Deebo Samuel appears to be on track to play in the NFC Championship Game despite his shoulder injury.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed in his Thursday press conference that Samuel would be limited in practice having missed Wednesday's session.

That marks a significant step forward for the versatile wide receiver, who suffered the injury in the first half of the 49ers' narrow divisional round win over the Green Bay Packers.

Samuel crucially did not suffer a fracture, as he did in the Week 6 defeat to the Cleveland Browns, but was said to be in a lot of pain.

He was able to do some work on a side field on Wednesday, and general manager John Lynch indicated Samuel was making progress prior to Shanahan's more definitive update.

"Those things continue to improve," Lynch told KNBR. "He did some work yesterday, off to the side. We'll see if we can advance that today.

"So I think [it's a] very much a fluid situation. It's the NFC Championship, though, and I can promise you this: Deebo is going to be doing everything he can, and he'll be wanting to play by the end."

Deebo is set to advance things on Thursday, and a San Francisco offense that struggled without him for long periods against Green Bay will breathe a sigh of relief because of his step forward.

49ers get huge respect for remarkable 2023 season

It is richly deserved.