Tag: Kendrick Bourne

Report: 49ers WR Kendrick Bourne tested positive for COVID-19

The 49ers’ receiving corps will be even thinner now without Bourne in the mix.

The San Francisco 49ers closed their facility on Wednesday after a test for COVID-19 came back positive. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, wide receiver Kendrick Bourne was the one who tested positive.

The 49ers are scheduled to face the Packers on Thursday night and as of now, the game is on as planned. That could change, of course, depending on the results of other COVID-19 tests between now and game time.

Bourne’s positive test is yet another blow for the 49ers, who will already be without Deebo Samuel, Jimmy Garoppolo and George Kittle against Green Bay. Garoppolo and Kittle are out indefinitely, while Samuel is still recovering from a hamstring injury.

The 49ers just cut Dante Pettis this week after his costly fumble in Week 8, thinning the receiving corps even more. Richie James was a limited participant in practice Tuesday after missing Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks, so hopefully he’ll be able to play against Green Bay.

Watch: CJ Beathard hits Kendrick Bourne for touchdown

The 49ers got a touchdown from CJ Beathard to Kendrick Bourne.

The 49ers offense got a little spark to open the second half when CJ Beathard replaced Jimmy Garoppolo. A couple Dolphins penalties extended the drive for San Francisco, and Beathard found Kendrick Bourne for a touchdown on a sweet design from head coach Kyle Shanahan.

49ers camp: Kendrick Bourne’s big day a good sign for ailing WR corps

Kendrick Bourne stood out at 49ers training camp on a day they badly needed him.

The 49ers on Monday got a much-needed big day from one of their wide receivers. On a day where reports surfaced that Jalen Hurd may have torn his ACL, marking the third 49ers receiver to go down with an injury this offseason, Kendrick Bourne stepped up.

The fourth-year undrafted free agent snagged a pair of touchdown passes and a long throw from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo for a trio of highlight plays on the first day of padded practice.

Bourne was already going to be a key player in the 49ers’ receiving corps given his experience and rapport with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. He’ll be thrust into an even brighter spotlight if Samuel misses any regular season time.

Last season Bourne slid nicely into a third receiver role behind Samuel and Emmanuel Sanders. He had 44 targets and hauled in 30 receptions for 358 yards and five touchdowns to tie with George Kittle for the team lead. While the raw numbers aren’t eye-popping, Bourne converted 23 of his 30 catches into either first downs or touchdowns.

Now he could be getting an expanded role where his good hands and ability to create separation may result in even greater production than last season.

One training camp practice doesn’t mean Bourne is en route to a 1,000-yard season or something lofty like that, but it was a typical Bourne showing. He came up with a strong day at a time San Francisco needed a receiver to shine. If he continues putting together a good camp, don’t be surprised to see him with a much heavier workload in 2020.

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5 49ers that should take a major step forward in 2020

The 49ers have a slew of players on their roster that need to make big jumps in 2020 if they’re going to make another Super Bowl run.

The 49ers returned largely the same roster from last season. Simply moving laterally won’t be enough if they want to make another jaunt back to the Super Bowl though.

With so many players coming back, another deep postseason run will require a handful of players to take significant steps forward from where they were a year ago.

Here are five players who will have to thrive in expanded roles if the 49ers are going to repeat last year’s success:

WR Kendrick Bourne

(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Bourne was remarkably consistent over the last two seasons, and fell into a productive role as a third receiver last year. Since 2018, Bourne has 72 receptions for 845 yards. Of his 72 catches, 53 have gone for either a first down or a touchdown. A go-to target to convert first downs and touchdowns is valuable, but the 49ers may need more from Bourne in 2020. With question marks all over the roster at that position and a truncated offseason, Bourne’s familiarity with the offense and his rapport with Garoppolo put him in line for his most productive year as a pro.

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Kendrick Bourne’s Super Bowl guarantee a double-edged sword for 49ers

Kendrick Bourne guaranteed the 49ers will win the Super Bowl in 2021. That confidence is a double-edged sword.

The moment is never too big for 49ers wide receiver Kendrick Bourne. Head coach Kyle Shanahan believes it’s one of the qualities that allows Bourne to continually come up with catches in big spots. The good news for the 49ers is Bourne’s confidence hasn’t waned in the wake of a loss in Super Bowl LIV. On Saturday he tweeted “We gonna win the super bowl, you heard it here first” in response to photos of him and 49ers linebacker Kwon Alexander after a workout.

That extreme confidence in early May is a double-edged sword for a team that won 13 games and an NFC crown last season.

A potential pitfall is that the guarantee of a Super Bowl win exudes some semblance of complacency. The 49ers, even after trading away DeForest Buckner, losing Joe Staley to retirement and letting Emmanuel Sanders walk in free agency, still have arguably the best roster in the conference. It’d be easy to fall into a trap where they sleepwalk through a few games and wind up falling short of expectations.

It’s not easy to hit 13 wins in the NFL. No matter how good a team is there are always going to be bounces here and there that turn a close win into a close loss. The 49ers could realistically be better this season and still not get to that 13-win mark. It becomes exponentially more difficult if the club enters the year with the mindset that their playoff ticket is already punched.

On the other hand, Bourne’s confidence manifesting in harder work and a desire to improve on last season to reach the NFL’s mountaintop is unambiguously good for the 49ers. Individually, he’s one of the players they’re going to have to rely on a lot while rookie wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk gets his NFL legs under him. While Bourne’s ideal role isn’t as the No. 2 target, he’s certainly capable of holding that spot down for the first part of the year.

Regardless of where the confidence is founded, the fact the 49ers aren’t reeling or searching for answers to major problems after the Super Bowl is a good early indicator that they’ll be able to bounce back from a spot teams historically struggle with. They had a couple plays that didn’t go their way on each side of the ball that ultimately decided the game. There aren’t any major scheme or personnel changes that need to be made if they’re going to contend for a title.

Ultimately Bourne’s boast is an offseason tweet that won’t have any impact on wins and losses. But it could act as an indicator of the organization’s mindset heading into a tough 2020 campaign. They have to get better, but their path to winning the title is clear. If they avoid complacency, beat teams they should beat and pull out a few close wins against the NFL’s other contenders, they just might make good on their receiver’s guarantee.

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Kendrick Bourne officially returns to 49ers for 2020 season

Kendrick Bourne’s return was mostly a formality, but he officially signed his second-round tender.

Kendrick Bourne’s return to the 49ers was mostly a matter of formality once the team placed a second-round tender on the restricted free agent. He officially signed that one-year tender on Monday.

To sign the 24-year-old, a team would’ve had to give a second-round pick to San Francisco. Bourne is a fine player, but that’s a steep asking price that indicates how much the 49ers wanted to ensure the receiver was back in Santa Clara next season.

The second-round tender will earn Bourne $3.259 million in 2020 according to Over the Cap. He’ll become an unrestricted free agent after the season if he doesn’t agree to a long-term deal with the 49ers before then.

Bourne signed as an undrafted free agent in 2017 and quickly made a mark. He played in 11 games his rookie year with 16 catches for 257 yards, then followed that up with 42 catches for 487 yards and four touchdowns in Year 2. The 487 yards were a team-high for wide receivers in the 2018 season.

His production didn’t climb much in 2019, but he was among the team’s most impactful receivers thanks to his nose for first downs and the end zone. He caught 30 passes last season, 23 of which went for first downs or touchdowns. That continued into the postseason where five of his six catches went for first downs or touchdowns.

With so much unproven talent on the roster, and a potentially truncated offseason, Bourne’s value could reach a new peak in 2020. He has a good rapport with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and could straddle the WR2 and WR3 line depending on how the rest of the talent develops in the receiving corps.

While the 49ers surely would’ve taken a second-round pick for a team to sign Bourne, his return will be equally welcome for a club that needs as much reliability at receiver as possible.

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Matt Breida, Kendrick Bourne receive 2nd-round RFA tenders, Elijah Lee not tendered

The 49ers gave second-round tenders to two of their restricted free agents.

The 49ers on Tuesday made a pair of moves that put them in line to retain two of their offensive playmakers who are set to be restricted free agents. The team announced it tendered one-year contracts to wide receiver Kendrick Bourne and running back Matt Breida. ESPN’s Dianna Russini reported linebacker Elijah Lee was not tendered.

Both Bourne and Breida were given second-round tenders. That means their deals are worth $3,259,000 for one season. Since they’re restricted free agents, they’re still allowed to negotiate with other teams, and the 49ers will have right of first refusal and can match any offer. If they choose not to match, the signing team will be required to send San Francisco a second-round pick.

Bourne became one of the three receivers the 49ers leaned on last season while turning into a first-down and touchdown machine. Of his 30 catches in the regular season, 23 went for either a first down or a touchdown.

While Breida did fall out of the rotation last season, he’s still a valuable member of the 49ers’ backfield. Over the last two seasons he’s averaging 5.2 yards per carry on 267 attempts. His speed makes him a home-run threat every time he touches the ball. The 2019 season ended with a thud for him though after he fumbled on three of his final 16 carries. With some uncertainty in the backfield going into the year, Breida has a bounce-back opportunity in 2020 if he returns to the 49ers.

For Lee, not getting tendered doesn’t mean he won’t return to the 49ers. He played sparsely last year with most of his action coming on special teams in his eight games. They chose not to place an original round tender on Lee that would’ve cost the team $2,133,000 for the season. Instead, they’ll forego their right of first refusal while he explores the open market. He could wind up back in San Francisco if he doesn’t land a deal elsewhere.

Kendrick Bourne developed into vital piece of 49ers’ offense

Kendrick Bourne is a restricted free agent, but the 49ers can’t let him get away.

Former undrafted wide receiver Kendrick Bourne has rapidly become an essential piece of the 49ers’ receiving corps.

Bourne, an unrestricted free agent in 2020, has consistently produced across his three seasons in San Francisco. Since signing as an undrafted rookie out of Eastern Washington in 2017, he’s posted 88 catches for 1,102 yards and 9 touchdowns in 43 games. Bourne has also been reliable with 32 games played across the last two seasons.

He caught 16 balls for 257 yards in 11 games as a rookie. He followed that up by leading the team’s receivers in yards in 2018 with 487. That year he also posted a career-best 42 catches and four touchdowns. He set a new career-high with five touchdowns in 2019, while putting up 358 yards on 30 receptions.

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While the numbers aren’t eye-popping, it’s apparent how essential Bourne is as a third wide receiver. 23 of his 30 catches this season either went for first downs or touchdowns. Last year it was 30 of his 42 receptions.

It’s hard to put a finger on anything that stands out about Bourne’s game other than he gets open and catches the football. He’s especially effective in short and intermediate routes and has a knack for knowing exactly where he needs to get for a first down. Including the playoffs, Jimmy Garoppolo threw at Bourne 53 times. They connected on 36 of those for 446 yards, 6 touchdowns and one interception. Garoppolo racked up a 123.6 passer rating when targeting Bourne – his highest among all the 49ers’ receivers.

Perhaps the two best showings of the year for Bourne both came on the road. In a sloppy, wet game in Washington, he stepped up as one of the team’s so-called “mudders,” and hauled in three receptions for 69 yards in a 9-0 49ers win. He was Garoppolo’s only reliable receiver in that game.

Then in New Orleans, Bourne had three catches for 18 yards. All of his receptions went for six yards, including two touchdowns and a big third-down conversion in the fourth quarter.

There was nothing particularly special about either showing, but they perfectly encapsulated why Bourne is so crucial to San Francisco’s passing game.

The 2019 campaign wasn’t all perfect though. Bourne had some issues with drops, especially in the Week 10 loss to Seattle where he had a pair of crucial drops. However, he generally bounced back from those and it didn’t become a lasting problem for the 24-year-old, who posted four drops all year.

Given that he’s a restricted free agent, the 49ers aren’t likely to lose Bounre in the offseason. His return is a must while San Francisco irons out the rest of the receiving corps. Deebo Samuel will be back. After that, there are a ton of question marks. A reliable pass catcher like Bourne, who Garoppolo trusts, and has a track record of converting first downs and touchdowns, is essential.

Bourne’s role may not expand, but that’s okay given how good he’s been in the space he’s occupied the last couple of seasons. As long as he’s back and catching first downs and touchdowns as a third or fourth option in the offense, the 49ers passing game should be in very good shape.

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All Kendrick Bourne does is move the chains and score TDs

Third-year undrafted receiver Kendrick Bourne is carving out an important niche in the 49ers’ receiving corps.

Kendrick Bourne isn’t at the top of the list of the 49ers’ most important players. He’s not even at the top of the list of their most important wide receivers. However, the role he’s carved out in the 49ers’ receiving corps has turned him into a vital component of San Francisco’s No. 2-ranked scoring offense.

A quick look at the numbers don’t reveal anything mind-blowing from the third-year receiver. He had 30 catches for 358 yards and five touchdowns. In fact, Bourne was probably known more for his rough game against Seattle where he had multiple key drops than anything else this season.

However, a deeper dive into the numbers shows how vital his role is as the team’s third receiver behind Deebo Samuel and Emmanuel Sanders.

Bourne caught 30 passes this season. 23 of those went for first downs. Five of them went for touchdowns.

His first reception of the year came in Week 1 against the Buccaneers – a 9-yard catch on a second-and-22.

His second catch came the following week against the Bengals – a 4-yard catch on first-and-10.

After Week 2, every one of Bourne’s catches went for either a first down or a touchdown.

There was perhaps no better encapsulation of Bourne’s value than in Week 14 against the Saints. In that game, Bourne caught three passes for 18 yards. His first was a 6-yard touchdown catch that tied the game at 7-7.

His second catch was a 6-yard grab on third-and-6 in the fourth quarter with the 49ers trailing by two. Bourne caught the pass short of the sticks, then made a nice move to turn upfield and get across the first-down marker.

His final catch was another 6-yard touchdown on the same drive as his third-down conversion.

Three catches, two touchdowns, and a huge third-down conversion. That’s become the norm for Bourne in an offense that’s desperately needed additional playmakers.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan earlier in the year talked about Bourne and why he’s so effective in big moments:

“He has a lot of fun out there,” Shanahan said. “Sometimes he will make mistakes, but I also think it’s a gift and a curse, it’s also why he’s never freaking out out there, either. He is loose, and the game’s not too big for him, no matter what the situation is.”

Bourne, an undrafted rookie in 2017, is in the final year of his rookie contract and carved out a niche in the 49ers’ offense that makes him extremely valuable for the team moving forward.

Going into the postseason, players like George Kittle, Emmanuel Sanders, Deebo Samuel and Raheem Mostert will get a lot of the attention. Bourne and his knack for converting third downs and finding the end zone is just as vital to the 49ers’ success though.

Studs and duds from 49ers tough loss to Atlanta

Who was good and who wasn’t in the 49ers’ loss to the Falcons?

The good news coming out of Sunday is the 49ers clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2013. The bad news is that with their loss against the Falcons, the 49ers dropped to the No. 5 seed in the NFC, going from home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with a first-round bye, to a road game in the wild card round.

The 49ers were missing several key pieces on defense and it showed, especially late in the game. Here are the studs and duds from their upset 29-22 loss to Atlanta:

Stud: TE George Kittle

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Kittle followed his game-winning play last week with a monster performance. He posted a career-high 13 receptions for 134 yards. The 134 receiving yards accounted for 67 percent of Jimmy Garoppolo’s 200 passing yards. Garoppolo also targeted the tight end on 17 of his 34 throws. Kittle was the largest part of the 49ers’ offense on Sunday, and without him the game would have been nowhere near as close as it was. The 49ers are used to Kittle being an important piece, but he can’t continue as their lone receiving threat if they’re going to make a run in the postseason.

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