The San Francisco 49ers hope Deebo Samuel can practice on Friday. The team's playmaking wide receiver—and sometimes running back—hasn't practiced yet this week. However, reporters have seen him on a side field getting in a reasonable amount of work, possibly ramping up for a return after missing Week 13 due to a groin strain.
Samuel has a team-leading 1,006 receiving yards and five touchdowns on 56 receptions. The wideout also has 181 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns in his last three game appearances, showing that he can do whatever is asked of him.
"You're always going to miss Deebo," general manager John Lynch said Friday morning on KNBR's Murph & Mac show. "Deebo's a playmaker. He's a rare playmaker. He can do affect the game in so many different ways. And I also just think there's a confidence that comes with having him on your side. I think he provides fits for the opposing defenses, so it's a big deal when you're missing him, and we did miss him."
While the 49ers initially estimated Samuel's recover time to be one to two weeks, the wideout told CBS Sports HQ last week that he only expected to miss one game—this past weekend's matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. Where do things stand now?
"As for this week, he's done a lot to the side, and we've been encouraged with that," Lynch continued. "I guess that's the good news. The bad news—or not bad news—is that he hasn't practiced. Friday's aren't a whole lot of practice. We get on a plane today. We've got to go kind of evaluate him today, and then it may not stop there.
"I mean, Deebo's a guy that you wait for, and it's a really tough deal. You don't want to put him in there and lose him for the rest of the year by doing it too early. So, we have some markers that our medical staff set early in the week, and if he can hit those, we'll play him. And Deebo will always affect the game when he's there. So, it's kind of wait-and-see."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.
