San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel will be playing against the Detroit Lions in the NFC Championship Game in spite of a shoulder injury, and he doesn’t plan on being careful.

When asked how he would protect his left shoulder this Sunday, Samuel bristled.

“I ain’t protecting nothing,” Samuel said Friday, via David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone.

Samuel suffered the shoulder injury during the 49ers’ Divisional Round win over the Green Bay Packers last weekend. He logged two catches for 24 yards before exiting.

He also injured the same shoulder earlier in the season when he suffered a hairline fracture against the Cleveland Browns back in Week 6. That caused him to miss two games.

The good news is that this time, X-rays were negative, and Samuel only has a deep bruise.

“At the time, it was hurting really bad,” Samuel said. “I was kind of scared a little bit. I thought I had fractured it again, and I was just all over the place. In a big game like that, I had millions of emotions on the sideline, trying to kind of hold them together for my team.”

The 28-year-old wide out was a full participant in Friday’s practice.

“It was kind of painful at the time, but as the week went on, [the training staff] did a good job, getting all the pain away, getting all my motion and strength back, and I feel like they did an outstanding job,” Samuel said.

In 15 games this season, Samuel caught 60 passes for 892 yards and seven touchdowns. He also rushed for 225 yards and five scores.

Samuel, who played his collegiate football at the University of South Carolina, was selected by San Francisco in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

His best season thus far came in 2021, when he hauled in 77 receptions for 1,405 yards and six touchdowns while also rushing for 365 yards and eight scores. That earned him a Pro Bowl appearance and a First-Team All-Pro selection.

Deebo Samuel has not come close to replicating those numbers in any other season, but he remains a vital component of the Niners’ offense, and his mere presence on the field should pay dividends for the club against the Lions.

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