The 49ers selected the speedster from SMU with the last NFL Draft pick of the third round, and here’s how Danny Gray can make an instant impact.
About a month ago, new San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Danny Gray popped up on a Niner Noise article about potential Day 3 steals they might be able to target in the NFL Draft.
Sure enough, the Niners had that exact same idea.
The end of Round 3 is close enough to the third day to consider it prophetic, and San Francisco now has the sort of deep threat on the roster it hasn’t had since Marquise Goodwin.
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This is at the heart of why Gray could be a player who has an impact right away with the team.
OK, he’s not going to give you 50 catches in 2022 (most likely not at least), but he doesn’t have to with a packed offense headlined by the elite yards-after-the-catch duo of Deebo Samuel and tight end George Kittle, with Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings continuing to develop.
But while they’re all good at what they do, Gray is going to be the one who truly helps stretch the defense.
The move to the Trey Lance era at quarterback will add a much more vertical aspect to what’s been essentially a West Coast offense up to now. While you shouldn’t expect the 49ers to move away from the scheme that’s been successful under head coach Kyle Shanahan, you should expect the rocket arm of Lance to make teams warier of the Niners beating them over the top.
But to do this, they needed the sort of player that Gray is.
If Gray had better hands, he would have been selected on Friday night a lot earlier than he was, but otherwise, he has the elite speed to make teams respect the deep ball while still having the ability to contribute to the offense that values YAC ability in its receivers.
Drops are always a problem, but the Niners are going to be able to work with him about that. Kittle is a guy who almost never drops the ball, and he’s going to be able to work with him on that technique.
At the end of the day, Gray doesn’t have to be the top target or even the second target for San Francisco. He just has to do his role as a deep threat, even if it’s to be a decoy to contribute. The fact he doesn’t have to be the main guy on a rebuilding team but instead be a system player on a top offense with multiple All-Pros where almost none of the attention is going to be on him.
And if he can contribute even just 30 catches for 400 yards and a few touchdowns or so, that’s the sort of rookie season that’ll show he can perform the role he the 49ers need him to do.