Miami Dolphins defense is as important as Dolphins offense this week

Deebo Samuel is a key player the Miami Dolphins need to account for against the 49ers.

Samuel is an incredibly talented athlete but he has not had the same season he had a year ago. Injury has played a part in that. Offensively, Samuel has played no more than 87% of a game’s snaps and has played at least 80% five times. Needless to say, he is on the field a lot.

His production, however, doesn’t match his playing time.

Samuel has 44 receptions for 511 yards and two touchdowns while rushing the ball 33 times for 202 yards. Hardly bad numbers but defenses are focusing on him a lot more this year. In 2021, Samuel caught 77 passes for 1,405 yards and six scores and rushed 59 times for 368 times and 8 touchdowns.

Stopping Samuel will not be an easy task. The 49ers love putting him in motion and like Mike McDaniel with his receivers, will work to get him in favorable coverage. That could be a problem for the Dolphins’ young and developing secondary. Samuel is the number two leading receiver on the 49ers’ offense behind Brandon Aiyuk.

Miami likely can not play Samuel one on one in coverage and when you combine him with McCaffrey’s abilities in the passing game, it gets a lot harder.