49ers might have to place faith in rookie they clearly don't trust following Deebo Samuel injury

It was revealed by Kyle Shanahan on Monday that the San Francisco 49ers are dealing with an injury to another of their offensive stars, with Deebo Samuel set to miss a couple of weeks with a calf strain.

Samuel's absence for the coming weeks means the 49ers are set to play multiple games without their two most diverse playmakers, running back Christian McCaffrey having been placed on injured reserve with a calf injury and Achilles tendinitis.

The 49ers moved the ball well without McCaffrey in their Week 2 defeat against the Minnesota Vikings , however, they struggled finishing drives, going two of 10 on third down and two of four in the red zone.

Samuel being sidelined will only make the Niners' task harder in that regard, his injury placing greater pressure on the remaining stars on the San Francisco offense, namely Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and the man who likely would have won Super Bowl MVP had the 49ers prevailed in February, Jauan Jennings.

But with the loss of Samuel also impacting the running game as well as the passing attack, the 49ers are likely to now be considering how they can replace at least some of his influence in that area.

Unfortunately, the leading candidate to get the ball on jet sweeps and screens in Samuel's absence is a rookie whom the 49ers clearly do not trust yet.

Fourth-round pick Jacob Cowing has yet to play an offensive snap for the 49ers across the first two games, and he did his hopes of changing that fact no good against Minnesota when he muffed a third-quarter punt and was very fortunate to see the ball recovered by teammate Isaac Yiadom.

Yet with the speed that was clearly a factor in the 49ers' decision to draft him, Cowing can be a threat out of the backfield and also has the potential to add another dimension by stretching defenses downfield, as he did during an impressive preseason.

There is a huge difference between impressing in the preseason and thriving in the regular season, and, between Aiyuk, Kittle and Jennings, the 49ers will feel they still have enough in the passing game to be successful even without Samuel and McCaffrey.

But those two extremely high-profile absences limit the menu for Shanahan in terms of how he can place defenses in conflict. Cowing has the skill set to expand that menu, it's simply a matter of whether the 49ers believe they can rely on him at this point. The evidence from the first two games suggests otherwise.

Related: 49ers' Kyle Shanahan was once again robbed of one of his greatest weapons by Vikings' Brian Flores