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The Niners enter the 2020 season with very few holes on the roster following an NFL Draft where they added
Javon Kinlaw and
Brandon Aiyuk to replace DeForest Buckner and Emmanuel Sanders, while trading for
Trent Williams after 13-year veteran Joe Staley announced his retirement
Despite the youthful acquisitions, the 49ers did not add anything new to the roster. Instead, they replaced what was already there. San Francisco will be reliant on returning injured players to be the "acquisitions" for the upcoming season.
Former third-round pick Jalen Hurd has been medically cleared, according to 49ers' GM John Lynch. Jimmy Garoppolo's favorite target in 2017, Trent Taylor, is currently rehabbing and is expected to be ready for the start of the season. Even 2020 seventh-round pick
Jauan Jennings is the latest player to board the hype train.
With three new targets to throw to in 2020, Jimmy Garoppolo's job should become exponentially easier, but health concerns and prior inconsistencies lead to apprehension as to what the 49ers have in their receiving room.
Do the Niners have five legit receiving weapons?
Deebo Samuel, Kendrick Bourne, and Brandon Aiyuk are the only locks to make the roster.
Jalen Hurd's back could flare up at any time. Do Garoppolo and Taylor have the same chemistry they once did, and are we sure Dante Pettis is ready to take the next step?
There has been little evidence to prove the Niners receiving core is set in stone. With that in mind, San Francisco should give serious consideration to Richie James Jr. as a legitimate receiver rather than a special teams player.
Primarily known as a return specialist, James has spent the last two seasons buried on the roster but excelled when given the opportunity.
James has been targeted 24 times in two seasons, hauling in 15 of those passes with a catch rate of 62.5 percent. That's higher than Kendrick Bourne, Dante Pettis, and Travis Benjamin's career averages. Interestingly, the latter two are listed ahead of James on the depth chart.
Some might think James doesn't fit the style of receiver Kyle Shanahan's system requires, but he actually fits San Francisco's scheme better than the majority of the roster.
The 49ers offensive scheme relies heavily on YAC (yards after the catch) hence why Lynch and Co. drafted Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk over the past two seasons. While there is no argument for James to start over Samuel, Aiyuk, or even Bourne, his YAC alone should jolt him into the top five receivers on the roster.
Since 2018, James ranks first on the 49ers in YAC per reception with 14.2 yards. The next highest receiver is Dante Pettis at 8.8 yards, and while James' high number can be attributed to a small sample size, his statistics should be further proof he can succeed in Shanahan's system.
For a team that often uses screen passes and plays behind the line of scrimmage, James has arguably been the Niners' best option behind Deebo Samuel.
Signed through 2021 on a cheap seventh-round contract, James can be a diamond in the rough, and the "addition" San Francisco couldn't afford to add in free agency. Instead of relegating James to a return specialist, he deserves a fair shot to prove himself in pre-season, and an argument can be made that he already has shown more promise than the majority of the Niners receivers.
Brock Purdy is a lucky NFL quarterback. At least, that is what San Francisco 49ers icon Steve Young believes. The Hall of Fame quarterback isn't talking about Purdy's rise from Mr. Irrelevant, the last overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He's talking about the situation that Purdy fell into after the Niners selected him.
Purdy entered his rookie season as the third quarterback on the 49ers' depth chart. Injuries forced him into the starting lineup by Week 13, and the then-rookie helped guide San Francisco to the NFC Championship Game.
The 49ers own one of the most talented rosters in the NFL. They are genuine Super Bowl contenders, which means Purdy isn't going to be called upon to carry the offense so long as he can play efficient football.
"In the
The San Francisco 49ers have been impressive through their first two games of the season. Quarterback Brock Purdy continues to win. His regular-season win streak could extend to eight games on Thursday night, with the Niners hosting the New York Giants at Levi's Stadium.
One former player who remains impressed by the 49ers' second-year quarterback is Alex Smith. Smith addressed those who question whether Purdy, the last overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, is for real and if the young quarterback can "take this team the distance."
"He doesn't look like Josh Allen or Justin Herbert, the guys that we want to label these premier quarterbacks in the NFL, but he's built, and it's a perfect place to be because he's an amazing facilitator of this offense," Smith said on
Those who watched Thursday night's game between the San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants may want to know why no ejections took place after 49ers left tackle Trent Williams punched the face mask of Giants defensive lineman A'Shawn Robinson as the first half came to a close.
NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating Walt Anderson gave an explanation behind that decision after the game, while Williams played his punch off as a "love tap."
The incident took place towards the end of the first half of the 49ers' 30-12 win over the Giants, following a play where the 49ers downed the ball. Robinson can be seen giving Williams a poke in the chin, after which Williams swung and hit Robinson in the face
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk recently attracted criticism for bizarrely questioning San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy's worthiness of the "franchise quarterback" label because his name resembled "Turdy."
"I think people have a hard time looking at that name and saying that's a franchise quarterback," Florio noted.
The Pro Football Talk writer joined 95.7 The Game on Wednesday morning and explained the comments, noting that they were part of a broader conversation about why some are reluctant to embrace the 49ers' second-year player as a franchise quarterback.
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