49ers vs. Broncos: 5 top performances from preseason Week 2
No. 3: Wide Receiver Kendrick Bourne
There’s been a lot of conversation about where wide receiver Kendrick Bourne fits into the 2019 iteration of the 49ers. Sure, he led all wide receivers in receiving yards last season, but the number wasn’t eye-popping (just 487 on 42 receptions) and given the choices the team made over the offseason, it looks like head coach Kyle Shanahan feels he can do better at the position than last year.
And then this training camp, there’s been a lot of noise about Bourne showing great ability to separate, a skill he showed early in the third quarter when quarterback C.J. Beathard tossed a deep pass the receiver’s direction.
Unfortunately, Bourne dropped what looked like a relatively simple catch, causing The Athletic‘s Matt Barrows to tweet this:
That's Kendrick Bourne's training camp in a nutshell: Gets open but drops a lot of passes.
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) August 11, 2019
But to Bourne’s great credit, he bounced back from the drop to turn a short pass by quarterback Nick Mullens into a 26-yard pick up. And then following an interception by cornerback Dontae Johnson, hauled in this spectacular grab to score the 49ers’ final touchdown:
Bourne continues to be a hot or cold quantity for the 49ers offense, but there’s simply no doubt that when he’s got the ball in his hands, he often looks explosive.
Still, he’s going to need to show more consistency to survive the preseason and make his way onto the 53-man roster.
Hopefully Monday night’s game will the start of Bourne’s showing up.