This key 49ers rookie can take advantage of San Francisco's injury woes

The San Francisco 49ers are banged up right now. They are missing running back Christian McCaffrey (calf, Achilles), wide receiver Deebo Samuel (calf), and could be without tight end George Kittle (hamstring) for their Week 3 contest against the Los Angeles Rams.

These injuries provide an opportunity for rookie wide receiver Jacob Cowing to shine.

Obviously, this injury situation is not ideal. The fact that they are missing several of their most potent weapons on offense is going to make things very hard for them in the upcoming weeks.

At the same time, if one wants to take a more optimistic perspective, younger players now have a chance to thrive. Cowing is the rookie who can truly make a great first impression if he gets some opportunities with the Niners these next few weeks with their stars out.

Cowing was drafted by San Francisco in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of the University of Arizona. He had an impressive college career at both Arizona and University of Texas El Paso. He had over 1,300 receiving yards in his final year at UTEP before transferring to Arizona, and in his final college season, he hauled in 13 touchdown receptions.

Even though he is a shorter receiver at 5-foot-8, he has a lot of speed as evidenced by his 4.38 second 40-yard-dash time. He showcased that speed and his pass-catching abilities in the preseason, namely a great performance in preseason Week 2 against the New Orleans Saints in which he hauled in four catches for 51 yards. In the Week 3 exhibition finale against the Las Vegas Raiders, Cowing also caught a touchdown pass.

He has not seen much of any action at wide receiver in the regular season this year, though. Cowing has been limited to punt return duties and has gotten off to a bit of a shaky start as he muffed a punt in the Week 2 loss against the Minnesota Vikings that was fortuitously recovered by cornerback Isaac Yiadom.

Cowing will still serve in that role but has a huge opportunity to use his speed and explosiveness to assist the offense. With opposing defenses probably focusing most of their attention on No. 1 wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, Cowing could fly under the radar and find himself wide open especially with head coach Kyle Shanahan calling plays.

There are very few positives with all of these injuries, but Cowing can take advantage of the opportunity and help make some explosive plays for the Niners, which is exactly why they drafted him.

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