The San Francisco 49ers are coming off a surprising Super Bowl appearance and seem primed to make another run next season thanks to their strong defense.
However, that doesn't mean the club doesn't have any holes.
For the 49ers, the biggest weak spot is at wide receiver.
Now, here is the thing: there is a lot of potential here. San Francisco is teeming with young prospects at wide out, and Deebo Samuel already flashed his ability this past season.
But, the 49ers' receiving corps mainly consists of unproven talent.
Behind Samuel, there is Brandon Aiyuk, Dante Pettis, Kendrick Bourne, Jalen Hurd and Trent Taylor, all of whom are incredibly green around the gills.
Aiyuk is a rookie. Pettis was supposed to have a larger role in 2019, but disappointed. Bourne was up and down throughout this past year. Hurd and Taylor didn't even play due to injuries.
Let's not discount how big of a loss Emmanuel Sanders was in free agency for the 49ers. The veteran wide out came in via trade midway through this past year and helped stabilize the group.
This young core of receivers could end up being really good. I personally really like Hurd and think he could actually develop into the 49ers' No. 1 wide out down the line. But again, this is all conjecture. We haven't really seen any of these guys produce yet.
That isn't exactly great news for Jimmy Garoppolo, who fell under heavy criticism for his inconsistent regular season and rather poor playoff showing for the 49ers. Fortunately, he has one of the NFL's best tight ends in George Kittle at his disposal, but with Sanders gone, he is going to have to find another security blanket at receiver.
Perhaps the 49ers should have focused more on adding a veteran target in free agency, but in their defense, they were extremely limited in cap room, which was why they had to trade away star defensive lineman DeForest Buckner.
So, they really didn't have much of a choice. To the credit of John Lynch and Co., they went with Aiyuk late in the first round, obviously understanding their need at receiver. But this could get messy for the 49ers.
It's entirely possible that many of these young wideouts actually work out and become consistent, valuable threats within the 49ers' offense. However, it's also possible that they all do what Pettis did this past season and underwhelm.
And it's not like Garoppolo is at a point where he can genuinely make his pass-catchers better. Some of the criticism he took this past year may have been unwarranted, but at its core, there is truth to it: he isn't an elite quarterback. In fact, we don't even know if he is a franchise quarterback just yet for the 49ers.
In fairness to Garoppolo, the 2019-20 campaign was his first full season, so he needs time to grow and develop. But with the 49ers trying to win a Super Bowl, he needs to get moving.
That will likely be difficult with a very inexperienced, albeit talented, group of wide receivers heading into next season.
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