San Francisco 49ers: 4 players who’ll benefit the most from Jimmy Garoppolo’s return
By Peter Panacy
No. 2: Wide Receiver Trent Taylor
For many 49ers players, 2018 proved to be a vastly different year than what transpired in 2017.
One shining example of this is third-year wide receiver Trent Taylor, who underwent a massive regression after emerging as a key third-down weapon for Jimmy Garoppolo and the offense his rookie season.
Just compare the two seasons from San Francisco’s slot receiver:
| Game | Game | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Age | Tm | Pos | G | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Y/R | TD | Lng | R/G | Y/G | Ctch% | Y/Tgt | Fmb |
| 2017 | 23 | SFO | wr | 15 | 1 | 60 | 43 | 430 | 10.0 | 2 | 33 | 2.9 | 28.7 | 71.7% | 7.2 | 1 |
| 2018 | 24 | SFO | 14 | 0 | 41 | 26 | 215 | 8.3 | 1 | 23 | 1.9 | 15.4 | 63.4% | 5.2 | 1 | |
| Care | Care | 29 | 1 | 101 | 69 | 645 | 9.3 | 3 | 33 | 2.4 | 22.2 | 68.3% | 6.4 | 2 |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/13/2019.
Granted, a back injury thwarted much of Taylor’s 2018, and there’s no guarantee he wins the starting slot job over second-year receiver Richie James out of training camp.
That said, Taylor does have the 2017 rapport with Garoppolo working in his favor. And if Taylor winds up recapturing those third-down abilities, even if the overall numbers aren’t indicative of a massive contributor, the 49ers offense will wind up being extensively better off than it was a year ago.