49ers sign Mohamed Sanu to bolster wide receiver depth

The San Francisco 49ers have signed wide receiver Mohamed Sanu to bolster their depth.

The San Francisco 49ers have decided to add some veteran depth to their wide receiver room in the form of Mohamed Sanu.

In what should come as surprise to nobody, the 49ers felt the need to add a veteran wide receiver given their current situation at the position and Sanu certainly makes a ton of sense.

The 49ers will be without Deebo Samuel for at least the next two weeks as he remains on IR recovering from his broken foot. Meanwhile, Richie James was injured in Sunday’s season opener and will likely miss Week 2 with a hamstring injury.

San Francisco was already shorthanded with both Samuel and first-round rookie Brandon Aiyuk out for Week 1. There is some optimism that Aiyuk could return this Sunday against the New York Jets, but that remains uncertain.

So in actuality, the 49ers had three healthy receivers on the active roster — Kendrick Bourne, Dante Pettis, and Trent Taylor — prior to Sanu’s signing.

There are also the likes of Jauan Jennings, Kevin White, and River Cracraft down on the practice squad who could be promoted before Sunday. But at the moment, it’s just the aforementioned three and Sanu who are fully healthy.

Mohamed Sanu is a perfect signing for the 49ers.

The decision to sign Sanu is hardly a surprising one given his history with 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. Sanu played under Shanahan back in 2016 when the coach was the offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons.

Now reunited in San Francisco, Sanu will look to turn his career around after a difficult stint in New England.

After spending three and a half years with the Atlanta Falcons, Sanu was shipped to the Patriots at last year’s trade deadline. There was some interest from the 49ers at the time, but the reality was that they were never going to match the second-round-pick price that New England paid.

Unfortunately, Sanu didn’t exactly live up to expectations with the Patriots playing in eight games and hauling in just 26 catches for 207 yards and a touchdown despite being targeted nearly 50 times.

For whatever reason, Sanu just didn’t click with the Patriots. But now that he’s reunited with his former coordinator, the hope is that things will be different.

Sanu is expected to arrive at the 49ers’ facility in Santa Clara on Wednesday for his first round of coronavirus testing. If all goes according to plan. he should be able to practice on Friday.

It remains to be seen if Sanu will be able to play this week against the Jets and the same goes for Aiyuk.

But the 49ers are evidently preparing for reinforcements.