SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings emerged as the 49ers’ triplets last season, in terms of their wide receivers.
Ditto for 2022?
An overlooked aspect to the 49ers’ 2021 draft class is that no wide receivers were in it.
That had not happened since 2003. For 18 consecutive years, they drafted at least one, from 2004 top pick Rashaun Woods to the 2019 choices of Aiyuk and Jennings.
A new streak must begin at month’s end.
The 49ers need to use one or more of their nine picks on a supersonic-speed receiver. Throwing in a tall target for Trey Lance wouldn’t hurt, either.
This is not about Samuel’s uncertain fate regarding a contract extension, unless an impasse yields a franchise-rattling, mind-boggling trade that skyrockets the need to replace him.
Nor is an extra receiver insurance in case Aiyuk returns to Kyle Shanahan’s doghouse after his 2021 midseason escape.
The 49ers need depth. They need speed. They need youth to develop alongside Lance – otherwise they should have traded for the big-ticket veterans like Davante Adams or Tyreek Hill.
Journeyman Marcus Johnson and Malik Turner came aboard Monday with an opportunity to win a job, for now. More options are bound to come, too.
Wide receivers appear plentiful in this month’s NFL draft, which really should be the case in every future draft the way college football’s spread offenses are grooming stars for the NFL’s pass-happy rules.
Here is how the wide receiver position looks entering the draft, which starts April 28:
WHO’S HERE
Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings, Ray-Ray McCloud, Marcus Johnson, Malik Turner, Austin Mack, Connor Wedington, KeeSean Johnson.
Analysis: Samuel, Aiyuk and Jennings came on strong in the 49ers’ late-season push, and the latter two receivers worked out this past month with Lance in Huntington Beach. McCloud was signed after a career-best receiving year with the Steelers, and before you imagine him as Shanahan’s long-sought slot weapon, McCloud’s No. 1 job is as a return specialist. Mohamed Sanu and Travis Benjamin were cast into free agency, so the 49ers have quite a young corps for new position coach Leonard Hankerson, who got promoted to replace Wes Welker (Miami Dolphins).
THE DRAFT’S DYNAMOS
Drake London (USC), Garrett Wilson (Ohio State), Chris Olave (Ohio State), Jameson Williams (Alabama).
Analysis: Plenty of power-conference products headline this draft’s class of wide receivers. London is a 6-foot-4 weapon who could be first off the board and head for a banner rookie season, a la Ja’Marr Chase last year. London, along with the Buckeyes’ duo, likely will be gone before the 49ers start drafting. Samuel, by the way, is featured in a NFL Draft commercial that compares Wilson’s versatility to Samuel. Williams tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the national championship game, and that hurts his stock, especially for a 49ers franchise with a tortured history of drafting ACL projects.
THE SENTIMENTAL PICK
Christian Watson was teammates at North Dakota State with Lance. That reunion is a must, right? It will cost too much to move back into the first round for that, most likely. But that is what 49ers fans are clamoring for, especially after the 6-4 Watson ran a 4.36-second 40-yard dash at the scouting combine. He had six touchdowns among his team-high 34 receptions (21.5-yard average) when he and Lance partnered toward the 2019 Football Championship Subdivision national title.
GO SPEED RACER
Benjamin figured to serve as the 49ers’ speed threat last season, but his only catch among seven targets came in the playoff opener. Marquise Goodwin, where have you gone? If the above-listed prospects are gone, maybe Shanahan can find a deep threat among these fastest-clocked wide receivers from the combine’s 40-yard catwalk:
Tyquan Thornton (Baylor; 4.28 seconds), Velus Jones (Tennessee; 4.31)Calvin Austin III (Memphis; 4.32), Danny Gray (SMU; 4.33), Bo Melton (Rutgers; 4.34), Skyy Moore (Western Michigan; 4.41), Alec Pierce (Cincinnati; 4.41), Jahan Dotson (Penn State; 4.43), Kevin Austin Jr. (Notre Dame; 4.43).
TOUCHDOWN MACHINES
Remember Woods, the guy who started the streak of 18 straight years in drafting wide receivers? Part of his appeal was his scoring prowess at Oklahoma State. Samuel sure had a knack for putting the ball in the box, as he liked to say. Who scores the most in this year’s crop?
UCLA’s Kyle Phillips led the Pac-12 with 10 touchdown catches, as many as Thornton had at Baylor. Nevada’s Romeo Doubs scored the first of his 11 touchdown as a senior in a win at Cal. Then there’s Western Kentucky’s 5-7 Jerreth Sterns, who had 17 touchdown receptions among 150 catches for 1,902 yards. Now that could make Sterns the ultimate slot machine for Shanahan.
DRAFT PICKS
Round One (none), Two (No. 61 overall), Three (Nos. 93, 105), Four (No. 134), Five (No. 172), Six (Nos. 187, 220, 221), Seven (No. 262).
