With three games left in the 2024 season, the San Francisco 49ers are looking to compete hard and turn the page to the offseason, as their playoff hopes as good as gone following a disappointing 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams last week.
It's been a tough year for the 49ers, marked by injuries and overall regression, leading to missed opportunities in winnable games and a 6-8 record to this point.
Some of those issues have come at the wide receiver position, where the team lost star wideout Brandon Aiyuk to a torn ACL, while the team missed Deebo Samuel for a game and Jauan Jennings for two games, prompting them to go deeper into their depth at times.
As a result, 2024 first-round pick Ricky Pearsall has seen the field quite a bit over the past few weeks after returning from a gunshot wound sustained during an unfortunate incident in the offseason. Additionally, veteran Chris Conley has seen good action as well, working as the other boundary receiver behind the top starters.
But, Pearsall's production has significantly slowed down since his first three weeks, as he's had just two catches on nine targets for 21 yards over the past five weeks, struggling to develop a rapport with quarterback Brock Purdy.
He's still earned around 20-25 snaps per game, but the production simply hasn't been there, which has been an issue at the wideout position all year long.
Additionally, fifth-round pick Jacob Cowing has failed to get any offensive snaps all season long, despite the injuries and inconsistencies at the position, playing in a total of 21 passing snaps this year, earning two catches in that time frame.
With the season winding down to a close, where are both players in their development at the moment?
"I think Ricky's doing a hell of a job," head coach Kyle Shanahan said this week. "I know everyone talks about the gunshot wound, but what people don't realize is, I think I said a couple weeks ago, but he only had three practices before that gunshot wound. He missed all OTAs and all of training camp, and then to get that gunshot, basically went from Florida to us halfway through the season.
"So, I thought he did a hell of a job coming back from that, trying to learn and practice as he goes. He's been banged up a little bit, started in Green Bay. I think he's fought through that here the last couple weeks. I thought he did some real good stuff on tape last week. He had a couple big catches. I think he's going the right direction and hope it keeps improving here these next three games."
As for Cowing, the wideout has been active in nearly every game this season, but he's still trying to earn the coaching staff's trust on offense.
"I want him to keep trying to earn it," Shanahan said about Cowing. "I think he's come a long way here in this last month. I know he had that setback with the concussion, missing that game. But no, I think he's getting closer to earning more time out there but usually when Deebo is not out there in 21 personnel, Ricky [Pearsall's] out there. When we go 11, it depends on the play, but it's always been [Chris] Conley or Jake [Cowing] for one of the three, not just one position. They've got to back up all three in 11."
The 49ers currently have all three of their top receivers under contract for 2025. Brandon Aiyuk will enter the first year of a four-year extension he signed this past offseason, Deebo Samuel still has one year left on his three-year extension, and Jauan Jennings has another year left on his contract.
But, moves could be made, which may place a bigger emphasis on the rookies to perform next season. So, now could be the best time to see what they've got with a bigger sample size before re-evaluating the position in the offseason.