There’s not a higher-variance position on the San Francisco 49ers roster this season than wide receiver.
The 49ers have a ton of question marks at wide receiver thanks to injury, potential suspension, a rookie and two players entering their second seasons. San Francisco selected Ricky Pearsall in the first round last year. Three rounds later they selected Jacob Cowing. With Aiyuk’s status to start the season unknown, and not a ton of depth on the roster behind last year’s leading receiver Jauan Jennings, Pearsall and Cowing will get pushed to the forefront to compete for snaps.
Pearsall had flashes in his 11 games last season that provided optimism about him going into 2025. Cowing was a different story. He was primarily a special teams contributor with only four catches for 80 yards as a rookie. Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak on Wednesday said Cowing is using the offseason effectively to try and earn a larger offensive role this year.
“Yeah, we’ll get Jake as much involved as he shows his growth and development and what kind of camp he has,” Kubiak said. “And Jake has done an outstanding job of showing up to our offseason in great shape and he’s getting better. And Kyle says this all the time, but it’s so important for young players to show up to the offseason, just ready to get better. They’re in great shape. They can take these limited practices that we have with them to grow and get better. And Jake is doing a great job. He’s had a great offseason. He’s given himself a chance to get to camp and compete and to really contribute on offense.”
Ideally the 49ers would have Cowing in a third or fourth WR role, but there’s a real chance the club calls him to be a larger piece of the passing game at some point in his second season. His improvement will be vital to the quality of San Francisco’s depth at the position.
Kubiak said Pearsall will share similar responsibilities, even if his ceiling in the offense is higher.
“Ricky’s really in the same boat,” Kubiak said. “Him and Jake, I think they trained a lot together this offseason and they look awesome. It’s just physically they’re out there and they’re getting better every day. So, Ricky, both those guys were similar because they kind of had setbacks in the offseason. Jake had, I think an injury, Ricky had his issues in the offseason, so there was kind of a slow progression into the season for different reasons. And we expect both of those guys to keep improving the way they are and to be big contributors for us.”
Pearsall was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery the weekend before the 2024 regular season began. It cost him the first six weeks of the regular season. Even before that he struggled to stay on the field in training camp and the preseason because of hamstring and shoulder injuries.
If Pearsall and Cowing can both stay healthy for a full offseason program and training camp, the 49ers could erase a couple of the question marks in their receiving corps before the season begins.
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