Deebo Samuel, 49ers receiver, was hospitalized with symptoms of pneumonia, but improved and could play against the Cowboys.
SANTA CLARA, California — Less than a week after being in the hospital with symptoms of pneumonia, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel is feeling much better, although his status as of Sunday night remains uncertain.
Samuel, who left a local hospital Tuesday afternoon after an illness that revealed fluid in his lungs, made it through practices Thursday and Friday and is listed as questionable for Sunday night’s game against the Dallas Cowboys. .
Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said the team has been cautious with Samuel this week as he works to regain his stamina.
“He’s gotten better every day,” Shanahan said. “We’ve been going slowly with him. We didn’t put as much pressure on him knowing what the problem is, but he’s gotten better every day and that’s why I hope he continues that way on Sunday.”
The Niners could certainly use Samuel, especially considering they will still be without two other key wide receivers. Jauan Jennings was ruled out for the second straight week with a hip injury, and Brandon Aiyuk landed on injured reserve earlier in the week with a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee.
Speaking to the media for the first time since getting sick last week, Samuel expressed that his experience was a little scary.
“It was scary because it was kind of hard to really breathe and you can’t take a deep breath,” Samuel revealed. “So in the middle of that, I was like, what’s going on? And then we found out what was going on after the game.”
Samuel began feeling unwell last Saturday night and Sunday morning, before the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. He tried to play in that game despite missing most of the warmups because he could tell something wasn’t right.
On Friday, Samuel indicated he didn’t have “energy to run or anything for a while,” and when he went to the locker room to get an IV, it didn’t help much. He tried to play against the Chiefs, but only played four snaps before his day was over.
From there, it was discovered that Samuel was having problems with fluid in his lungs, which led to him being admitted to the hospital on Sunday night.
“I have hospital anxiety,” Samuel said. “I don’t like being in the hospital, but whatever it takes to get better, I’m for it… I was there, relaxing and getting all the treatment I needed.”
Samuel remained in the hospital until Tuesday afternoon, and although he did not participate in Wednesday’s practice, he was running and doing some conditioning during the media practice.
On Thursday afternoon, Samuel returned to practice on a limited basis and then followed a similar plan for Friday’s session. Samuel said Friday that he feels “pretty good” and had a “pretty solid” week of practice, but he declined to make any proclamations about the likelihood of him playing against the Cowboys, saying only “we’ll see.”
Samuel isn’t the only key Niner with a questionable designation for Sunday. Tight end George Kittle (foot), cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (illness) and safety George Odum (knee) also are questionable.
Like Samuel, Odum and Kittle were limited in practices Thursday and Friday after sitting out Wednesday. Lenoir was a new addition to Friday’s injury report.
Elsewhere on the injury report, the Niners ruled out kicker Jake Moody (sprained right ankle) and defensive tackle Kevin Givens (groin) in addition to Jennings.
Shanahan also said the team is hopeful that safety Talanoa Hufanga, who is on injured reserve with torn ligaments in his wrist, can return this season, although that is not a sure thing.
“I know he’s trying to come back this season,” Shanahan said. “That’s his plan. That’s his hope and I know he has at least a few more weeks on injured reserve. We’ll see how he feels after that.”
