Last season, the San Francisco 49ers were close to winning the NFC Conference title without a QB. Though their journey was a spectacular and entertaining one, many believed there was a lot of scope for improvement, One such person is the 49ers’ own wide receiver, Deebo Samuel, who evidently is not very happy with his performance from last season.
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Deebo Samuel, who signed a whopping three year $73,500,000 extension in 2022, had a rather dull season last time around. Playing 13 games, he only had 56 receptions to his name, out of the 94 times he was targeted. He also could only manage 11.3 yards on average, a career-low stat. He also only managed to score 2 touchdowns, his second-lowest in his career. No wonder why he feels he could have done a better job.
Deebo Samuel promises to be better this season
Speaking to reporters at the 49ers’ minicamp on Tuesday, Samuel talked about how he felt his performance was “awful” last season. He even said that his contract negotiations, which prevented him from coming to camp last year, were a distraction that could have been avoided. To him, the standoff during contract negotiations spilled onto the field. Which resulted in his poor performance.
“We talked about it, we put it behind us, and [were] just going through the tape and just look how sluggish and how bad it looked on tape,” Samuel said about watching his tape with coach Kyle Shanahan. “Like I said, what happened last offseason kind of played a big role in that. I never will put nothing like that back on tape again.”
Samuel was picked #36 overall by the 49ers back during the 2019 NFL Draft. Since then, Samuel has been slowly but firmly establishing himself as a good prospect. His 2021 season led to the 49ers holding on to him, even as many other teams attempted to court him. He now says that he is “more than read” to give his best from day 1 itself.
The 49ers will be hoping for some good luck this year
The 49ers may have managed to reach the conference championship game last year. Though, it came at a very heavy cost. They lost Trey Lance to injury even before the season started. Jimmy Garropolo fell soon after, and the hopes of the entire fanbase then fell on the shoulders of rookie QB Brock Purdy. In his defense, he impressed everyone with his performance.
Sadly for the 49ers, Purdy was also injured during the championship game, which forced them to use running backs as QBs. However, with the departure of Jimmy-G, the fight for the QB1 spot will be heated. Lance will be hoping to prove that the injury period has not diminished his skills. While Purdy will be trying to prove that he is the future and that he deserves the opportunity to start.
No matter which one of these youngsters ends up leading the offense, the 49ers should be able to put up a good fight this season. With veterans such as Christian McCaffrey and Nick Bosa boosting the roster, the 49ers are easily one of the favorites to make it to the playoffs. Though, they will be hoping that none of their QBs fall victim to the injury plague again. Will they be lucky this year?
