49ers roster predictions: Who’s in, out at wide receiver in 2021?

The 49ers have a not-so-easy task of figuring out how their wide receiver depth chart will look in 2021, but let’s offer up some pre-training camp predictions.

As of right now, the San Francisco 49ers essentially have only two of their five or six spots at wide receiver for the 2021 53-man roster locked up, and they’ll go to Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel.

It’s about as murky a situation at the position as head coach Kyle Shanahan has faced, arguably only matched by when he took over the team back in 2017 and was engineering a complete roster makeover.

On the positive side, Aiyuk and Samuel are a solid one-two combination. But in the wake of now-New England Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne leaving via free agency, the No. 3 spot is a full void, and the remaining slots on the depth chart are completely up for grabs.

Organized team activities gave us some indication of who’s standing out. Yet the real challenge and indications aren’t going to come until training camp later this summer.

Either way, it’s never a bad time for predictions, so let’s hammer out which players wind up making the cut and which players are on the outs before Week 1.

In: 49ers WRs Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel

This is a no-brainer.

Perhaps the only question is whether or not both Aiyuk and Samuel can stay healthy and contribute together at the same time, as injuries and COVID-19 limited Aiyuk to just 12 games last season, whereas foot and hamstring injuries held Samuel to just five games played.

And it seemed, almost on a weekly basis, that when one player was available, the other was out.

But let’s forget all that for a moment. The Niners can’t have that bad a string of injury luck again, right? Not according to the law of averages at least.

Aiyuk could cement himself as the No. 1 player on the depth chart despite Samuel’s increased experience and versatility. As a pass-catching threat, Aiyuk’s elusiveness and speed make the perfect complement for Samuel’s physicality and toughness.

Luckily, it doesn’t exactly matter who’s listed atop the depth chart here. As long as both are healthy, they’ll contribute.