Brenen Thompson-WR-Mississippi State

Thompson has legit "house it from anywhere" speed. Not just a one trick pony like an Anthony Schwartz, he's developed quite a bit as a receiver but his biggest asset is going to be his ability to take a top off a defense. Doesn't have the ideal size you want or the route running overall but he's improved at beating press coverage and simply needs a footstep on his defender and he's gone. It'll be interesting to see how the offseason goes for him and how he performs because he can be a viable field stretcher that defenses have to respect.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:


Thompson has legit "house it from anywhere" speed. Not just a one trick pony like an Anthony Schwartz, he's developed quite a bit as a receiver but his biggest asset is going to be his ability to take a top off a defense. Doesn't have the ideal size you want or the route running overall but he's improved at beating press coverage and simply needs a footstep on his defender and he's gone. It'll be interesting to see how the offseason goes for him and how he performs because he can be a viable field stretcher that defenses have to respect.

Mississippi State WR coach Chad Bumphis on former Oklahoma WR Brenen Thompson:

"I've never seen a person with my own eyes that fast on the football field. Mario Craver was fast. But this guy is like Olympic fast."

Thompson averaged 34.4 YPC in Lebby's offense 🔥 pic.twitter.com/yt7cWiOkS5

— HailStateMuse (@HailStateMuse) July 29, 2025

WR Brenen Thompson #NFLDraft

Not just a deep threat

Sweet one-handed dig out while sliding in one direction and reaching low and behind break in the other. pic.twitter.com/D2qFNlC3om

— Matt Waldman (@MattWaldman) January 17, 2026

Setting the O/U at 4.28 seconds in the forty-yard dash for Mississippi State WR Brenen Thompson… and I'm taking the under. Kid can fly. pic.twitter.com/Y9ZUyv7bXh

— Ryan Roberts (@RiseNDraft) January 22, 2026

Brenen Thompson

Fast Fast

pic.twitter.com/2wkmynZTix

— Jeff Bell (@4WhomJBellTolls) January 16, 2026

I haven't watched any of this guy's tape, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I'm solely basing it after checking out his profile, his measurables(5-9, 170) and what I'm reading and seeing here.

I'm not sure this is the type of receiver the 49ers need given the current state of the NFC West. He seems to profile mainly as a downfield threat, but that's a problem when the division has elite pass rushes and the Niners' pass protection is already shaky. You can throw out all the metrics and grades you want, but my eyes tell me that Purdy isn't a great deep-ball thrower without a pristine pocket. A pure speed guy risks outrunning Purdy's arm with 49ers' protection than actually maximizing his skill set.

On top of that, if the goal is to consistently beat Seattle, the 49ers MUST get better run blocking from their wide receivers. Seattle lives in nickel, and last year our WRs were getting bullied by DBs in the run game. That can't continue. At this point, I'm good on receivers who just "have the will" to block—will isn't enough in this division. They need size, strength, and real physicality to displace the man across from them because Seattle is fielding some straight up dogs.

I think the reasons above are why Jacob Cowing can't see the field.

While we all agree the 49ers need to get faster, what they really need is functional speed and explosiveness. People can scoff at this all they want, but Deebo was exactly the kind of player who feasted on teams that sit in zone all game like Seattle. It was sticky man-coverage defenses(ie Kansas City) that gave him real problems. Not saying the 49ers need to find the next Deebo, but they need to find the explosive and physical qualities that Deebo brought to the table

Originally posted by Heroism:

I'm not sure this is the type of receiver the 49ers need given the current state of the NFC West. He seems to profile mainly as a downfield threat,

the 49ers MUST get better run blocking from their wide receivers.

While we all agree the 49ers need to get faster, what they really need is functional speed and explosiveness.

I think this guy would be perfect the 49ers He looks like Tyrek Hill, and we could definitely use prime Tyrek Hill. A downfield threat is exactly what we need. esp. if we could get him with a 3rd or 4th. This guy has great functional speed and explosiveness!

In the highlights, none of the long TD passes traveled over 55 yards in the air and Purdy can throw over 60 yards

A big reason we can't run well is that defenses are crowding the LOS against the 49ers because they have no fear of us going deep. If we loosen up the defense with a fast WR and TE, it will open up the run.

Originally posted by maxsmart:
I think this guy would be perfect the 49ers He looks like Tyrek Hill, and we could definitely use prime Tyrek Hill. A downfield threat is exactly what we need. esp. if we could get him with a 3rd or 4th. This guy has great functional speed and explosiveness!

In the highlights, none of the long TD passes traveled over 55 yards in the air and Purdy can throw over 60 yards

A big reason we can't run well is that defenses are crowding the LOS against the 49ers because they have no fear of us going deep. If we loosen up the defense with a fast WR and TE, it will open up the run.

Except they're not crowding the line of scrimmage. Seattle literally played the 49ers with a light box and stayed in a 2-high shell the entire game.

Mississippi State not Ole Miss!!!

Originally posted by miked1978:
Mississippi State not Ole Miss!!!

Why the hell did I put Ole Miss?

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by maxsmart:
I think this guy would be perfect the 49ers He looks like Tyrek Hill, and we could definitely use prime Tyrek Hill. A downfield threat is exactly what we need. esp. if we could get him with a 3rd or 4th. This guy has great functional speed and explosiveness!

In the highlights, none of the long TD passes traveled over 55 yards in the air and Purdy can throw over 60 yards

A big reason we can't run well is that defenses are crowding the LOS against the 49ers because they have no fear of us going deep. If we loosen up the defense with a fast WR and TE, it will open up the run.

Except they're not crowding the line of scrimmage. Seattle literally played the 49ers with a light box and stayed in a 2-high shell the entire game.

I completely get where you are coming from, but we can't only focus on building to beat Seattle. I truly think that using our first two picks on explosive guys who can separate, can unlock this offense. I would have zero issues with taking Concepcion and Thompson back to back. If our explosive players are Ricky, KC, and Brennen, then we can focus on grabbing a cheap RZ target like Coleman as a FA, or maybe even go after Mike Evans, if he wants to join a contender and signs for cheap. Alec Pierce would be a dream, but I'm sure someone is going to give him a ridiculous offer, so it's probably better if we use that money to find a longterm answer at center.

I feel like this offense is missing having guys who can take the top off the defense, and if we fix that, we'll perform better against good defenses. Concepcion and Thompson would greatly improve this offense, and we know Kyle wants a guy like this since they were interested in drafting Worthy.

Originally posted by Nastastical:
I completely get where you are coming from, but we can't only focus on building to beat Seattle

I vehemently disagree. Macdonald literally designed and built that defense to stop the Shanahan/McVay offense and successfully did so. That defense beat the s**t out of Shanahan's offense worse than any defense ever has, and they did it twice in the span of a few weeks. If the 49ers don't seriously build to beat to beat Seattle, they're not going anywhere because this is an existential crisis for Shanahan within the division. Beat Seattle and everything else takes care of itself.

McVay saw the storm on the horizon early, and prepared for it by changing his OL makeup to massive bodies, switching from zone to a power/gap run game and swapping his base offense from 11 personnel to 13 personnel. The 49ers will either adjust or get their ass kicked again next year.

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by Nastastical:

I completely get where you are coming from, but we can't only focus on building to beat Seattle

I vehemently disagree. Macdonald literally designed and built that defense to stop the Shanahan/McVay offense and successfully did so. That defense beat the s**t out of Shanahan's offense worse than any defense ever has, and they did it twice in the span of a few weeks. If the 49ers don't seriously build to beat to beat Seattle, they're not going anywhere. This is an existential crisis for Shanahan within the division. Beat Seattle and everything else takes care of itself.

McVay saw the storm on the horizon early, and prepared for it by changing his OL makeup to massive bodies, switching from zone to a power/gap run game and swapping his base offense from 11 personnel to 13 personnel. The 49ers will either adjust and get their ass kicked again next year.

I don't think it's one or the other. I think you need both. Get you the OL that can handle Seattle, and the speed will roast them at every level. We can still get bigger and more powerful even at the same time as adding lightning speed to the crew.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
I don't think it's one or the other. I think you need both. Get you the OL that can handle Seattle, and the speed will roast them at every level. We can still get bigger and more powerful even at the same time as adding lightning speed to the crew.

For sure, it's not either or because you can't beat Seattle without upgrading both.

But a 170-pound wide receiver doesn't much make sense when you're trying to get the run game going out of tight formations and asking a 170-pound WR to block guys like Devon Witherspoon or Nick Emmanwori. Emmanwori kicked Jauan Jenning's ass (in addition to Juice and Kittle). Imagine what he'd do to this guy lol. Honestly, these smaller, speed guys never get on the field for Shanahan because they can't block. The 49ers have have had plenty of speed receivers over the years, but they never get on the field.

In regards to making Seattle the primary focus, I 100% agree with everything Dieter is saying in this video:

Id like to add its a copy cat league. Teams will begin poaching Seattle's coaches to bring in their defensice system, and those that dont will do their best to imitate. Now they wont all succeed because the Xs and Os dont matter with out the Jimmys and Joe's, but if you build your roster to be good enough to beat Seattle, you've built your roster to be good enough to beat anyone.

Seems like guys like this hardly every make it in the league but for every 10 of these guys you have a Tyreek Hill that does make it. I wouldn't draft him to be my starting WR like we need but i wouldn't be mad if we spent a 4th or 5th rounder on him.
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Originally posted by miked1978:

Seems like guys like this hardly every make it in the league but for every 10 of these guys you have a Tyreek Hill that does make it. I wouldn't draft him to be my starting WR like we need but i wouldn't be mad if we spent a 4th or 5th rounder on him.
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I doubt he makes it part the third, maybe not even the second.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Originally posted by miked1978:
Seems like guys like this hardly every make it in the league but for every 10 of these guys you have a Tyreek Hill that does make it. I wouldn't draft him to be my starting WR like we need but i wouldn't be mad if we spent a 4th or 5th rounder on him.
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I doubt he makes it part the third, maybe not even the second.

I would never say never...but all too often we have overreactions like this during the draft process and for whatever the reason guys drop to more where they're projected vs meet these over the top expectations.

We know speed gets taken higher and the combine is coming up so he's sure to rise because of his testing but another thing teams love as much as speed - size. And that's where Brenen falls short(no pun intended) at 5'9 170 lbs and only one year of production in college it's hard to see him jump into day 2, let alone into the 2nd round.

On top of his size and production deficiencies this is a pretty good WR class. I think Day 3 is where he winds up but we'll see in a couple of months.

Originally posted by genus49:
I would never say never...but all too often we have overreactions like this during the draft process and for whatever the reason guys drop to more where they're projected vs meet these over the top expectations.

We know speed gets taken higher and the combine is coming up so he's sure to rise because of his testing but another thing teams love as much as speed - size. And that's where Brenen falls short(no pun intended) at 5'9 170 lbs and only one year of production in college it's hard to see him jump into day 2, let alone into the 2nd round.

On top of his size and production deficiencies this is a pretty good WR class. I think Day 3 is where he winds up but we'll see in a couple of months.

After he kills the combine I wouldn't be so sure about that. He's very likely to run in the 4.2's; that alone will boost his draft stock