It could be a big 2020 campaign for 49ers’ second-year wide receiver Deebo Samuel. Retired left tackle Joe Staley told the Sacramento Bee he thinks Samuel can be the greatest receiver in the NFL. That would take some doing, but the numbers in the second half of the receiver’s rookie year show the path to that coming to fruition.
A big second year likely means Samuel goes over on most of his pre-season player props. FoxBet.com provided some over/unders for the former second-round pick, including receptions, receiving yards and rushing yards. We created one for targets as well.
Here is our pick for each:
Over or under: 84.5 targets
Pick: Over 84.5 targets
The path to Samuel going over 84.5 targets is pretty simple. He hit 81 last season despite averaging just 4.6 per game over his first seven. In his final eight contests, Samuel averaged 6.1 targets. That’s probably closer to what he’ll see on a consistent basis in 2020, especially if rookie Brandon Aiyuk takes awhile to get up to speed in the offense.