South Carolina football fans loved watching Deebo Samuel play when he was making plays while wearing garnet and black. Now that he is dominating at the professional level as a star for the San Francisco 49ers, Gamecock fans love watching him in the NFL.
When he is healthy, Deebo is one of the best players in the entire National Football League, and though he has missed some time this year, he appears to be back to full strength.
This past weekend, Samuel put together one of the top wide receiver performances of the season. With 138 yards from scrimmage and 2 total touchdowns, Samuel made the Philadelphia Eagles pay for their pregame trash talk and helped lead his ‘9ers squad to a blowout of the top (current) 1-seed Eagles.
Deebo was honored by the NFL as the NFC Offensive Player of the Week. The week 13 showing was the best of his 2023 season so far. Despite missing three games with injury, Samuel appears destined for another Pro Bowl appearance. He has one previous Pro Bowl season (2021) and was named an All-Pro in the same year.
For his performance against the Eagles, the Reese’s Senior Bowl (a group that has many obvious connections to the NFL) also named Samuel their NFC Offensive Player of the Week. Samuel also played in the Senior Bowl after finishing his South Carolina Football career.
During his professional years (five seasons with the 49ers), Samuel has accumulated nearly 5000 yards from scrimmage as he has over 3800 career receiving yards and over 900 career rushing yards. Despite missing 17 games with injuries, his 33 scrimmage touchdowns (15 receiving, 18 rushing) are 12th in the NFL among wide receivers since he was picked in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Samuel and the San Francisco 49ers are one of three favorites to make it to the Super Bowl from the NFC along with the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. If Samuel makes it to the Big Game, it will be his second appearance in the Super Bowl.