San Francisco 49ers: 5 starting positions up for grabs in 2020
By Peter Panacy
No. 2: Wide Receiver
There’s a good chance Emmanuel Sanders is among the top-name players the 49ers let walk in free agency this offseason.
If he does, the Niners wind up having some serious question marks at wide receiver, where essentially only two proven options are at the top of the positional depth chart: Deebo Samuel and Kendrick Bourne, the latter being a restricted free agent.
Bourne, a red-zone weapon, likely returns and assumes a similar role, even if he’s not named a starter. Samuel will start after impressing over the latter half of his rookie season.
Opposite him, though, it’s an open-ended question.
There are more doubts than answers on the roster, currently. Second-year pro Jalen Hurd has yet to see an NFL snap after missing his rookie campaign with a back injury. Slot receiver Trent Taylor has been banged up for the better part of the last two years, while third-year pro Dante Pettis completely fell off the map down the stretch. His future remains in flux.
If there’s good news, the 2020 NFL Draft is loaded with top-level wide receiver talent, prompting the idea Kyle Shanahan will use one of the Niners’ few draft picks to address the position.
A drafted player could assume a starting role alongside Samuel. Or it could be Bourne, who has seen his role increase steadily since joining San Francisco as an undrafted free agent in 2017.
Pettis could bounce back in a big way, or perhaps the 49ers cash in on some big name via a trade or the free-agent market, even if those scenarios seem unlikely.
Either way, Shanahan has a lot of questions to answer at this position during the offseason.