SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco 49ers are reshuffling at wide receiver after Deebo Samuel went down with a hamstring injury against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 5. Samuel, 30, was looking to hit the edge before pulling up on a non-contact play and fumbling, and he will now miss a few weeks as San Francisco navigates a mounting injury list at the position.
"Well, yeah, with Deebo out, we have five guys on the roster and Deebo being out, that would be four," head coach Kyle Shanahan said about his receivers. "So the next guys up to get activated would be one of the three guys on practice squad. Because also in that game Jake went down with an ankle. He ended up being all right, but the numbers got low real quick. That's why we always like to get five up for game day. We've got four guys on our roster, so we'll most likely decide on one of those guys throughout the week."
San Francisco has three receivers on its practice squad in Wesley Grimes, Will Pauling and Xavier Smith, and Shanahan said the team does not plan to seek outside reinforcements for now. "I think we have enough," Shanahan added. "We've got three guys on practice squad also who can help. Anytime you lose this number of guys, four guys or five guys whatever it is, it's a huge challenge. But, we do have guys in this building who can do it and we'll always look."
The depth crunch follows injuries to Ricky Pearsall, De'Zhaun Stribling, Christian Kirk, Demarcus Robinson, Samuel and Khadarel Hodge for varying periods. Against Seattle, the 49ers trotted out Brandin Cooks for the first time while Jacob Cowing played a heavy number of snaps behind Mike Evans and Jordan Watkins logged 22 snaps. Those three currently sit as the top depth behind Evans, who is still recovering from a painful rib injury but delivered seven catches for 113 yards and a touchdown on Sunday.
San Francisco typically carries five or six receivers with one potentially inactive on game day, but the team does not currently have five healthy bodies on its 53-man roster. The 49ers face the Washington Commanders and Atlanta Falcons over the next two weeks before their bye with a chance to start 7-0 as the league's best team, though production from the position has been limited in recent weeks. The injury came in the same Week 5 matchup as 49ers Youth Defense Shines in 32-29 Win Over Seahawks.