San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel will play during Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Detroit Lions. He wasn't always confident that would be the case, especially as he watched from the sideline during last weekend's playoff matchup against the Green Bay Packers, dealing with shoulder pain that prevented him from returning to the game.
"At the time, it was hurting really bad," Samuel told reporters after Friday's practice, moments after head coach Kyle Shanahan announced that the receiver was full-go for Sunday. "I was kind of scared a little bit. I thought I had fractured again, and I was just all over the place. In a big game like that, I had millions of emotions on the sideline, trying to kind of hold them together for my team."
The 49ers struggled without Samuel on the field, but thanks to some late-game heroics by quarterback Brock Purdy, they ended up with a 24-21 victory, ensuring their season continued.
"Just to see them get the dub and stuff, I mean, that was kind of a relief as well, just to know I have an extra week just to figure out what was going on," Samuel shared. "And we went and got an MRI, and everything showed up negative. It was just a deep bruise.
"It was kind of painful at the time, but as the week went on, them (the training staff) doing a good job, getting all the pain away, getting all my motion and strength back, and I feel like they did an outstanding job."
Samuel had suffered a shoulder injury earlier in the season against the Cleveland Browns. However, at that time, a hairline fracture forced him out of the game and prevented him from playing in the two subsequent contests. There was concern that he might have sustained a similar injury against the Packers.
"Right when I figured out it wasn't the same thing as the Browns game, it was kind of a relief because I know it wasn't a fracture," Samuel said. "It was just like a deep bruise or whatever. But I'm talking about timeless hours in here, day in and day out, just to get where we at right now."
With how physically Samuel plays in games, the receiver was asked if there might be a need to protect himself on Sunday against the Lions.
"I ain't protecting nothing," he responded.
