49ers’ lose Deebo Samuel to a calf strain, he’ll be out two week

When Christian McCaffrey went down, the 49ers could take solace in the fact that they had another versatile and dynamic weapon in Deebo Samuel.

For the next two games, the 49ers will be without both as Samuel reported to work with a calf strain that coach Kyle Shanahan said would likely keep him out two weeks.

That means the 49ers will face the Los Angeles Rams on the road and then host the New England Patriots without both McCaffrey and Samuel. It’s a body blow to a team that has struggled to get into the end zone in their first two games of the season.

“Injuries from the game, just one new one — Deebo ended up having a calf strain,” Shanahan said as he opened his conference call Tuesday with local writers. “He’ll probably miss a couple of weeks. That’s it.”

That’s it?

Samuel led the 49ers with eight receptions for 110 yards with a long of 28 in Sunday’s 23-17 road loss to the Minnesota Vikings. He also had two carries which lost 10 yards. He is the 49ers’ leading receiver through two games with 13 receptions for 164 yards.

With McCaffrey out with Achilles tendinitis for at least three more games and possibly more, part of the plan was to feed Samuel, both in the receiving game and the run game. For the time being, that’s not possible.

“He told me he thinks he did it on the third to last play, they had a blitz in the red zone, he caught the hot route breaking in, he says he thinks he did it on that play,” Shanahan said.

Since McCaffrey arrived in 2022, it will be the first time Shanahan has coached a game with both players sidelined.

“Always when you lose real good players it’s tough, but it happens all over the league,” Shanahan said. “It’s a huge part of this league and a huge part of this game. Gotta deal with it.”

The 49ers’ next opponent, the Los Angeles Rams, learned they have lost wide receiver Cooper Kupp with their other top wide receiver Puka Nacua already on injured reserve. The Rams have a number of other injuries to key players who won’t face the 49ers including cornerback Darious Williams, guard/center Jonah Jackson, guard/center Steve Avila, swing tackle Joe Noteboom and safety John Johnson III.

The 49ers could use a return to form for wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who missed all of training camp because of a contract dispute. Aiyuk has six catches for 71 yards through two games and has been targeted 10 times with no touchdowns.

Aiyuk told reporters afterward he felt he was at about “85 percent,” although Shanahan believed that figure had to do with play snaps more than effectiveness. He thought there were plays for Aiyuk that simply didn’t work out against the Vikings and their heavily blitzing defense.

“There were a number of times he had a real good chance to get the ball and a couple of times protectections broke down, one time someone busted a route the same way and it covered up,” Shanahan said. “He had a chance to get about four big passes and other factors happened.

“It’s a team game. There are 11 guys out there that are involved to get him the ball and he did some opportunities when he should have, but not everything went right.”

Jauan Jennings, who will step into the No. 2 receiver role behind Aiyuk, has seven receptions for 101 yards and five first downs through two games.

The 49ers have an open roster spot from placing McCaffrey on injured reserve and Shanahan said it would be determined over the next few days how best to fill it.

Other receivers who will get added work with Samuel out include Chris Conley, Ronnie Bell and Jacob Cowing. Rookie Isaac Guerendo, a rookie third-round draft pick, could pick up additional carries in back of lead back Jordan Mason as well as Patrick Taylor Jr.

Guerendo played one snap against Minnesota and got one carry and was stopped for no gain.

Safety dance

Rookie fourth-round pick Malik Mustapha got 31 snaps at safety in place of George Odum, with the switch coming not long after Odum was victimized on the Vikings’ 97-yard touchdown play from Sam Darnold to Justin Jefferson.

“Our plan was to get him in,” Shanahan said. “I don’t know if it was the third or fourth. We had planned it all week, wanted to do it in the first game, never did. It had nothing to do with that play.”

It’s also possible that Talanoa Hufanga, a 2022 All-Pro, could make his debut after rehabbing from a torn ACL last season.

“He’s looking good,” Shanahan said. “He’s had two weeks, had a real good week last week, so hopefully he can get in and play this week and have three good practices.

The six sacks

The 49ers surrendered six sacks of quarterback Brock Purdy, and while Shanahan acknowledged some protection breakdowns, he believes that number to be deceiving.

“When you see six sacks you assume it’s real tough day on the O-line, but I credit that more to the whole offense,” Shanahan said. “A few were definitely on them, not all six of them. Everyone’s got to do better, but that number six is a little unfair to them.”

Along those lines, Shanahan wasn’t going to single out left tackle Trent Williams, playing his second game on short rest after a contract holdout.

“I think Trent played decent,” Shanahan said. “There are things he’d like to have back, but I didn’t see him get tired or fatigued or anything like that. I don’t relate anything to that, it’s just about the game yesterday.”

Flummoxed by Flores

While Purdy appeared more indecisive than usual faced with Minnesota’s blitzing defense designed by coordinator Brian Flores, Shanahan said it was a system the team had prepared for all week.

“They either blitz, or they back off and play zone,” Shanahan said. “It’s one or the other. They mix it up. They did it for 17 games last year and now they’ve done it two games this year. I thought we ran the ball a lot better than a lot of teams have, made some good explosives in the pass game.

“We just struggled to keep the chains moving on third down and when you end up turning the ball over twice and have a punt blocked, that’s the difference.”