The San Francisco 49ers (4-4) are in the midst of a heated divisional race in the NFC West and are traveling East to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-5), who are currently on a three-game skid and looking for a big win, themselves.

It’s not a must-win for San Fran, but 5-4 is obviously a lot better than 4-5, especially when considering Sunday’s matchup is an NFC battle. A win would give the 49ers the tiebreaker over the Bucs, if needed, when talking about playoff seeding.

Christian McCaffrey is set to make his 2024 debut on Sunday after missing the first nine weeks of the season, which is already big news in itself. But that’s not the only reinforcement the team will receive: Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, star wide receiver Deebo Samuel is expected to play. The former Pro Bowler has been dealing with an oblique/rib injury and was listed as questionable after being limited in practice all week long.

Kyle Shanahan and co. have had major success against Todd Bowles’ defense since the latter arrived in Tampa Bay back in 2019, so getting both Samuel and CMC back obviously bodes very well. The offense will be without Brandon Aiyuk, obviously, but the trio of those two, plus tight end George Kittle, remains an embarrassment of riches that any offense would love to have.

But, clearly, what happens on the field matters more than anything and this is all just optimism, for now. We’ll see if Brock Purdy can make it his third-straight game scoring 27+ points against the Bucs later today.

For the year, Samuel has recorded 406 receiving yards and a touchdown off of 24 receptions. He’s also logged 66 rushing yards and a touchdown off of 23 carries.