San Francisco will play the Rams in Sunday's regular-season finale without any stakes anymore now that the 49ers have secured the top seed in the NFC.
When asked about the pros and disadvantages of resting or playing guys in Week 18, head coach Kyle Shanahan said as much to reporters on Monday.
Receivers Deebo Samuel and Kay Adams were guests on Adams' FanDuel TV morning program, and Samuel mentioned that he hopes to play this weekend.
"You definitely want to keep the flow going, but you also want to give your body a rest," Samuel remarked, according to 49erswebzone.com's David Bonilla. In order to maintain the momentum and avoid taking too long off, I think we will play this game for quite a while. In other words, I think we're going to keep doing what we've been doing and practice hard this week.
We haven't played to our potential just yet, so we need to keep improving every day and keep putting the pieces together.
Samuel followed up on the question of whether he would be playing by saying, "Yeah, definitely.... " No wiggle room here. "Everyone needs to do their part" as soon as the coach says anything.
Because of his calf issue, running back Christian McCaffrey will sit out Week 18, as previously mentioned by Shanahan. Another player who might not play is injured left tackle Trent Williams.
The 49ers will most certainly need to start a few starters on Sunday due to the limited number of players who can sit out this week. It is Samuel's expectation that he will be included among them.