Deebo Samuel made his presence felt early on in the 49ers' 21-20 preseason win over the Denver Broncos on Saturday night at Levi's Stadium.
The veteran receiver hauled in two receptions from starting quarterback Brock Purdy for 39 total yards, showing off his impressive short-area burst and game-breaking physicality in his limited first-quarter snaps.
In speaking to reporters after the game, Purdy was asked if he has seen a more-explosive Samuel throughout training camp and the preseason after the star receiver was critical of his underwhelming 2022 season.
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"Yeah, I think Deebo obviously has taken last year's film and everything and has been real with himself and you've seen a different mindset with him all throughout camp," Purdy said. "Every single rep, even if he's not getting the ball he's running extremely hard and doing his part for the team and so today I feel like you saw a little glimpse of hey he's going to do his job, when he gets the ball he's going to be Deebo, but even when he doesn't he's still going to be where he needs to be and be there for the team and set the standard.
"Deebo's done a great job with that and we're real excited about what he's going to do."
In June, Samuel said his performance last year was "awful" in every aspect and admitted he appeared sluggish and was "behind the eight ball" after not participating in the team's offseason program due to his contract holdout.
San Francisco 49ers
Samuel vowed to return to his All-Pro form in 2023 and appears to have already made strides in the eyes of his teammates.
In an explosive 49ers offense that already features star running back Christian McCaffrey, fellow star receiver Brandon Aiyuk and tight end George Kittle, a new-and-improved Samuel certainly would take San Francisco's already-scary offense to new heights.