The San Francisco 49ers have to get better at wide receiver this offseason.
Their roster has several receivers set to be free agents, and they have an acute need for speed at the position after they looked slow coming down the stretch last season.
In a recent mock draft from Matt Barrows of The Athletic, he has the Niners selecting Indiana Hoosiers wide receiver Elijah Sarratt in the second round.
Barrows characterizes Sarratt as smart and savvy and writes that he could be a guy who plays right away, even though experience has borne out that head coach Kyle Shanahan demands a lot of his young receivers.
Sarratt had a good collegiate career. After recording over 1,000 receiving yards at James Madison University in 2023, he followed head coach Curt Cignetti to Indiana and had two more solid seasons.
Why 49ers may hone in on WR Elijah Sarratt
In 2024, Sarratt was a reliable target for quarterback Kurtis Rourke who ended up being drafted by the 49ers in 2025. Rourke did not play at all as he was injured for much of the year and was already behind Brock Purdy and Mac Jones on the depth chart, but the Niners seem to be high on Rourke, and he got some practice reps towards the end of the season.
Then in 2025, Sarratt became the favorite target of quarterback Fernando Mendoza who transferred from Cal. Sarratt had 830 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns in his final collegiate season, so he is a guy who knows how to score and could be a red-zone threat.
Mendoza is now widely expected to be taken by the Las Vegas Raiders with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Maybe if the Raiders want to double down on offense, they will take Sarratt with their second-round pick to pair him up with Mendoza.
That would be a similar move to when the Jacksonville Jaguars selected quarterback Trevor Lawrence with their first pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and then followed that up by selecting running back Travis Etienne later in the first round to pair Lawrence with his former Clemson teammate.
Even if the Niners are able to land Sarratt in the draft, they cannot be done with wide receiver additions. It may not be a bad idea to try to add at least one receiver in the draft, in free agency, and even through a trade if possible.
It's a big area of need for the Niners, so even if they got Sarratt, they simply can't be satisfied.