Deebo Samuel

Williams disagrees with Deebo's harsh self evaluation

Deebo Samuel might have looked at his 2022 season with the 49ers harshly, but teammate Trent Williams didn’t see a drop-off in the receiver’s game.

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SANTA CLARA — Deebo Samuel might have looked at his 2022 season with the 49ers harshly, but teammate Trent Williams didn’t see a drop-off in the receiver’s game.

“Honestly, I didn’t,” Williams said on Wednesday. “I thought he was Deebo. You know, everybody is their worst critic. He’s better. I know he’s hard on himself but I thought he was a playmaker for us.”

Williams and Samuel are close, often working out together during the offseason while leading the team from the locker room to the field with their Bumpboxx prior to kickoff. The All-Pro left tackle did not notice a difference in his teammate during the 2022 season at all.

The stats following Samuel’s standout 2021 season, however, tell a different story. After racking up more than 1,400 yards receiving and leading the league with an 18.2 yards-per-reception average, the “wide-back” battled nagging injuries throughout the 2022 season.

Samuel only was on the field for 13 regular season matchups, recording 632 receiving yards with only an 11.3 yards-per-reception average. The 27-year pointed to his contract extension saga as being a distraction that allowed his offseason workout program to go astray.

Now, after vowing never to have another "sluggish" moment on the field, Samuel is approaching practice with a new attitude and Williams has noticed.

“He’s definitely been grinding,” Williams said. “I think with all great players, every offseason you figure out, even if it’s one percent, you figure out how to do things a little better. Whether it’s starting fast or starting later, you figure out ways to get your body healthy.

“Everybody has their own different recipe. I just look at it as another part of his maturation.”

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Samuel already looks like he is having more fun at practice. The South Carolina product did not participate in team drills but did have reps with each of the three healthy quarterbacks on the roster — Trey Lance, Sam Darnold and Brandon Allen.


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