The 49ers finally got some good news on the wide receiver injury front. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco reported Deebo Samuel will come off the Non-Football Injury list and be on the team’s active roster following Saturday’s final cuts. This will allow Samuel to play Week 1 vs. Arizona.
Samuel suffered a Jones fracture in his left foot during offseason workouts and didn’t participate in training camp while sitting on the NFI.
The 49ers didn’t rush Samuel back presumably because they didn’t want him to re-aggravate his foot injury. Conditioning could also be a factor since a foot injury keeps him from staying in football shape during his rehab.
Having Samuel off the NFI doesn’t necessarily guarantee he’ll play vs. the Cardinals in the season opener. He’ll just be on the active roster. If the team decides he needs another week before going at 100 percent — they can make him inactive for the first week. Keeping him on NFI would’ve forced the 49ers to sideline him for at least six weeks.
San Francisco doesn’t have a ton of proven options at receiver, so having Samuel healthy and available early in the year is an important development.