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Friday update: Samuel is officially out for Week 13. He didn’t get any practices in and will likely be questionable at best for next week, despite his confidence in returning.
Thursday PM update: Samuel sat out Thursday’s practice, as expected.
Thursday AM update: Samuel was on CBS Sports HQ and told them he was confident he would return for Week 14. (via Pro Football Talk)
“Of course,” Samuel responded. “This is only going to take a week, so we’ll be back next week.”
Wednesday update: Samuel did not practice Wednesday, which makes sense given he is expected to miss at least one week with the groin injury. Expect San Francisco’s best offensive player to keep logging DNPs this week.
Monday PM update: 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said Samuel is going to miss 1-2 weeks with his groin injury, per Eric Branch.
49ers star wideout Deebo Samuel suffered a groin injury in Week 12 that knocked him out of the game after 46 offensive snaps. Ian Rapoport reported on Monday morning that Samuel was set to undergo an MRI on Tuesday, but for now, it seems that he avoided a serious or season-ending injury.
Samuel was having yet another big showing in Week 12, despite having just one catch for 12 receiving yards, thanks in large part to his production as a rusher. Before suffering the injury, Samuel had totaled 66 rushing yards and two rushing TDs to officially break the NFL record for most rushing touchdowns by a wide receiver in the Super Bowl era.
Fantasy football implications
Deebo Samuel has been the WR2 in fantasy football this season, leading all WRs in yards per route run and yards after catch per reception (min. 20 targets). Samuel also ranks top-five in receiving yards and missed forced tackles. His absence is a huge hit to those who nabbed Samuel in the later rounds of their fantasy drafts, though teammate Brandon Aiyuk takes a jump up in rest-of-season rankings as a mid-range WR2. After starting the season in the dog house, Aiyuk has seen six or more targets in all but one of his last five games, including three performances of 80+ receiving yards.