Former quarterback Steve Young played with both Rice and Owens. However, as an ESPN analyst, he's been amazed by a current 49ers wideout—Deebo Samuel.
Calling Samuel a wideout doesn't give him enough credit. He does a little bit of everything on offense. He can threaten opposing defenses lined up as a receiver or in the backfield as a tailback. That versatility prompted Samuel to coin a new term for his position—wide back.
Young didn't want to rank Rice, Owens, and Samuel. Still, during his weekly KNBR interview, the former quarterback was asked to discuss the similarities and differences between Samuel and the others.
"How many times have you seen Jerry go to the ground when catching the ball?" Young asked KNBR's Tom Tolbert and Adam Copeland. "Like, super rare. That guy, his body could somehow reach down to grab balls, and he would stay up, and he was always on the move. Jerry Rice diving for a ball? He didn't dive. He would just stretch out and grab it, and keep running. It was the most amazing thing.
"And Jerry had the ability to make people miss. And he had really deceptive speed and an ability to stop and start, so people had a tough time taking him down.
"Deebo has many of the same qualities, but if you ever meet Deebo, he has the body, the torso of—I'm going to overstate it—but an offensive lineman. It is thick! Like, he's thick and strong.
"So what happens with corners and safeties, he catches the ball, and their brains are trying to tackle a wide receiver, but their body can't handle the size of Deebo, and he just runs through it. He runs through the tackles. And then he has the speed. So that's what makes Deebo so amazing is he has the size and speed."
The Rams' All-Pro cornerback, Jalen Ramsey, tried to bring Samuel down during his long catch and run into the end zone on Monday night and was embarrassed by the 49ers wide receiver. Instead, Samuel did precisely what Young described. He ran through the tackle as if Ramsey was a mere annoyance on his way to a touchdown.
"And Terrell had that as well," Young continued. "Terrell was a wrecking ball, right? He would just run you over and had amazing speed. So you're talking about three of the greatest kind of receivers. I know we're not going to rank them, but I just think they're all different body types, but Deebo, he's got a thickness that those other two guys don't have in that way. When they go to wrap them up, they've got to do one-and-a-half times around him because he's that strong."
Young was at Levi's Stadium on Monday night covering the game for ESPN. Before kickoff, he was on the field talking to players and coaches, including Samuel. The two have met numerous times before, but the quarterback-turned-analyst has first-hand experience of what it is like seeing Samuel close up.
Young said, "You meet Deebo, and you're going to go, 'I don't want to tackle him. No way. I don't want to tackle him.' You don't know it until you walk up next to him."
Is anyone in the NFL doing what Samuel can do on the football field? Yes, the league has speedsters. Yes, the league has bruisers. However, Young couldn't think of anyone who was both. At least, not at Samuel's level.
"There's nobody who can line up out wide, line up in the slot, and line up in the I, and [be] a threat," Young said. "That's a completely unique human being."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Young below.