The 49ers receiving corps has gotten some recognition early in camp, but head coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t ready to celebrate the group yet.
San Francisco made a concerted effort to improve its receiving corps this offseason after Kendrick Bourne led the team’s receivers with 487 receiving yards last season. The 49ers added Deebo Samuel in Round 2 of the draft, then took Jalen Hurd the following round. They also signed veteran Jordan Matthews in free agency.
Adding that trio to a group with second-year receiver Dante Pettis, a healthy Marquise Goodwin and Trent Taylor, as well as Richie James and Bourne has given the 49ers depth at receiver they haven’t had since Shanahan’s arrival in 2017.
Still, the progress through the first three days of camp isn’t enough for Shanahan to get overly excited about.
“It’s still early. I thought maybe they took a little bit of a step forward today, but nothing to get real excited about,” the head coach told reporters at his Monday press conference. “It’s a long camp, and I want these guys to keep getting better. It was nice to have the pads out today, get a little bit more physical. Was able to do one-on-one and things like that, so that was fun. We’ve got some young guys in that group, and we’re going to ride them hard. I expect they’re going to have some ups and downs in this camp, but the pressure’s on them and I want it to be because they have the ability and we need them all to step up.”
Shanahan’s offense is among the NFL’s most dynamic, creative schemes. It relies heavily on receivers creating separation and generating big plays after the catch. Last year’s group couldn’t do that with injuries and inexperience rampant up and down the depth chart.
Now they’re healthy, more experienced and more talented, so the expectations for that group are substantially higher than they were at the end of last year.
There’s not likely to be one receiver who emerges as the dominant threat in the group, but early on, they’re showing how effective and deep they are. Having five or six reliable pass catchers plays into Shanahan’s hands when it comes to versatility and unpredictability.
While he’s right there’s a long way to go in camp before crowning the 49ers receiving corps, it’s also hard to ignore all the positive signs coming from that position through the first few days of camp.
