49ers roster: Richie James could see more field time in 2021

Seldom-used 49ers wide receiver Richie James benefited from not receiving any new faces from the Niners’ 2021 NFL Draft class.

Maybe 2021 is the year San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Richie James finally gets his chance to make a sizable impact on the offense.

The Niners’ seventh-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft out of MTSU has primarily been featured solely as a return specialist, only rarely getting his chances on offense despite flashing some promise here and there when opportunities were presented.

Over the last three years, this sort of made sense. Particularly heading into 2020 when San Francisco had already identified its top three wideouts: Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel and Kendrick Bourne.

Yet it took a slew of injuries for James to see more of the field. Even then, he only saw seven starts and was just modestly impactful during those chances.

Aside from his eye-popping nine-catch, 184-yard, one-touchdown performance against the Green Bay Packers amid a shorthanded Thursday Night Football matchup.

In the wake of Bourne leaving via free agency to the New England Patriots, the 49ers now have a need to identify the third best wide receiver on the roster behind Samuel and Aiyuk. Free agency saw only modest additions, former Arizona Cardinals wideout Trent Sherfield and the longtime veteran, Mohamed Sanu. And then the Niners elected not to take a wide receiver in the 2021 NFL Draft, breaking an 18-year streak of having done so and settling on UAB undrafted free agent Austin Watkins as the lone rookie addition.

A better route for James to see more field time in 2021? Perhaps.

49ers must see Richie James secure a slot role in training camp

With wide receiver Trent Taylor no longer in the mix, James’ primary competition this offseason is going to be Sherfield, Sanu, Watkins, River Cracraft, Travis Benjamin, Jauan Jennings and, to a lesser extent, Jalen Hurd.

There are those who continue to hype up Hurd. But after missing the last two years with serious injuries, his best bet, for now, is to merely stay healthy.

The slew of injuries San Francisco suffered last season led to James already becoming more of an offensive commodity in 2020. His offensive snap count last year jumped to 405 (37 percent), which is quite the contrast from the 18 percent and 19 percent of offensive snaps he saw in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

James’ massive breakout game against the Packers was an outlier. One shouldn’t automatically assume that’s what he’s capable of doing on a regular basis. Yet the contest did reveal better route-running and the ability to come up big in key situations, which weren’t quite as prevalent the previous two years.

Although one could look back at James’ 2019 numbers where he averaged 27.5 yards per reception (on just six catches that year), which would have ranked first among all NFL pass-catchers had he qualified for enough grabs.

Yet none of that truly matters when trying to evaluate what James’ role will be on the offense this season.

The 49ers will likely keep five, perhaps six wide receivers on their 53-man roster when Week 1 rolls around. Of the entire group, only Samuel and Aiyuk are the two locks to make the cut. James might have an edge over new additions like Watkins or Sherfield, although a strong camp from a veteran like Sanu could mean James gets pushed back down again on the depth chart.

But the Niners may be better off going with youth, electing to push the younger, faster James into a role over someone in whom San Francisco has little long-term interest vested.

Either way, if James is going to make his name known on the 49ers offense, the time is now.