Let's overreact to these 5 things from 49ers OTAs
By Peter Panacy
49ers OTA overreaction No. 3: Ronnie Bell will make 53-man roster
The Niners used a seventh-round pick on Michigan wide receiver Ronnie Bell last April. If they used a fifth-round pick, analysts still would have called it a great selection.
Bell was electrifying during rookie minicamp, and he was also a standout during the first week of OTAs, too. And considering San Francisco has a bit of a heated competition at the back end of the receiving depth chart, Bell standing out for the right reasons is a good thing.
Except his Week 2 of OTAs wasn't particularly great.
Adding to this: Quite a few drops at 49ers OTAs today. They let the ball hit the ground a few times — Ronnie Bell twice, Chris Conley once, to name some of the instances.
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) May 31, 2023
Deommodore Lenoir, who's now wearing #2, was all over Bell on one of the drops
Kyle Shanahan hates drops. It's one of the negative things that can put a receiver in the doghouse regardless of draft position or contract, and Bell doesn't have either going for him anyway.
True, one bad practice isn't going to seal Bell's fate. But other receivers on the fringe, such as Chris Conley, Willie Snead IV and Danny Gray, want nothing more than the rookie to fail.