Before the 2019 season, the 49ers had big hopes for wide receiver Trent Taylor.
Taylor looked destined to win a starting role in the slot after an outstanding offseason program, and some coaches believed he could be a Pro Bowl candidate.
Instead, he never played a regular-season game.
A foot injury and surgery early in training camp, plus later complications, erased Taylor from the team’s 2019 game plan.
Now, the Niners hope the same fate can be avoided for Deebo Samuel. Samuel, coming off an outstanding rookie season in which he caught 57 passes for 802 yards, has suffered the same injury as Taylor in offseason workouts and has had surgery on his left foot.
Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported Thursday that Samuel suffered a broken left foot – called a Jones fracture – during a passing drill for players held in Nashville, Tenn.
It’s a potential blow to a 49ers offense that figured to make Samuel a big piece of its passing attack in 2020.
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Wrote Rapoport: “(He) became their go-to WR late in the season and playoffs, was primed for a huge 2020.” Rapoport noted that Samuel is expected to be out 12-16 weeks but has “plenty of time to make an impact, assuming a full recovery.”
Samuel posted on his Instagram account he hopes to be playing in 10 weeks.
“I’m coming back harder than ever,” he wrote.
