49ers roster: 5 players on bubble who need strong training camp

No. 1: 49ers Wide Receiver Jalen Hurd

In all honesty, 2021 likely marks the final chance the Niners will give third-year wide receiver Jalen Hurd.

Hurd, San Francisco’s third-round pick from the 2019 draft, has yet to take a regular-season snap, although it’s not necessarily his fault. A serious back injury suffered during his rookie-year preseason ended that campaign, and he tore his ACL during training camp a year ago.

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That said, the 6-foot-4 collegiate running back turned receiver has all the physical traits to be a mismatch force at the pro level. Unfortunately, merely staying healthy needs to be Hurd’s primary goal this summer.

Even that might not be enough, though.

The 49ers have an open-ended competition for wide receiver depth spots on the 53-man roster, and Hurd should squarely be in the mix if he can get on the field. He spent most of OTAs rehabbing on the sidelines, which isn’t necessarily great. But if Hurd can figure out a way to get back onto the field and outperform many of the other wideouts vying for one of three, potentially four roster spots behind Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel, then he’ll hang around.

If not, Hurd might end up being relegated to the list of players who were promising but ultimately never panned out because of injury or other setbacks.