Deebo Samuel was extremely critical of his own performance during the 2022 season. Jerry Rice, who knows a thing or two about receiver play, does not agree with his assessment, but sees no reason why Samuel cannot return to his All-Pro best in 2023.

When asked to describe his 2022 back in May, Samuel labeled it as "awful, in every aspect."

Samuel criticised his tape from last year as sluggish, vowing to never put such performances on film again, though. Rice, however, saw things differently.

Rice told NBC Sports Bay Area: 

I thought he played really well last year. Now, for him to say he didn't have an exceptional year, that means he's going to come back stronger this year, which we need that. It sets the bar really high, but he's also letting everybody know that there's more coming and I promise you one thing, I'm going to get better.

Samuel, owing to injury problems, played only six regular-season games with Christian McCaffrey following the running back's arrival in a trade from the Panthers. However, in McCaffrey's first 49er playoff game against the Seahawks, Samuel exploded for 165 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown.

That served as an example of just how devastating this attack can be when it has all its weapons at its disposal.

With McCaffrey also possessing a substantial threat as a receiver and Brandon Aiyuk enjoying his first 1,000-yard campaign last season, Rice expects Samuel to benefit from the attention commanded by San Francisco's litany of offensive playmakers.

He added:

"I think [Aiyuk] is starting to show, 'Hey, I'm right there with Deebo.' For those guys to battle, the way they're going to battle this year, I think it's going to open up so many opportunities. And then you got George Kittle on the inside and McCaffrey coming out of the backfield. So no excuses this year. I don't want to hear no excuses this year. None."

Samuel is not the type to make excuses, and he is determined to put what for him was a disappointing 2022 to bed and reproduce his heroics of 2021, when he was the undisputed focal point of the attack as the 49ers won seven of their final nine regular-season games and reeled off two further playoff victories en route to the NFC Championship Game.

Going anywhere close to matching his numbers from that year, 1,770 yards from scrimmage and 14 touchdowns, is unlikely on a team with so many mouths to feed.

Yet with Samuel and McCaffrey each possessing skill sets to thrive at both running back and receiver, he can still have a similar influence by creating space for his teammates through his gravity and continuing to do tremendous damage after the catch with the ball in his hands.

Samuel has a vote of confidence from the greatest receiver to ever play the game, and the environment is perfect for him to make Rice look extremely prescient with a bounce-back campaign.

Brandon Aiyuk has a stern warning for the 49ers defense

He won’t be backing down.

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