49ers’ long-lost pairing
Team expected to welcome back WRs Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk to the starting lineup for Monday’s game
Statistically, George Kittle remains the 49ers’ leading receiver, even though he’s missed five of the 49ers’ 11 games this season, including the past three.
That should change after Monday night’s game.
The 49ers expect wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel together in the lineup for the first time since an Oct. 25 rout of the New England Patriots.
Aiyuk came off the NFL’s COVID-19 reserve list Wednesday, along with defensive linemen D. J. Jones and Jordan Willis, all in time for the team’s flight to Phoenix.
Coach Kyle Shanahan is excited to see what that Aiyuk-Sam
uel pairing can do against another AFC East foe, the Buffalo Bills (8-3). The playoff- chasing 49ers (5- 6) will host the Bills on Monday night at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the 49ers’ makeshift home after Santa Clara County’s contact-sports ban.
“Just the more these guys can play together, the more they can get out there, they’re made of the right stuff, they’re built the right way, and they’ll only get better,” Shanahan said.
“I just want to get them going.”
Samuel’s bullish presence with the ball in his hands, when combined with Aiyuk’s gracefulness as a multi-dimensional receiver, make for the 49ers’ best offensive weapons, especially with their usually reliable run game sputtering this season amid injuries.
Kittle would be that offensive workhorse if not for injuries this season, including a knee sprain that kept him out Weeks 2 and 3 before a foot fracture sidelined him the past three games (and counting, until at least probably Week 16).
Aiyuk has missed two of the past three games on the COVID-19 reserve list, but the first-round draft pick has shown great potential with 35 receptions (56 targets) for 446 yards and three touchdowns.
Samuel opened the season on injured reserve because of a June foot fracture, then came a four-game spree in which he showed the play-making potential that helped the 49ers reach the Super Bowl his rookie season.
A hamstring injury late at New England shelved Samuel until his bruising return Sunday against the Rams (11 receptions, 133 yards). Samuel’s ability to break tackles and rack up yards after the catch fired up his teammates and set the tone against the favored Rams.
“That’s what we were hoping for when we took him,” Shanahan said. “We wanted that physicality and stuff in him. We thought we needed that, and he’s brought that a ton. And that’s why when he’s out there, no matter where he’s at, he always helps us.”
Samuel credited the 49ers’ training staff for putting him through game-like situations ahead of Sunday’s grand return, adding: “It also felt great to be out there with teammates to get the ‘ W.’”
Shanahan’s trust in Samuel is essential, as well.
“It all starts from trust, how I am with the ball and what Kyle trusts me to go out there and do that,” Samuel added.
Aiyuk has not been available to reporters since going on the COVID-19 list a second time; his initial stay was for being a close contact after Kendrick Bourne’s positive test before the Packers’ game.
When Aiyuk last spoke to the media Nov. 13, he said of the COVID-19 concerns: “It was frustrating, mostly being just the unknown. First I wanted to make sure I didn’t have the virus, and with what I had going on at home with my family. Not being able to be in the building was rough.”
After this second stint — it’s unknown if he tested positive himself — Aiyuk can rejoin his teammates for Wednesday’s trip to Arizona. He had seven catches for 75 yards and scored his fifth career touchdown in his last game, a Nov. 15 loss at New Orleans.
Samuel has missed seven games, and the 49ers don’t have enough healthy weapons to compensate for his, Aiyuk and so many other players’ absences.
“Every time Deebo gets going, we’ve had a little bit of a setback,” Shanahan said, “but you guys see how much he helps us, and how much he has every time he’s been in, and it’s a lot more fun to have him out there.”