The 49ers are going to be without star wide receiver Deebo Samuel for a week, maybe two, and these five players have to step up in his absence.
In a way, the San Francisco 49ers are lucky their soon-to-be first-time Pro Bowl and should-be first-team All-Pro wide receiver Deebo Samuel isn’t expected to miss too much time after suffering a groin strain during the Niners’ Week 12 win at home over the Minnesota Vikings.
Sure, it’s not ideal. Especially with yet another crucial game on the table in Week 13 on the road against the Seattle Seahawks who, despite their recent struggles, will do everything in their power to sweep the season series against their NFC West rivals.
Samuel won’t be available that game and could potentially miss another week, as his groin injury is expected to take a week or two to fully heal.
And if you’ve ever suffered a groin pull, you know it’s not exactly something to play through, and it’s best to let it recover.
At any rate, San Francisco will need to account for his absence in Week 13 and potentially beyond, meaning these five players have to step up in his wake.
No. 5: 49ers Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo
True, Samuel has only caught one pass in each of the last two games from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, so it’s not as if the 49ers passing game is going to suffer drastically from the wide receiver’s absence.
Except it’s going to be altered.
Samuel, of course, has done his damage mostly on the ground as of late, rushing eight times for 79 yards and a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 11 before a six-carry, 66-yard, two-touchdown performance against Minnesota last Sunday.
Garoppolo, meanwhile, hasn’t been tasked with shouldering a heavy passing load during that stretch, attempting a combined 48 passes between the two games. With Samuel out, there’ll likely be a noticeable increase in those pass attempts per game, meaning Jimmy G will have to be on point during a stretch when he’s only tossed two interceptions against seven touchdowns the last four games.
The Niners are going to need more of that trend.
No. 4: 49ers Running Back Jeff Wilson Jr.
Rookie Elijah Mitchell is the unquestioned No. 1 running back on San Francisco’s roster, and Week 12 marked the fourth time he’s rushed for over 100 yards, setting a new franchise record for first-year players.
But Mitchell won’t be able to account for Samuel’s rushing and receiving prowess alone, as the first-year pro is already shouldering a heavy workload when healthy.
Instead, the 49ers are going to have to rely on some running back depth, particularly with fellow runners JaMycal Hasty and Trey Sermon banged up with ankle injuries.
The player they should turn to is fellow rusher Jeff Wilson Jr.
Wilson, who only recently made his return from an offseason meniscus tear, has a Samuel-like pedigree, only in the opposite standing: a running back with underrated receiving abilities. At 6-foot-0 and 194 pounds, Wilson has enjoyed dual-threat success in the past, particularly in 2020 when he had two 100-plus rushing-yard games out of three starts that year, also registering 13 receptions for 133 yards and three receiving touchdowns that year.
The Niners may be able to use Wilson in a Samuel-like deployment, lining him up as a receiver or in the backfield, epitomizing the positionless offense head coach Kyle Shanahan has tried to implement.
No. 3: 49ers Wide Receiver Jauan Jennings
Earlier this season, when thinking about who San Francisco’s No. 3 wide receiver would be, special teams ace Trent Sherfield was atop the equation. Then, veteran wideout Mohamed Sanu emerged as the top option.
In recent weeks, however, second-year receiver Jauan Jennings has taken over that role, thanks largely to Sanu’s own injury issues and the fact Jennings has started to do a lot of the little things that’ll earn him more field time, such as blocking.
Those efforts have paid off, as Jennings was one of Jimmy Garoppolo’s touchdown recipients in the win over the Vikings, and the former Tennessee standout nearly had another scoring grab, only to be ruled out of bounds after further review.
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Nevertheless, Jennings is now poised for an even greater workload with Deebo Samuel out.
Sure, Jennings isn’t likely to see anywhere close to the number of touches that would otherwise go to Samuel, particularly on the ground. Yet Jennings is going to get an increase in snap count and will likely see a noticeable uptick in targets, too, if Garoppolo and the 49ers offense is forced to rely more upon the aerial attack over the next two weeks.
No. 2: 49ers Wide Receiver Brandon Aiyuk
Just like Trent Sherfield being the talk of the wide receiver corps earlier this season, second-year pro Brandon Aiyuk was equally the talk, only for the wrong reasons.
Aiyuk, whose 2020 rookie campaign was so impressive, fell into Kyle Shanahan’s doghouse early in 2021, only to see a recent resurgence and uptick in production over the last few weeks. He had six receptions for 89 yards and a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 9, seven catches for 85 yards and a touchdown against the Jaguars two weeks later, and then finished off Week 12 with a quiet-but-important three-catch, 91-yard performance versus Minnesota.
Suddenly, Aiyuk has become the Niners’ leading receiver as of late while Deebo Samuel has been the biggest weapon.
Aiyuk, as was shown in 2020, can do a lot of the things on the ground Samuel can. And while Aiyuk might not have the physicality to bull through defenders as a runner, his ability to fight through man coverage and haul in contested passes makes for a prime beneficiary of more attention with Samuel out of the lineup.
And it wouldn’t be a shocker to see Kyle Shanahan deploy Aiyuk in some rushing formations either.
Regardless, Aiyuk needs to continue his recent surge to help San Francisco overcome Samuel’s absence.
No. 1: 49ers Tight End George Kittle
There are plenty of reasons why All-Pro tight end George Kittle isn’t having the same kind of impactful season as fans are accustomed to, at least not in the stats department.
Injuries played a role, yes. But over the course of eight games played in 2021, Kittle has just 35 receptions for 425 yards and three touchdowns, putting him on pace for his second sub-1,000-yard season in a row.
On top of that, Kittle has been relatively quiet in the yardage department the last two weeks, too, boasting just 34 receiving yards at Jacksonville before getting just one catch for 13 yards against the Vikings.
No one will take away Kittle’s importance on offense, both as a lead blocker and as a receiving decoy. But with Deebo Samuel out of the lineup, it’s highly likely opposing defenses are now going to fully hone in on Kittle as the 49ers’ No. 1 receiving threat over the next week or so. And even though Brandon Aiyuk will be a key X-factor, Kittle also has to step up and emerge as the go-to option for Jimmy Garoppolo through the air.
Particularly in those crucial red-zone situations where the Niners have the league’s best touchdown percentage of 77.4.