Heading into the 2023 NFL season, very few doubted that at least on paper, the San Francisco 49ers had the best roster in the NFL. The NFL All-Pro teams, announced early last week, proved just that. The Niners had four 1st-team All-Pros, tied for the most in the league in the league with the Kansas City Chiefs, who will be heading to Baltimore to play the Ravens in the AFC Championship Game. But as we all know, games aren't played on paper. And as talented as the 49ers clearly are, very few teams in the league entered the season with as many justified injury concerns as San Francisco did.

On Saturday night, the Kyle Shanahan coached Niners exorcised some demons, coming back from a 5+ point deficit in the 4th quarter for the first time in Shanahan's career. However, in the 24-21 over the Green Bay Packers, the 49ers suffered a blow in the form of a potentially serious injury to the shoulder of Swiss Army Knife wide receiver Deebo Samuel. Now, just two days removed from the game, Shanahan provided an update on Deebo Samuel's injury and his status heading into the NFC Championship Game versus the Detroit Lions.

“Deebo Samuel (shoulder) doesn’t have a fracture,” according to Shanahan, per a tweet from Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. “Will know later in week if he has a chance to play in NFC Championship Game.” 

This update on Deebo Samuel came after ESPN's Adam Schefter had claimed that the 49ers star wide receiver had a 50/50 shot of playing against Detroit, with a Super Bowl berth on the line. For the season, Samuel was 4th on the team in receptions (60), 3rd in receiving yards (892), and trailed only Christian McCaffrey in total touchdowns (12).