The Full, Extended 49ers Wide Receiver Depth Chart

The San Francisco 49ers are on pace for a 17-0 season with 34 long-term wide receiver injuries.

Both of these, presumably, will come back down to Earth at some point, as neither is really sustainable. But it’s been a heck of a start for the team dismissed as the third-best team in a two-team division. After a fairly through defeat of the Rams in Melbourne, the 49ers played essentially a perfect offensive game against the Dolphins last week. It was the first time in 40 years the 49ers offense scored touchdowns on their first five possessions of a game, and thus the 49ers are feeling damn good about themselves. Their +42 point differential is the highest through two games since 1996; the best the team has looked to start a year since the dynasty. So after an offseason about hearing about the defending Super Bowl champs in Seattle and the burgeoning superteam in Los Angeles, 49ers fans are deservedly feeling their oats a little bit.

Mind you, any discussion about the Dolphins game has to have a significant asterisk because of the massive talent gap between a standard NFL team and the Dolphins half-price, spending-the-year-dead-for-tax-reasons group.

And there is, and should be, concern over a defense that could not get off the field in the first half. The 49ers only had two drives in the first half, because Miami marched down the field on them with the running game before stalling out in the red zone twice. There’s a reason I phrased this as “perfect offensive game” rather than a perfect game, period; someone is going to bully the 49ers’ defensive line this year, and the 49ers may have to score 35 points a game to take some of the pressure off of that depleted front.

Still. It doesn’t matter how bad the opposing defense played; Brock Purdy was essentially perfect on the day. He led all passers in Week 2 with 209 DYAR. He was 20-for-22, with one of those incompletions being a drop and the other being a throwaway. He completed all 10 of his downfield passes, the most completions without an incompletion by a quarterback on downfield passes since Week 5 of 2021. He had 1.01 EPA per play, the fourth-most out of 2,359 qualifying games in the SumerSports database. He also happened to lead the 49ers in rushing on the day, too. And, taking my head out of a big ol’ spreadsheet full of numbers for a moment, he did things like this.

So that’s fun. That’s enjoyable.

In a few weeks, Purdy will hit 1,500 attempts and qualify for the NFL’s career leaderboards, at which point he’ll top the official and unofficial career leaderboards in a number of various rate and efficiency stats – highest passer rating ever (104.9), highest adjusted net yards per attempt (7.9), highest pass success rate (53.0%), a number of various completed air yard stats depending on how far back your database goes, and so on and so forth. This isn’t that surprising. The top of these lists often are whatever really good quarterback has just passed the 1,500-attempt threshold, as they haven’t had their down season or eventual decline yet. Purdy’s also been helped out by playing in Kyle Shanahan’s very friendly scheme, which helps maximize his production. And in 2023, of course, Purdy didn’t get any MVP votes and only two first-team All Pro votes in part because he was surrounded by a flotilla of All Pro and Pro Bowl-caliber weapons, all of which helps your numbers look pretty darn good.

But that last part isn’t really as true anymore, is it? Yes, Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle are there, albeit the latter still working his way into form after his Achilles injury. But by the end of the Miami game, Purdy’s receiving corps was Deebo Samuel, Jacob Cowing and KhaDerel Hodge, none of whom were supposed to be starting for this team as recently as July 31st. As Purdy’s weapons have dropped like flies, he still keeps producing at league-best levels – his MVP odds have shot all the way up to +800, tied for second behind Josh Allen.

Now, the 49ers obviously won’t have 34 long-term wide receiver injuries this season. They’ll probably have something more reasonable, like 15 or 20. Substations are powerful, after all, but they can only charge up so fast. Still, that means you, as an enlightened football fan and fantasy manager, need to know your 49ers receivers inside and out. But the official depth chart only goes six players deep, and that simply will not do when it comes to San Francisco-style injury luck.

That’s OK. Here at Lateral Thinking, we have you covered. We can give you the complete 49ers wide receiver depth chart from top to bottom, along with how they fit on the team and how their season will eventually end. With this in hand, you’ll be prepared in Week 18 when San Francisco is trotting out players wearing symbols and fractions instead of counting numbers on their jerseys.

1. Mike Evans

A living legend; one of only two receivers to ever have 11 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. The rare receiver who can make an end zone fade a positive-value play. Has been nursing one injury or another since he showed up in San Francisco, missing most of training camp with various quad and abductor injuries, and had to leave the Miami game with a hip injury—the man is old and falling apart needs to be “managed”. The 49ers store hasn’t started selling branded Mike Evans walkers yet, but give it time.

Eventual Fate: Will throw out his back reaching for a remote in November; out 8-12 weeks.

2. Ricky Pearsall

More myth than legend; the cryptid on the San Francisco roster. Has been very promising when healthy, a time span which consists of approximately 15 non-consecutive injuries. Was shot before ever taking the field, and somehow, that isn’t the injury that has cost him the most time.

Eventual Fate: Implodes in a misty red shower of bone and gristle on a day when the sun shines directly on him for slightly too long.

3. Deebo Samuel

The prodigal son returns! No, the other one. The rare receiver who can make a wideout screen into a positive-value play, at least when he’s healthy, in shape, and motivated. Left for greener pastures in Washington, as the 49ers decided to allocated their money to the more reliable Brandon Aiyuk. Came back because prolonged exposure to Kliff Kingsbury does things to a man.

Eventual Fate: Cracks three ribs taking a handoff as a wideback with three minutes left in a 38-10 game in Week 13; misses 4-8 weeks.

4. De’Zhaun Stribling

Widely regarded as a reach when the 49ers took him early in the second round, San Francisco believed him to be an excellent culture fit. Proved that he was a true 49er wideout when he was injured 21 snaps into his rookie season.

Eventual Fate: Never actually returned from Australia; was last seen in a Ute headed deep into the outback.

5. Christian Kirk

Signed this offseason a in a move which reverberated around the league with a solid ‘huh’. May not actually exist; reports have had a strange wideout staggering around Santa Clara with an injured calf, but no concrete evidence has been discovered at this point.

Eventual Fate: Transporter accident separates him into good and evil halves; both injure knees when colliding on a crossing pattern and miss the rest of the season.

6. Demarcus Robinson

Was never actually signed by the 49ers; he just randomly spawns in to wide receiver rooms when they suffer enough injuries. Suffered a high-ankle sprain against Miami midway through the second quarter, presumably as a result of hubris as things were going too well for San Francisco.

Eventual Fate: Returns in Week 6, catches a 46-yard touchdown pass, re-sprains his ankle. Returns in Week 15, catches a 37-yard touchdown pass, re-sprains his ankle a third time, out the rest of the year.

7. Jacob Cowing

Winner of the 2024 Jalen Hurd Memorial Trophy for Mid-Round Receiver We Promise Will Actually Do Something, We Swear, one of the most prestigious awards in 49ers culture.

Eventual Fate: Inhales a sunflower seed the wrong way, passes out from lack of oxygen, misses the rest of the season.

8. Jordan Watkins

Winner of the 2025 Jalen Hurd Memorial Trophy for Mid-Round Receiver We Promise Will Actually Do Something, We Swear.

Eventual Fate: Sprains elbow attempting to give Cowing the Heimlich maneuver; misses the rest of the season.

9. KhaDarel Hodge

Veteran special teams expert, the kind of guy who ends up having a 10 year career playing only in desperate situations on offense. Yes, the 2022-24 Falcons qualify as “desperate situations on offense”.

Eventual Fate: Ricky Pearsall tragically misunderstands Hodge’s role as “gunner”, panics, and hits him across the face with a crutch in October. Fractured orbital bone; misses the rest of the season.

10 and 11: Wesley Grimes and Will Pauling

Two undrafted players who struggled in preseason. Reverted to San Francisco’s practice squad after an intense lack of interest around the league. Both have a ton of speed and not much else going for them.

Eventual Fate: Run so fast in warmups they crack the time barrier, vanishing in a crackle of lightning and a rumble of thunder.

12. Christian McCaffrey

The All-Pro running back is no longer as effective a rusher as he used to be, so why not stick him on the outside as a full-time wideout and let Kaelon Black take the full-time workload at running back?

Eventual Fate: Warranty on German stem cells expires; Achilles re-shreds itself in November.

13. Kyle Juszczyk

A fullback basically does the job of two or three different positions, only slightly worse. Why not add “wideout” to the portfolio?

Eventual Fate: Arrested for violating Scrabble rules; you’re not allowed to have two ‘Z’s without utilizing blank tiles. Placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List.

14. Fred Warner

With 10 career interceptions, Warner has more catches than anyone else currently on the 49ers’ defense, making him the logical choice to switch sides. Actually plays at least one position well, making him a more effective two-way player than Travis Hunter

Eventual Fate: Upset at getting upstaged, Hunter goes Jeff Gillooly on Warner’s knee before the Week 8 game in Atlanta, knocking Warner out for the year.

15. Ray-Ray McCloud

Cut by Chicago before the season started as part of an injury settlement. Appeals to San Francisco both for his 2022-23 stint with the team and because of his commitment to 49er injury standards even after he left the team.

Eventual Fate: While cramming to catch back up with the 49ers playbook, pulls an eyelid. Out for the year.

16. Kyle Shanahan

A wideout at the University of Texas from 1999-2002, with 14 receptions for 127 yards. Knows the playbook inside and out, so there’s little risk of experiencing a McCloud-level injury.

Eventual Fate: Angry at Shanahan blaming his Tesla’s autopilot malfunction causing his July car crash, Elon Musk overrides the controls in Shanahan’s car and sends in smashing into a wall. Shanahan coaches the rest of the year from a wheelchair on the sidelines.

17. Jerry Rice

Even at 63, looks to be in shape to at least run a route or two.

Eventual Fate: Breaks his hip running a third route.

18. A golden retriever

Ain’t no rule says the dog can’t play football.

Eventual Fate: There are, in fact, multiple rules that say a dog can’t play football, mostly related to the legality of them signing contracts and a lack of draft eligibility, due to not having a recognized high school graduating class (see Article 6, Section 2 of the collective bargaining agreement). The NFL stands for the No Fun League, indeed.

19. Harlan Kwofie

Has had four 700-yard receiving seasons as a member of the Rhein Fire; was recommended by former 49ers and Fire coach Jim Tomsula, perhaps as penance for the Jim Tomsula era.

Eventual Fate: Never actually makes it into the country, as his plane from Germany vanishes halfway across the Atlantic. After the season, an investigation suggests that Grimes and Pauling, rocketing back in time, set off a chain of events which caused the European League of Football to never have been formed. Tens of people mourn.

20. Brock Purdy

Fine, if Purdy’s not going to get enough credit for his passing success thanks to his weapons, we’ll simply make him one of the weapons. Perhaps, if Purdy does literally all of the work, his remaining doubters will come around.

Eventual Fate: The paradox caused by quarterback rankings writers attempting to both downplay and plaudit Purdy’s performance blinks Purdy out of existence.

21-23: The Starting Receivers from the Piedmont Hills High School Pirates

Taking a page from the 1925 Milwaukee Badgers playbook, the 49ers disguise three high school students as their new wide receiving corps. Besides, they don't look that much younger than Purdy.

Eventual Fate: It turns out that Piedmont Hills, too, is close to the substation; all three potential wideouts are injured before they can actually arrive at the 49ers’ training facility.

24. The Lucky Fan in Section 410, Row 12, Seat 3

Congratulations! Your ticket stub entitles you to a fully immersive San Francisco 49ers experience! Meet the players in the locker room, on the field for pre-game warmups, and even in the huddle! Run a real, NFL route against real, NFL defenders, after signing this real, NFL liability waiver.

Eventual Fate: A no-show; investigations after the game show that the fan in question was broiled under the unrelenting heat that Levi's Stadium is subjected to on a regular basis.

25. The Team’s Injury Report Itself

The theory of emergent consciousness states that self-awareness and subjective experience can spontaneously emerge when a non-conscious system reaches a high enough level of complexity and internal interaction. By this point, the list of San Francisco receivers unable to take the field, the length of their injuries, and which particularly injury designation they have received will have grown so complex as to gain a primitive form of sentience, and will have been printed on enough paper to give it a rudimentary physical form.

Eventual Fate: Paper cut.

26. Dustin Little

Little is the 49ers’ head athletic trainer, and at this point, perhaps a ritual sacrifice is in order to purge whatever curse has been placed on the 49ers

Eventual Fate: Stays healthy the entire year; catches 83 passes for 632 yards.

27-28. Ugg and Ogg

Two cavemen that appear suddenly in the 49ers locker room; a final reciprocal reaction to Grimes and Pauling’s time displacement.

Eventual Fate: Moved to pass rusher, another position of need, after bonding with Nick Bosa.

29. Bruno Mars

The international pop star is scheduled for two performances at Levi's Stadium in October; Shanahan simply locks the dressing room door before he can leave and forces him into the lineup.

Eventual Fate: Would catch a grenade for you, throw his hand on a blade for you, jump in front of a train for you. All three would put him on long-term injured reserve.

30. Daejon Love

Yeah, sometimes the obvious joke has to be made, as the scammer is forced to try to actually back up his scam by taking the field.

Eventual Fate: Commissioner’s exempt list, obviously, because of all the fraud.

31. D’Jon Luvve

In one of the odder coincidences in NFL history, this is an entirely unrelated walk-on talent.

Eventual Fate: Commissioner’s exempt list, just to be on the safe side.

32. Lucifer

As, at this point, God must have truly forsaken the 49ers’ locker room, San Francisco opts to look in the other direction for emergency help. Unmatched separation ability; a master of deceptive route running, and almost enough arrogance to pass for a WR1.

Eventual Fate: Frostbite; out for the year.

33. Brandon Aiyuk

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and a reunion of the former future of the position and the team that extended him is the last move the 49ers can possibly make to shore up their receiving room.

Eventual Fate: Holds out of practice seeking a new deal; never actually takes the field.