San Francisco 49ers star wide receiver Deebo Samuel’s status for the NFC Championship remains up in the air, as he deals with a shoulder injury. Samuel suffered the injury during the team’s 24-21 divisional-round win over the Green Bay Packers on Saturday. He was originally ruled questionable to return and was eventually downgraded to out.
Samuel doesn’t have a fracture in his shoulder, and his status for Sunday’s NFC title game will be determined later in the week, head coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday.
“It wasn’t broken, so that was a really good sign,” Shanahan said. “It’s still hurting too much for us to have any idea on how it’s going to heal up this week. We have to be patient, see how he feels on Wednesday and based on his improvement it will give us a better idea whether he has a chance for the game or not.”
Samuel went down during the second drive and went into the locker room for evaluation. After halftime, he was out of his uniform and was officially out for the remainder of the game.
The wide receiver already missed games this season due to a hairline fracture to the same shoulder. Head coach Kyle Shanahan noted that Saturday’s injury was similar to the one he suffered earlier this year.
Samuel was evaluated for a head injury after a hit on the Niners’ first drive and was cleared to return. Before he was sidelined, Samuel had two catches for 24 yards.
This season, the 28-year-old had 60 catches for 892 yards in 15 games.
