San Francisco 49ers: Why Jordan Matthews makes the final roster

With the San Francisco 49ers currently having 11 wide receivers on their 90-man roster, why does Jordan Matthews make the final cut?

The San Francisco 49ers signed wide receiver Jordan Matthews to a one-year prove it deal during this year’s free-agency period.

With the Niners requiring some much-needed depth at the position, the signing of a veteran receiver came as no real surprise.

The Philadelphia Eagles drafted Matthews back in 2014, where he spent a total of four years in Philadelphia and one year with the Buffalo Bills. While he has seen a drop off in production over the past two seasons, Matthews had three seasons with over 800 receiving yards. One of which was three yards shy of making it a 1,000-yard season.

He has 270 career receptions for 3,255 yards, averaging 12.1 yards per reception and 22 touchdowns. While he has not been utilized as heavily during the past two seasons, 2018 still saw him with an average of 15 yards per reception.

So, with an already loaded wide receiver group, why does Matthews make the final cut to the 53-man roster?

Although still early, his work effort alone speaks for itself. However, not only his work effort, but the capability and consistency he has shown thus far to get the job done in what limited practice there has been.

“Just bringing in Jordan, the day Jordan got here he had I think twice as many catches as all our receivers combined,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said during his wrap up of minicamp presser. “That might be a little more, but he definitely had more. We wanted to bring in a veteran guy with some size who had been there before and done it. Jordan has. He’s played for a few different organizations. He’s played in different systems. He’s a tough player, he’s got some size, he’s got speed. He’s extremely smart and he’s a pro.”

Coming in at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, not only does Matthews bring great size with him, but he also has the speed. Matthews ran a 4.46 40-yard dash during the 2014 NFL Scouting Combine and has continued to show his speed whilst on the field.

Add to that his ability to both play in the slot and on the outside, providing Shanahan with the option to utilize Matthews’ skill set across the field depending on the play that’s being called. With Matthews being considerably larger than wide receivers Trent Taylor, Richie James and Deebo Samuel, he is an alternative for Shanahan to interchange into the slot position should he require that added size.

Since the arrival of Shanahan, the 49ers have struggled considerably in the red zone, something the head coach has often admitted needs improvement. How does Matthews affect this area? Sixteen of his 22 touchdowns have come while in the red zone.

And, while Samuel will hopefully make quite the contribution to the red-zone offense in his rookie season, along with fellow receiver Dante Pettis, having someone on the team who has a proven track record of an effective red-zone attack is too good to pass up on.

While the number of receivers currently on the roster are still quite high, come the conclusion of training camp, that number will drop considerably. Given Matthews’ skill set and ability to produce, even with limited snaps, it’s hard not to see him suiting up in the red and gold this season.

Matthews may see himself further down the depth chart than he would like, behind Pettis, Samuel and Marquise Goodwin. But, there simply aren’t enough players on the current roster who have the talent to push Matthews out, unless he has some sort of disastrous performance during preseason.