It's almost time for NFL training camps to begin. San Francisco 49ers rookies report this coming week, with the veterans reporting the following week. It's a time when camp battles begin heating up and discussions ensue about which players will make the final 53-man roster. One question that will be asked is how many wide receivers the 49ers will keep on the roster. Some years they break camp with five, while in other seasons, they start the regular season with six.
Last week, Anthony Robertson and I interviewed 49ers beat reporter, Matt Maiocco, of NBC Sports Bay Area, on "The Red and Bold Show." Robertson asked Maiocco if he thought the 49ers would keep five or six receivers, and which ones he thought they might keep. Maiocco expects the team to keep six wideouts, but which ones?
Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings, and rookie Ricky Pearsall are all locks. Jacob Cowing, another rookie, is likely going to be the fifth wide receiver. But who will be number six? There are a handful of others like Chris Conley, Ronnie Bell, Danny Gray, Trent Taylor, and a few you might expect to end up on the practice squad. So who will it be? Maiocco's answer might surprise you.
"When you start to look at that sixth receiver, I don't think it's going to be Chris Conley because they've proven that they don't need him on the 53-man," Maiocco said. "No one's claiming him. He can be on the practice squad. I think Danny Gray is kind of at the end of the line there. He just hasn't done anything, hasn't shown much. Ronnie Bell was a guy a year ago, showed a lot of promise, but I think he has to be able to contribute in other areas. So I would say this. I would say, you know, assuming nothing crazy happens, you got Aiyuk, Deebo, Jennings, Pearsall, absolute locks.
"I think Cowing brings an element that they would like to keep with the speed and just kind of give him a chance. Give him the chance that Danny Gray's had the past two years and didn't capitalize on."
Gray is entering his third season. In year one, he caught only one pass for 10 yards. Last year he missed the entire season with an injury. Gray has been a disappointment so far, but he has elite speed, so he will continue to get a chance, whether it's with the 49ers or some other team.
Meanwhile, Bell appeared in all 17 regular season games as a rookie in 2023. He finished the season with six catches for 68 yards and three touchdowns. But his troubles came on special teams when as a punt returner, he sometimes had trouble protecting the football. Bell wasn't the main punt returner—that was Ray-Ray McCloud, who left in March as a free agent. Without McCloud, some believe Bell will be the primary punt returner. But not everyone agrees with that.
"Going back to the Super Bowl, they need somebody back there reliable, handling punts," Maiocco continued. "And, you know, Ray-Ray McCloud, I don't know if they were going to re-sign him anyway, but, you know, that play was a huge play. And I'm not just talking about the ball hitting off [Darrell] Luter and him deciding to just try to scoop it up, going 100 miles an hour, instead of just falling on the ball, protecting it. But why the heck didn't he catch that ball in the air? I don't know how far back he was, 45 yards. How could he have misjudged that ball so badly that he didn't catch it in the air?"
Maiocco is referring to the play in the Super Bowl in which McCloud tried to pick up a ball that bounced off Luter's leg. The play was a massive turning point. Until that moment, the 49ers' defense was having its way with the Kansas City Chiefs offense. But that turnover gave the Chiefs the ball in 49ers' territory, and Kansas City was able to put the ball in the end zone. So having a punt returner who can protect the ball is a big deal.
"So you need somebody, and it's plays like that that cost teams Super Bowls," Maiocco said. "I mean, we could go through a lot of plays in that Super Bowl that cost them the game, but that was definitely top three or four. So that's why I mentioned Trent Taylor, is that he's reliable. He's done it before. Can he be a slot receiver? Sure. But right now, I don't know who else they would have back there. You know, watching Jacob Cowing in the offseason, he didn't look super comfortable fielding punts. Pearsall looked pretty good fielding punts. But do you want to put him back there doing that? So I would say kind of my sleeper pick, I guess, for that sixth receiver would be Trent Taylor just because of the value he brings in that area. But I would say it's put up or shut-up time for Ronnie Bell and Danny Gray again."
Taylor isn't going to excite the fanbase. He's not going to break off any big returns, and he certainly isn't going to take any back for a touchdown. As a receiver, it's unlikely that he would be much of a threat at this point in his career. But he is reliable as a punt returner. He doesn't put the ball on the ground very much. And that's not something that won't be lost on 49ers coaches.