Speedy Travis Benjamin Can Revitalize 49ers Slot
When reviewing head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offenses throughout the years, successful components return: physical tight ends, overachieving unknown running backs, imposing outside threats and fleet-footed slot receivers.
The 49ers have the first three roles carved out, but a quick presence on the inside is still to be determined.
Kendrick Bourne led receivers with 37.1% of snaps in the slot (per playerprofiler.com) and had a strong year, but would benefit from a faster counterpart. Although Deebo Samuel lines up everywhere, a more traditional slot receiver is needed.
It wasn’t until Emmanuel Sanders (22.7% snaps in slot) was acquired that the 49ers felt the impact of a quality slot receiver.
With Sanders in New Orleans, Shanahan can either roll with Bourne or Trent Taylor, or opt for the imperfect, yet electrifying Travis Benjamin.
Benjamin has 3,143 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns (10 over 40 yards) in eight seasons.What prevented him from making a consistent impact was his long history of injuries.
After years of limitations, can Benjamin finally find his form and grant the 49ers the perfect slot receiver for Shanahan’s offense?
Looking at Shanahan’s first year as an offensive coordinator (the 2008 Houston Texans), there are a few similarities with the 2019 49ers. Before George Kittle, Samuel and Sanders, it was Owen Daniels, Andre Johnson and Kevin Walter.
Johnson, one of the best receivers of the decade, and Daniels, a highly-productive Super Bowl-winning tight end, were vital to Houston’s success just like Kittle and Samuel.
The less memorable Walter was the first of many Shanahan slot receivers. That role continued with different molds of the same clay. Some were more established (Washington’s Santana Moss), and some were unknown (Cleveland and Atlanta’s Taylor Gabriel), but all played a key role in the offense by stretching the field and picking holes in the defense.
Walter (4.4 40-yard dash), Moss (4.31) and Gabriel (4.4) all had exceptional speed. That’s a key reason why Bourne (4.68) and Taylor (4.63) don’t provide the same results.
But Benjamin has the speed to compete with anyone. His time (4.36) has likely increased a few milliseconds since 2012, but he can still burn defensive backs. Whether in the slot or on the outside, the 49ers will need Benjamin's wheels after trading Marquise Goodwin.
Benjamin isn’t limited to the slot. Plenty of his big plays came on the outside and in the return game. He’s hard to keep up with in the open field and Shanahan will use that to his advantage.
Outside of health, Benjamin’s usage depends on the availability of San Francisco’s younger receivers. Samuel and Jalen Hurd, when healthy, are extremely versatile weapons and will line up in the slot a few times. First-round pick Brandon Aiyuk ran a 4.5 40 at the NFL Scouting Combine and could steal a lot of his go-routes as well.
Yet, it’s hard to deny Benjamin’s on-field production. If he can put together his first healthy season since 2017, the 49ers would reap major rewards.
