A peak 49ers offense involves quarterback Trey Lance and wide receiver Deebo Samuel developing a strong enough rapport that the two playmakers can consistently hook up for explosive plays. That chemistry appears to be growing.
One anecdote from the Athletic’s Matt Barrows about Wednesday’s practice stuck out. Minnesota’s defense was having a terrific day before the 49ers’ QB found their First-Team All-Pro WR for a big gain on fourth down. Via Barrows:
That unit looked like it was about to win the day against Lance and the 49ers’ offense during a two-minute period late in the practice. The Vikings had sacked Lance — one of four in the practice — early in the sequence, which led to a fourth-and-long scenario with a little more than 30 seconds remaining. Once again, Lance was flushed from the pocket. But as he rolled to his right, he continued to search down the field and eventually saw Deebo Samuel break free in the middle.
The two connected and two plays later Lance spiked the ball to set up a would-be short field for Robbie Gould.
It’s one play in a joint practice, but any Lance-Samuel connections are at minimum noteworthy, especially on a broken play where Lance is flushed out of the pocket.
Lance’s scrambling ability has a chance to create some downfield opportunities, and Samuel’s a versatile enough receiver that he can be on the receiving end of some of those off-schedule throws. The two didn’t get to work together a ton in the offseason, but the QB believes an already good connection is getting better.
“Yeah, I mean I felt like we were always hot but no, he’s done a great job these last few days,” Lance said in his post-practice press conference. “Just again, the more reps we get together, the more stuff we get to watch together the better we’re going to be.”
Samuel returned to practice after missing the first week because of contract negotiations. Since then every rep he can get with Lance is valuable. It may have taken a little time and there may be some hiccups here and there as their chemistry builds, but the Samuel-Lance connection is trending the right way at the right time.
