The San Francisco 49ers got the news they wanted on Thursday as Deebo Samuel returned to practice.

Samuel was back in a limited capacity after missing Wednesday's practice with a shoulder injury suffered in the divisional round win over the Green Bay Packers.

His return was the headline news atop a glistening injury report for the NFC Championship Game against the Detroit Lions.

Injury report

Injury report observations

San Francisco's offense was out of rhythm for most of the game without Samuel against the Packers after he left in the first half.

And his teammates were quick to highlight the significance of getting him back on the practice field, with Samuel sure to be a huge part of the gameplan to face Detroit.

"Anytime he's out there, he brings an extra set of juice that is hard to mimic without him," Christian McCaffrey said of Samuel.

He added of the potential impact of having Samuel in the lineup against the Lions: "Even if he's just in motion, getting people to put their eyes on him because you never know. When he has a ball in his hands, it's pretty scary."

Tight end George Kittle echoed McCaffrey's sentiments, saying: "Deebo is always great. We're just excited for him to be out there. He's just such a huge part of our offense and everything that we do. And just his energy itself is infectious, and he gets guys going, he gets them confident.

"So very excited to have Deebo out there and he looks great."

On top of having Samuel back in the mix, the 49ers also welcomed defensive tackle Kalia Davis back to practice, having opened his 21-day window on Wednesday.

49ers get huge respect for remarkable 2023 season

It is richly deserved.