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The 49ers' 2024 NFL season has been full of disappointment a little more than halfway through the campaign.
And on a personal level for star wide receiver Deebo Samuel, it's no different.
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Samuel was asked on his "Cleats & Convos" podcast which of his six pro seasons has been the most frustrating, to which he shared a very honest response while reflecting on the present.
"This year, for sure," Samuel said after some thought. "Me, personally, I want to be my best self as much as possible. As a whole, as a group, losing games that we aren’t supposed to lose. We put our backs against the wall at times. You just look at, from top to bottom, one of the best rosters in the league, and it gets frustrating because we know what we’re capable of. We got to finish games. We got to be the Niners that everybody knows that we are.
"And it gets frustrating at times when we don’t win those games and you're like, 'Yo, why do we keep putting ourselves in these positions?' Now every game we play, you got to treat it like it's your last. We treat every game like that [already], but it's really like, 'Yo, if we don't win this game, we'll be in some trouble.' "
And trouble they are in.
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San Francisco, who has dominated the NFC West (and NFC) for years, fell to 5-5 and last place in the division following their final-second Week 11 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
Injuries to key players such as Brandon Aiyuk, Christian McCaffrey and Dre Greenlaw undeniably have impacted their season, but that's part of the game, and, as Samuel knows, is more of an opportunity for players such as himself to step up.
But this hasn't necessarily been the case for Samuel, who has struggled in recent weeks with his production. Aside from maybe two games this season, Samuel's impact hasn't been up to par with what we've seen from the dynamic playmaker in the past.
Samuel has had just 13 targets in the last two games and 20 over the last four. In Sunday's loss to Seattle, he had four catches on seven targets for 22 yards and carried the ball once for one negative yard.
The sluggish start -- and the talk surrounding it -- don't affect Samuel, though. He's confident in his ability and just focused on doing what he can to help his team turn things around.
"The naysayers are going to say whatever they want," Samuel said. "At the end of the day, I can only control the things that I can control. So I just try my best to do that and just keep it pushing."
The 49ers, The Faithful, and the rest of the NFL know how lethal Samuel can be once the ball is in his hands. There still is plenty of football to be played, but with a difficult slate of road games on the horizon for San Francisco, the team will need its star receiver to dominate the way the world knows he can.
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