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49ers receiver Samuel set to play NFC title game against Lions / Photo: © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
49ers receiver Samuel set to play NFC title game against Lions
San Francisco 49ers look set to have star wide receiver Deebo Samuel back from injury Sunday when they take on the Detroit Lions for a Super Bowl berth.
Samuel practiced for the second straight day on Friday and was no longer listed on the team injury report for the NFC Championship game.
He'd been knocked out of Saturday's divisional-round victory over the Green Bay Packers with a shoulder injury.
"It's huge," 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said Friday. "(It was) a little scary at the beginning of the week, but the fact that he was able to go full go today, no restrictions on him is definitely a good thing for us."
Described by 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy as "probably the best playmaker in this league," Samuel left in the first half of the Niners' victory over the Packers and despite the win his absence was clearly felt in the San Francisco offense.
When he missed two games this season with shoulder trouble the 49ers dropped them both.
But Samuel told reporters Friday that he was ready to go full speed, and won't be worried about protecting any injury.
"I ain't protecting nothing," Samuel said.
Samuel and Shanahan both acknowledged there were fears he'd suffered a similar injury to the hairline fracture that slowed him earlier this season, but tests this week showed otherwise.
"We were real worried right after the game because he couldn't go back in and couldn't finish that, which is always a concern," Shanahan said. ""But then get the medical reports and you know that (playing Sunday) is possible."
T. Jones--BTZ
