The foot injury to second-year wide receiver Deebo Samuel could add pressure to other San Francisco 49ers wideouts, like rookie Brandon Aiyuk. That will especially be true if Samuel's recovery creeps into the regular season.
The 49ers might be receiving some reinforcements, though. Jalen Hurd missed his rookie campaign and is an unknown commodity heading into the 2020 season. Then you have Trent Taylor, who, like Hurd, didn't play a snap last season and landed on injured reserve.
Taylor, 26, has been working to return after suffering a foot injury last year, similar to the one sustained by Samuel. Complications from multiple surgeries kept Taylor out for the season, though.
Taylor remains in the Nashville area, where he is training with teammate and All-Pro tight end George Kittle, among others. Our friends over at @TheSFNiners posted a couple of videos of Taylor's offseason training, and the receiver looks well on his way to having the same burst he showed off during his impressive rookie campaign in 2017.
Trent Taylor looking healthy after recovering from 5 foot surgeries 👏 pic.twitter.com/7uYxJLPGZU
— TheSFNiners (@TheSFNiners) July 8, 2020
Slow feet don't eat 🍽 // @Trent5Taylor pic.twitter.com/bdWYQJniyi
— TheSFNiners (@TheSFNiners) July 9, 2020
Fourth-year wideout Kendrick Bourne sounds confident that his teammate will make an impact during the upcoming season.
👀👀 beast bout to be unleashed! @Trent5Taylor https://t.co/txBT98BlKD
— Kendrick Bourne Poly (@BournePoly11) July 9, 2020
Even though he looks good in the clips above, Taylor is taking a cautious approach in his return.
"I don't know if you would say that I'm ready to go out and play a football game," Taylor told The Athletic last month. "I mean, I could if I had to. But mainly, I'm just steadily getting back to normal right now. It feels good. My foot's able to run routes and make cuts right now. So I'm real happy to be back doing that."
Taylor hauled in 43 passes for 430 yards with two touchdowns in 2017. Offseason back surgery limited him in 2018, and, as mentioned, he missed all of last season.
San Francisco made Taylor a fifth-round draft pick out of Louisiana Tech in 2017.