Player Study - Deebo Samuel

What to do with a versatile player

Deebo Samuel is a 5112 214lb receiver from South Carolina, currently playing for the San Francisco 49ers. At the combine he ran a 4.48sec 40 yard dash and recorded a 39 inch vertical. Last season for San Francisco he had career highs in receiving and rushing with 1405 and 365 yards respectively. His 8 rushing touchdowns are an NFL record for a receiver and his 18.2 yards per reception led the NFL. I am sure over the years we have all had that talented athlete than can do a lot (Deebo also threw a touchdown last season) so let’s take a look at how the 49ers found ways to get him the ball and moved him around.

Passing Game

Over the 20 games of last season Deebo was targeted 139 times (approx. 7 times per game). He aligned as the outside receiver on 64.8% of targets, inside receiver on 30.2% and in the backfield 5%.

Screens (27 Targets)

Deebo had 27 (19%) of his targets on a variety of screens/jet sweeps. Using him from the backfield these plays were generally not successful. However aligning him as a receiver and throwing him fire (think jailbreak) screens was very good, these were 60% efficient and created 6 explosive plays (from 15 that were run). The best example came against Chicago on 3rd and 19 when using a fire screen resulted in a 83 yard touchdown in the 3rd quarter.

RPO (4 Targets)

Deebo was used on the backside of some 3x1 formations to run a slant as an RPO for stretch zone, he was targeted 4 times, catching 2 passes. He was not used in the RPO game outside of this as a receiver.

Outside Alignment Pass Game (70 Targets)

When aligned on the outside he had 70 targets on more traditional DBP, Quick and PAP concepts. This equates to just over half his overall targets. 21 of these targets become explosive (+16 yards) completions. When you focus on his explosives his route tree shrinks dramatically and you can see the Dig and Deep Over Routes show up repeatedly. These deep in breaking routes are typically combined with a PAP scheme and can remove underneath defenders from being able to climb and cover them initially.

Inside Alignment Pass Game (42 Targets)

When aligned inside he had 42 targets in total, with 10 being explosives. His top route was a bender (think wrapping a linebacker and finding inside space).

Run Game

Deebo had 88 rushing attempts (approx. 4.5 per game) for an average of 5.86 yards. 7 resulted in an explosive run (6 of the 7 were touchdowns).

In total they used him with 10 different run concepts:

Outside Zone (40) - Wide Path, often handed behind the QB to create depth and width, toss action under center
Inside Zone (20) - Later in the season with more toss action to force LB lateral flow
Counter (12) - With a variety of pullers
Long Trap (4) - Using a G to trap the 5/7/9 tech.
Power (4) - Traditional 2 back power
Reverse (3) - Often from a condensed Rec. position
Duo (2) - In one game given 2 carries
Power Read (1) - Used as the width player to get him on the edge
Trap (1) - Inside Trap on 3 Tech
Wham (1) - Influence outside trap on 3 Tech

Summary

I believe that going into every game the 49ers offensive staff felt confident that Deebo would have at least 6-7 touches with 4/5 rushes and several screens/jet sweeps. The 49ers averaged 65 plays per game last year, so you enter the game knowing at least 10% can go to one of your best players. Then with all the PAP and DBP/Quick pass game you could get the ball more into his hands. But having ‘Deebo’ plays to guarantee touches is so important.

In the first half of the season Deebo was used to run the ball substantially less than in the second half of the season. In the first 8 games he had 6 total carries (San Fran was 3-5 through these 8), in the last 8 regular season games (he was inactive vs Seattle in week 12) he had 53 carries (San Fran was 7-1 through these 8). His number of pass targets did drop initially but as the season ended they were climbing back up. It did take a while to find how to use him effectively in their offense but it’s a big part of why San Francisco came along so strongly at the end of the year.

If you have enjoyed this article and would like more content then please consider a paid subscription. It helps me bring you more content each week and gets you access to the full Friday research article every week. For this article paid subscribers get video content in addition. Thanks for reading, Rich