San Francisco 49ers Wide Receiver Deebo Samuel Suffers Broken Foot In Workout

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has been leading a training session with some of his teammates in Tennessee this week. The backdrop here is a COVID-19 pandemic that has forced players to get creative without team-mandated offseason activities taking place.

Unfortunately for the defending NFC champions, said workout sessions could end up being very costly. According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, rising sophomore receiver Deebo Samuel suffered a broken foot on Tuesday.

While Samuel’s injury is being labeled as a Jones fracture and reports indicate he’ll be back early in the 2020 season, this is not great news. It’s the same injury fellow 49ers wide receiver Trent Taylor suffered last offseason. After multiple setbacks, Taylor ended up missing the entire 2019 season. That’s obviously the worst-case scenario for Samuel and his 49ers.

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A second-round pick last year, Samuel showed out big time as a rookie. He caught 57 passes for 802 yards while hauling in north of 70% of his targets. The South Carolina product added three touchdowns on the ground and proved himself to be among the most-electric young skill-position players in the NFL as a rookie.

For San Francisco, this latest news will likely force the team to hit a watered-down free-agent market ahead of the start of training camp late next month.

The 49ers selected Brandon Aiyuk with the second of their two first-round picks back in April. They have Kendrick Bourne returning after a solid 2019 campaign. After that, everything is up in the air at wide receiver.

Among the top available free agents, the expectation is that San Francisco will look into the possibility of adding former Pro Bowl receiver Dez Bryant. He wants to return to the NFL after sitting out the past two seasons. Demaryius Thomas and Josh Gordon are two other big-name options.

All said, this is horrible news for the 49ers as they look to defend their NFC title this coming season.