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What to Expect from 49ers Wide Receiver Jacob Cowing in 2025

Jacob Cowing is one of the most explosive players on the 49ers.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 8, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jacob Cowing (19) warms up before the game against the Chicago Bears at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images
Dec 8, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jacob Cowing (19) warms up before the game against the Chicago Bears at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images | Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Jacob Cowing is one of the most explosive players on the 49ers.

He ran a 4.38 at the NFL Scouting Combine last year and averaged 20 yards per catch this season as a rookie wide receiver. But he played just 106 snaps on offense and was targeted a mere six times. To his credit, he caught four of those passes. But whenever he was on the field, he always seemed to be last in the quarterback's progression, if he was in the progression at all.

The 49ers primarily used Cowing as their punt returner, and he wasn't particularly good. He averaged 8.8 yards per punt return while the average this season was 9.9 yards per return. For comparison, fellow rookie Ricky Pearsall averaged 13.7 yards per return. He should probably be the punt returner next season, not Cowing.

Cowing seems to be much more effective as a wide receiver than as a punt returner, but he may not be a good fit with Brock Purdy. Purdy is a smaller quarterback who likes throwing to taller receivers such as Jauan Jennings and George Kittle because Purdy can see them downfield when he's in the pocket.

Cowing is 5'8". So unless the 49ers call a shot play for Cowing in which he's the primary target, something they did roughly twice this season, he probably won't get the ball because Purdy probably won't find him late in his progression.

Cowing would be a better fit with a taller quarterback who has a strong arm and can take advantage of his speed.

Don't expect Cowing's role to change much on the 49ers.

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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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