Deebo Samuel will play against the Cowboys on November 13, 2026, after being left off the injury report and returning to limited practice this week. The 49ers have their receiver back just in time for a matchup that had been clouded by his Week 5 hamstring injury.
Samuel’s return matters because it gives San Francisco another available skill player at a moment when the group has been stretched by injuries and roster churn. He logged his first practice since the hamstring injury on November 11, 2026, and the limited session was the clearest sign that he was trending toward game action rather than another week of waiting.
That does not mean the 49ers have a clean bill of health, or even a clean plan. Mike Evans is out for a third straight game, Kyle Shanahan called him week-to-week, and he did not practice Wednesday after dealing with Achilles tendinitis before leaving San Francisco’s Week 6 game. The contrast is sharp: one receiver is coming back, another is still stuck on the sideline.
San Francisco’s injury picture also helps explain why Samuel’s availability drew so much attention. The 49ers have used three of their eight IR activations, already activated Christian Kirk and then sent him back to IR, and have other moving parts including Nate Hobbs in the return window and CJ West back at practice. Gracen Halton’s season is over after a broken and dislocated ankle, while Keenan Allen joined Kittle and McCaffrey in being healthy. In the middle of that traffic, Samuel’s return is the one piece that changes the offense immediately, even if his exact workload against the Cowboys is still unwritten.
