San Francisco 49ers: Full position grades for the 2018 season
By Peter Panacy
D-. . . . WIDE RECEIVER
Ideally, Kyle Shanahan’s offense would have not relied so heavily on a tight end for his top receiving target.
Granted, San Francisco’s wide receivers suffered a plethora of injuries this season. Marquise Goodwin wasn’t healthy, and veteran Pierre Garçon was banged up and landed on injured reserve for the second year in a row. Slot receiver Trent Taylor was another one of those second-year players who regressed in 2018, and the 49ers generally lacked regular and consistent production from anyone else within this unit.
These stats tell all:
| Game | Game | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Player | Age | Pos | G | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Y/R | TD | Y/G | Ctch% | Fmb |
| 11 | Marquise Goodwin | 28 | WR | 11 | 8 | 43 | 23 | 395 | 17.2 | 4 | 35.9 | 53.5% | 1 |
| 18 | Dante Pettis | 23 | wr | 12 | 7 | 45 | 27 | 467 | 17.3 | 5 | 38.9 | 60.0% | 2 |
| 84 | Kendrick Bourne | 23 | WR | 16 | 8 | 66 | 42 | 487 | 11.6 | 4 | 30.4 | 63.6% | 1 |
| 81 | Trent Taylor | 24 | 14 | 0 | 41 | 26 | 215 | 8.3 | 1 | 15.4 | 63.4% | 1 | |
| 15 | Pierre Garcon | 32 | WR | 8 | 8 | 46 | 24 | 286 | 11.9 | 1 | 35.8 | 52.2% | 0 |
| 13 | Richie James | 23 | wr | 13 | 2 | 14 | 9 | 130 | 14.4 | 1 | 10.0 | 64.3% | 2 |
| 17 | Victor Bolden | 23 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 0 | 2.5 | 25.0% | 0 | |
| Team Total | 25.6 | 16 | 514 | 331 | 4247 | 12.8 | 26 | 265.4 | 31 | ||||
| Opp Total | 16 | 344 | 3732 | 10.8 | 35 | 233.3 | 21 |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/1/2019.
If there’s good news, though, rookie wideout Dante Pettis managed to come on strong down the stretch, averaging 71.8 yards per game over his final five contests and recording four touchdowns during that time frame. When healthy, Pettis’ route-running abilities are pretty stellar, and the arrow is definitely pointing in the right direction.
Still, the 49ers finished 2018 ranked dead last in red-zone touchdown efficiency, which points to the team needing a go-to guy in this crucial area of the field.