Deebo Samuel‘s return from a fractured foot will be on hold. The 49ers are placing their No. 1 wide receiver on IR, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
The second-year wideout, who underwent surgery after a Jones fracture in June, will miss at least the season’s first three games. The 49ers had held out hope he could play this week. Instead, they will be without him until Week 4.
Samuel came off the 49ers’ NFI list last week, providing optimism for his early-season availability. So this is a bit of a setback on that front. Samuel suffered the injury in mid-June, and with a roughly three-month recovery timetable — at minimum — the possibility always existed he would miss time to start the season.
The 49ers would likely not have made this move a year ago, but with the COVID-19 pandemic prompting the league to adjust its IR rule, they can have Samuel back by Week 4. Under the 2019 rule, Samuel would have needed to miss at least eight games if placed on IR. Teams can also return an unlimited number of players from IR this season.
This continues the 49ers’ unstable year at wide receiver. They lost Emmanuel Sanders in free agency and placed Jalen Hurd on IR. The 2019 third-round pick is set to miss a full season for a second straight year. Brandon Aiyuk is questionable for Sunday with a hamstring injury. The team signed several veteran wideouts during training camp but is not carrying any of them on its active roster. San Francisco’s healthy wideout contingent consists of Kendrick Bourne, Trent Taylor, Dante Pettis and Richie James. Taylor missed all of last season with a foot injury.
Samuel resides as San Francisco’s top non-George Kittle option in the passing game. The South Carolina product showed tremendous run-after-catch chops as a rookie and contributed in the run game frequently. The 49ers’ schedule, however, does not look particularly difficult to start out. They will be without Samuel for games against the Cardinals, Jets and Giants.
Doesn’t matter. They only need Kittle and some bits.