49ers WR believes NFC title game would have been different with one more QB

Already down their No. 1 and No. 2 quarterbacks in Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo due to injuries, the Niners saw third-stringer Brock Purdy exit the NFC Championship Game loss on the team's first offensive drive due to a PCL issue. Fourth-stringer Josh Johnson took over, but eventually suffered a concussion, leading San Francisco to put an ailing Purdy back in the contest.

Samuel said that when Purdy and Johnson both went down, "it was kind of like, we really don't have a chance."

The speedy 2022 Pro Bowler's words come on the heels of teammate Brandon Aiyuk essentially guaranteeing a Kansas City Chiefs victory in Super Bowl LVII and Aiyuk also saying he thought the Chiefs would "expose" the Eagles defense on Sunday. 

While Samuel didn't specify whether he believed the team should've tried to activate a still-recovering Garoppolo, pick up a different signal-caller off waivers prior to the game against Philadelphia, or go a different route, he posted on Twitter late Wednesday morning "I stand on everything I say."

For much of the 2022 offseason, it looked like both Samuel and "Jimmy G." had played their final games with the Niners. The wide receiver ended up signing a three-year contract extension last summer, however, and the quarterback agreed to a restructured contract and posted 2,437 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and four interceptions across 11 games (10 starts).

It appears that Garoppolo's time in the Bay Area is actually over this time though, as head coach Kyle Shanahan said last week that he didn't "see any scenario" where the 31-year-old is back with the team and he's content moving forward with Lance and Purdy.