The 49ers wide receiver corps has some lofty expectations and notable questions heading into 2020.
For the first half of 2019, the San Francisco 49ers‘ group of wide receivers were anything but impressive, which ultimately forced general manager John Lynch’s hand to make the mid-season trade with the Denver Broncos for veteran wideout Emmanuel Sanders.
With Sanders in tow, the Niners managed to get enough production out of this group. And by the time the Super Bowl rolled around, head coach Kyle Shanahan relied heavily on the trio of Sanders, Kendrick Bourne and then-rookie wideout Deebo Samuel.
The Sanders trade highlighted some key problems, however. In an ideal world, considering San Francisco invested second-round NFL Draft picks for the position in back-to-back years, Lynch wouldn’t have had to make the trade with Denver. The fact the 49ers had to do this shed light on some of the questions the team had at the position last year.
And those questions rise to the surface even more heading into 2020, particularly with Sanders leaving for the New Orleans Saints in free agency.
Samuel and Bourne remain the only two bona fide and established contributors at the position with relatively few questions about what they offer. After that, though, there are a number of concerns.
How will San Francisco’s depth behind these two pan out? Despite a number of names on the depth chart, who’ll be the ones selected by Shanahan for the 53-man roster? Can the Niners avoid the same kind of lackluster numbers they endured at the position over the first half of 2019 this upcoming year?
Those are generic questions, of course. Yet there are some much more specific questions the team will have to address.
Here are three needing to be asked and answered.
No. 3: What will the 49ers get out of Trent Taylor and Jalen Hurd?
San Francisco could get some added reinforcements back heading into 2020 in wide receivers Trent Taylor and Jalen Hurd, both of whom spent 2019 on injured reserve.
This could be a massive bonus, considering what each player could potentially offer to the offense. It’s important to acknowledge Taylor’s 2017 rapport with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, which helped propel the Niners’ then-rookie to 19 third-down receptions for a first down — a stat line tied for ninth most among all pass catchers that year.
But Taylor has been banged up for the better part of the last two seasons, and it’s anyone’s guess if he’ll be a massive factor entering 2020.
Likewise, the 6-foot-5 Hurd was supposed to provide a substantial mismatch for Kyle Shanahan, and that helps explain why the 49ers used a third-round pick on the former collegiate running back turned wide receiver.
Yet Hurd’s back injury at the end of the preseason last year was serious enough to prevent him from traveling with the team. While he’s since been cleared to work out and published a video working out with Garoppolo, it’s yet to be determined whether or not Hurd will play a significant role with San Francisco this season.
At worst, Hurd’s goal is to merely stay healthy and meet lowly expectations. Remember, he has yet to play a regular-season down at the NFL level, so the hype should be tempered a bit.
And San Francisco’s Round 7 2020 draft selection of Tennessee wide receiver Jauan Jennings — another big-bodied receiver — could potentially spell the end of the Hurd experiment.
No. 2: How do the 49ers rookies, Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings, develop?
There’s rightfully a lot of attention devoted to rookies, especially those with high pedigrees.
This would be the case for one of San Francisco’s first-round NFL Draft additions this year, former Arizona State wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who enjoyed a near-1,200-yard receiving campaign with the Sun Devils in 2019 after largely being overshadowed the previous year by now-New England Patriots wideout N’Keal Harry.
Aiyuk, whom the Niners grabbed at No. 25 overall, has a lot of traits Kyle Shanahan likes at the position, including fluid route running and excellent game speed. Separation and explosiveness are there, too.
But until those traits are put together at the pro level, Aiyuk remains in the “promising” category only.
Jauan Jennings, meanwhile, is almost more intriguing as a prospect. His sluggish 4.72 40-yard time at the NFL Scouting Combine was a major reason he slipped out of days one or two of the NFL Draft, falling all the way to Round 7. While his lackluster speed isn’t a strength, the fact he broke 30 would-be tackles on 59 catches for the Volunteers last year indicates his play strength and ability to create yards after the catch.
These attributes could be what make Jennings stand out in training camp and the preseason, perhaps pushing one of a number of many other wide receivers off the 49ers’ 53-man roster this season.
No. 1: Can Dante Pettis bounce back out of Kyle Shanahan’s doghouse?
One of the prime reasons why the 49ers had to draft Brandon Aiyuk was the dramatic demise of second-year wide receiver Dante Pettis in 2019.
Late in 2018, Pettis was showing all the reasons why the Niners moved up in Round 2 of that year’s draft to grab the former Washington standout, and it wasn’t out of the question to assume the Niners would propel Pettis into a featured role heading into 2019.
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Except Pettis endured a terrible training camp, was publicly called out by Kyle Shanahan and ended up being an afterthought during the regular season, even being inactive during Super Bowl LIV.
Talk about a massive fall from grace.
Shanahan challenged Pettis again during the offseason. But merely looking at the numbers, it’s not hard to see why the third-year receiver is in jeopardy of missing out on the regular-season roster. Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel and Kendrick Bourne are essentially locks for the 53-man roster. Trent Taylor is probable, as is Jauan Jennings.
As things stand now, Pettis is competing with fellow depth wideouts Travis Benjamin, Jalen Hurd and Richie James, among others, for one of no more than six spots at the position on the roster.
Pettis could easily be a victim of the numbers game, which would be a notable fail for San Francisco’s notable 2018 draft investment. As such, he’ll command no shortage of attention between now and Week 1.