Brock Purdy isn’t hiding how much Deebo Samuel means to the 49ers’ offense. From Purdy’s perspective, Samuel’s return gives San Francisco a weapon who can tilt the game in more than one way, whether he’s lined up wide, working from the slot, or taking handoffs out of the backfield.
“Yeah, it’s been huge. Obviously, what Deebo can do is awesome. He can run routes on the outside, in the slot, come back in the backfield run routes, can run the ball from the backfield," Purdy told reporters in preseason.
Purdy went on to point out that Samuel’s presence has already mattered in the run game, especially with San Francisco’s current numbers at running back. He also said the time back in the system has been useful for Samuel himself, giving him a chance to get reps, read run concepts, bounce gaps and make cuts.
"So, having him being able to help out with the run game right now, just with our numbers and stuff at running back has been huge. It’s good for him too, to be able to come back into the system and get those reps and have him being able to read out a run and bounce back gaps and make cuts.
"So, that’s been good for him, but also it’s been fun, like I said, having him back there to be able to run routes and have really good matchups and he’s still explosive and still the same Deebo that we know.
"He made multiple plays even, where if you get him the ball, man, he’s going to break tackles. If we’re live, I was like, ‘hey, that’s a broken tackle, that’s a touchdown,’ or whatever. He’s a playmaker, so glad to have our guy back.”
That kind of praise fits the mood around the locker room, where Samuel’s return clearly brings comfort and familiarity. He came back in the middle of training camp on a team-friendly one-year, $7 million deal after spending one season with the Washington Commanders, so the move itself was hardly a shock.
The bigger question is what Samuel looks like now, not what he was in his peak years in San Francisco. His lone truly elite season came in 2021, and the 49ers are being asked to trust that the version of Samuel arriving in 2026 still has enough juice to matter.
There’s also a broader roster picture attached to his return. With Samuel back in the fold, the 49ers now have the oldest average-aged roster in the league. He is obviously a lock for the 53-man roster, but at 30, there’s at least some risk that expectations could outrun what he’s able to deliver.
San Francisco has leaned harder into short-term roster building, stacking veterans and older players while accepting that decline eventually comes for everyone. The fact that Purdy’s main targets are all over 30 this season says plenty about where the team is headed.
Still, the cleanest way to judge Samuel is by comparing what he brings now to his 2022 or 2023 production, not to the outlier year he posted in 2021. That season was the peak of the peak. The real question is whether the 49ers are getting enough of the Samuel they’ve already seen since then.
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