- Programming note: Catch the rest of Donte Whitner's interview with Trent Williams during "49ers Pregame Live" at 12 p.m. PT Sunday on NBC Sports Bay Area
The 49ers are an incredibly physical team, and there’s an argument to be made that nobody embodies that identity on offense more than Deebo Samuel.
Also in the running? Samuel’s fellow offensive stalwart Trent Williams, who recently sat down with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Donte Whitner and gushed about what San Francisco’s “wide back” brings to the table.
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SIGN UP HERE “Every time [Samuel] catches the ball, it’s like getting front-row seats to a heavyweight bout,” Williams told Whitner on the latest edition of “Players Only.”
“Like a George Foreman-type of just slugfest, to where you know when he touches the ball, I don’t care if he gets two yards, 20 yards or minus-two yards, whoever is that first one to the party, he’s going to make them feel it.”
Anyone who has watched Samuel run with the football knows exactly what Williams means. The All-Pro receiver barrels down defensive backs like a bowling ball -- or, in Williams’ eyes, a 200-pound boxer.
It’s unlike anything the veteran left tackle has seen before, he told Whitner.
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“To see that out of a wide receiver, in my opinion, I’ve never seen it,” Williams said. “And I’ll go as far as to say -- I tell him this all the time -- I’ve been around a long time, but when you talk about people running with the football, he’s one of the most gifted I’ve ever seen.
“The things that he can do, his acceleration, his point of contact, the way he keeps his feet driving, just how smart he is. It’s the vision, the feel -- the feel in gaps.”
No matter what the play call is, if it involves Samuel, he’s sure to put on a show.
One of his most impressive touchdowns of the 2022 NFL season was a perfect example of that explosiveness, with Samuel catching a short pass then torching the Los Angeles Rams’ defense on multiple levels en route to a 57-yard touchdown in Week 4.
And in Week 11 against the Arizona Cardinals, Samuel showed off his versatility by turning a backfield toss from Jimmy Garoppolo into a 39-yard score that had 49ers general manager John Lynch yelling from his luxury suite.
“To put a wide receiver back there and run him up in the A gap, it’s power, or run an inside zone and he’s making the right cutbacks,” Williams continued. “It’s like, where do you find that? I’ve never personally seen it before.”
Samuel is one of the 49ers’ famed "YAC Bros" and currently has the fifth-most yards after the catch in the NFL with 432, good enough for third in the NFC.
The traits Williams mentioned are what allow Samuel to pick up so much extra yardage -- and why the 49ers made it a priority to extend him this offseason.
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Williams certainly is glad they did.
“So to have a guy like that as a spark plug to the offense is like, we don’t care how we get him the ball … [If] we get him the ball, he’s going to make do,” Williams said. “If you give him space to run, he’s hell on defenses. I’ve personally never seen it done at such a high level from that position before.
“He’s a joy to have on the team.”