Assuming that the 49ers keep both Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk this season, the addition of first-round receiver Ricky Pearsall gives Kyle Shanahan a different kind of target for which to scheme in that Pearsall is one of those guys who knows how to get open. But what about the deep ball? Aiyuk led the team last season with 15 catches on passes of 20 or more air yards, and George Kittle was second with seven. That’s worked just fine to date, but it also sets the table for Arizona’s Jacob Cowing, who the team took with the 135th overall pick in the fourth round.
In 2023, the 5′ 8⅜”, 163-pound Cowing had six receptions on passes of 20 or more air yards on a team where the deep ball wasn’t a feature. His tape shows a lot of speed potential, and in today’s NFL, teams are less concerned with smaller receivers, given the use of motion and multiple deployments to keep them open, and away from bigger, more aggressive defenders.
“Very similar to what we got with [WR] Ricky [Pearsall] in that there’s not a route that he can’t run,” Shanahan said of Cowing. “He starts outside the numbers and he’s got the speed to get on top of people and threaten with a go. He’s got the quickness. Inside he’d be a big problem with just how shifty he is. He can run screens and things like that. Very good punt returner. For his lack of size, he makes up with mentality. His mindset, when he does cut, he’s always accelerating out of a cut. He’s trying to violently go through people and when you’re smaller, you hope they’re faster and quicker, which he is, and anything that you wanna knock on a smaller guy he makes up for in his mindset.”
Greg Cosell and I are both fans, and we discussed Cowing’s potential in Shanahan’s offense in “The Xs and Os.”
New "Xs and Os with @gregcosell" The @49ers didn't just get Ricky Pearsall in the first round; they also picked up Arizona's Jacob Cowing in the fourth. Cowing is an underrated speed receiver, and I can't wait to see what Kyle Shanahan does with him. https://t.co/JMhhtEbb1O pic.twitter.com/yFKyRHkcGz
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) May 1, 2024
