With Deebo Samuel ready to rock for the NFC Championship Game, the San Francisco 49ers may deploy him in more ways than usual.
Samuel is known for being much more than your average wide receiver, but with all the chips pushed to the center in the NFC’s title game, 49ers leader Kyle Shanahan revealed it’s possible that Samuel could return kicks for San Francisco during the game.
“49ers receiver Deebo Samuel is good to go for the NFC Championship. And he might be doing more than playing his normal position,” wrote Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “On Friday, coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters that Samuel might return kickoffs.
Before acknowledging that Samuel ‘might’ return kicks, Shanahan said of the topic, ‘I don’t know. We haven’t thought about that yet.’ Shanahan said Deebo will have no sort of limitation, and that he risks no further damage to his shoulder if he plays.
That’s a huge change in Samuel’s status, as it was truly up in the air as to whether or not he would play after he suffered a shoulder injury in the team’s 24-21 win over the Green Bay Packers on Saturday.
