3 SF 49ers who could switch positions like Tim Tebow

No. 1: 49ers ‘Running Back’ Deebo Samuel

Just like Kyle Juszczyk, the 49ers have frequently used wide receiver Deebo Samuel as a player out of position, often featuring him on end-around runs and jet sweeps where he can put his rushing skills to good use.

Granted, he suffered a hamstring injury on one such play in Week 7 last year against the New England Patriots, but let’s not allow that to ruin our fun here.

Instead, let’s recall one of those Samuel runs from Super Bowl LIV where the South Carolina product gained 32 such yards:

It’s not just the one-off play here and there either.

Over his two-year career, interrupted by injuries in 2020, 185 of Samuel’s 1,378 total yards from scrimmage came from rushing, and he’s currently averaging a whopping 8.4 yards per attempt. Granted, that average would go down a lot if he was converted into a full-time running back.

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But considering Samuel’s 159 rush yards in 2019 actually ranked fourth best out of all Niners ball-carriers that year, it’s not too hard to see him being used in this kind of fashion.

And he’d still be able to pick up plenty of

YAC

YPC if he continues the same sort of vision, physicality and elusiveness while thriving in one of the more innovative rushing offenses in the league today.

Granted, this won’t happen. Samuel is far too valuable a receiving weapon for San Francisco, and the 49ers have shortages at the position anyway.

But if Samuel could make the switch, he’d have no issues doing so and would probably be just as successful.