Brandin Cooks, Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins.
That is a 33-year-old Evans and three players who were depth pieces in August, in an offense that just won a 32-29 shootout.
Why This Team Still Wins
The 49ers are 5-0 with a plus-61 point differential, tied with Minnesota for the league’s best record. They have gotten there without a stable receiver group all season, which is the actual argument for taking them seriously.
Shanahan has spent a decade proving he can manufacture production from whoever is available. Samuel’s absence is the kind of thing that turns a 32-29 win into a 29-27 loss, and San Francisco has enough margin to absorb one of those.
What it cannot absorb is Evans going down. There is no version of this offense that survives that.
The Unanswered Question
San Francisco has not said whether it will place Samuel on injured reserve, which would mandate a four-game absence and rule him out through the bye. No exact return date has been given.
With the November 10 trade deadline four weeks out and a 5-0 team carrying a receiver room this depleted, the 49ers are an obvious buyer. They should act like one.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.