San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel has had quite a turbulent season, and he’s starting to feel the heat because of it.

Samuel is part of an eight-player captaincy group that includes quarterback Brock Purdy, running back Christian McCaffrey, fullback Kyle Juszczyk, tight end George Kittle, offensive tackle Trent Williams, linebacker Fred Warner and defensive end Nick Bosa, and the 28-year-old WR is looked to be a voice in the locker room to get the team going when its battling adversity.

But recently there’s a small yet growing part of the 49ers fan base (and some NFL fans) that is questioning whether or not Samuel is a true leader and whether he’s deserving to have the captain’s “C” patch on his jersey, to which Samuel had the perfect response on the latest episode of his “Cleats & Convos” podcast.

“We hold each other – my teammates, myself and (head coach) Kyle (Shanahan), (general manager) John (Lynch) and (CEO) Jed (York) and the other owners – we hold ourself to a higher standard than what other people hold us to,” Samuel said. “A lot of people (want) to take the ‘C’ off my chest because me having an altercation with my long-snapper, but at the end of the day, I went to my kicker and told him he needed to lock in and win this game

“…In order for me to have the ‘C’ on my chest, I don’t think it’s too much of a coach’s decision. It’s a player-voted thing, we do that as a group, so if my peers and everybody around me feel like I deserve to have the ‘C’ on my chest, then I’ll wear it with pride. I take pride in that for sure.”

#49ers Deebo Samuel gave his response to the notion he should have his C patch stripped away from him:

“It’s a player voted thing. We do that as a group. So if my peers and everyone around me feel like I should have a C on my chest, then I’m gonna wear it with pride.”

The altercation Samuel referenced happened a 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 10.

After kicker Jake Moody missed his third field-goal attempt, Samuel was seen on the sidelines letting Moody hear about it while long-snapper Taybor Pepper got in Samuel’s face.

Samuel, in response, shoved Pepper by the neck and his hand grazed off Moody’s helmet in a moment that went instantly viral on social media. All involved – Samuel, Moody, Pepper and even Shanahan – all said the situation got blown out of proportion and they’d handled it internally and there was no bad blood.

While most took what happened as Samuel being unnecessarily confrontational, he believes it was actually an instance of him being a leader. Moody made the game-winning field goal with seconds left after Samuel’s remarks.