With 49ers OTAs in full swing, we’re taking a position-by-position look at the team’s roster to figure out the strengths, weaknesses, potential dark horses to make the team and other nuggets about the players who will be competing for jobs on the 53-man roster.
The 49ers are in a good place at wide receiver. That doesn’t preclude them from needing to answer some key short and long-term questions over the next season or two.
We’ll put the long-term questions aside for now since they can’t and won’t be answered anytime in the near future.
Instead we’ll zero in on this year where the top of the team’s WR depth chart is strong. The duo of Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel is formidable. Jauan Jennings has also carved out a really nice role in the offense the last two seasons. Everything beyond that is up in the air.
This offseason the coaching staff will need to determine first how many receivers they’re going to keep. Strong arguments can be made for keeping five or six. Then there’s the matter of which five or six to keep, because after the Aiyuk-Samuel-Jennings trio there aren’t any players whose roster spot is carved into stone.
Let’s run through the receivers on the 90-man roster to get a lay of the land a position that could see significant turnover this year: