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The 49ers' wide receiver corps is an issue heading into training camp

Passing the ball might be an adventure for the 49ers this year.
Grant Cohn|
Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (14) celebrates with wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) after scoring a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (14) celebrates with wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) after scoring a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Passing the ball might be an adventure for the 49ers this year.

Sure, they still have Brock Purdy, George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey. They're three good players. But, the wide receiver corps is a major issue.

Deebo Samuel is gone -- he requested a trade, so the 49ers sent him to the Washington Commanders for a fifth-round pick. And now, Samuel reportedly has just 8 percent body fat.

Brandon Aiyuk hasn't returned yet from a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus. In fact, the 49ers just placed him on the Physically Unable to Perform List and he is expected to miss all of training camp and probably the first few games.

Ricky Pearsall also was placed on the PUP List with a hamstring injury he's had all offseason. It's unclear if the 49ers will activate him to the 90-man roster before the first practice of training camp on Wednesday.

Jauan Jennings is taking advantage of the 49ers' problems at this position by demanding a raise and an extension or a trade. So far, the 49ers haven't given him either, which means he could "hold in" during camp.

Demarcus Robinson is facing a suspension for a DUI arrest and could miss the first few games of the season.

That leaves Jacob Cowing, who has four career catches, and Jordan Watkins, who's a rookie, as the top wide receivers on the 49ers' depth chart right now if they had to play a game this week. Not ideal.

Of course, the 49ers won't play an actual game until September, so things could change. But for now, wide receiver is the most troubling position group on the team. And if Pearsall keeps getting injured and Jennings holds in, the 49ers will be in major trouble.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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