It's no surprise that the San Francisco 49ers need to bounce back after a dismal 2024. The Super Bowl hangover got the Niners in a bad way, and the team fell apart on their way to 6-11. Injuries didn't help. Losing Christian McCaffrey was a brutal loss, and the team as a whole struggled to adjust due to him missing time.
Without their star player, the Niners' ground game was all but gone. That would've been bad enough if the passing game didn't also falter. Brock Purdy underwhelmed, and only tight end George Kittle had a year worth talking about. Things were so bad that star wide receiver Deebo Samuel finally got his wish to play for a new team, landing with the Washington Commanders via trade.
This puts even more pressure on fellow wideout Brandon Aiyuk to step up and produce as the team's sole stud wide receiver. It's a position that many hope he'll thrive in once he's fully healthy, but until then, the pressure will fall on the other wideouts. Turns out, while they did lose Samuel and Aiyuk could be out for some time longer, the team does still have Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall to lean on.
Jennings nearly hit 1,000 yards last year and was so good, he's now hoping for a new contract. He may deserve it, too. Only time will tell about that. Pearsall had an awesome rookie season, hitting 400 yards on the year and proving his worth as a potential long-term option as a starter for the Niners.
The help doesn't end there, as the team also landed Demarcus Robinson in the offseason, giving the Niners quite the trifecta while Aiyuk is out with an injury. When he returns from his knee injury, the 49ers may have one of the best wide receiver rooms in the league.
Jordan Watkins May Be Buried in the 49ers WR Rotation
That's why it's pretty easy to say that if one player isn't going to see the field this season, it's Jordan Watkins. He's the fourth-round wide receiver out of Ole Miss that the team drafted. As a fourth-round selection, the hope is that he develops into a good player for a team, but few NFL teams ever expect a fourth-rounder to be a player they rely heavily on out of training camp.
So it's all the more likely that he won't see the field at all this year with the influx of talent ahead of him. Now, if Aiyuk is out for a long period of time, or if Jennings gets traded, as some rumors suggest he might, then Watkins goes from never seeing the field to being a huge player in the offense overnight.
Let's hope that if he does hit the field, he's ready to produce on a major level.