49ers news: Should the Niners look to play Jacob Cowing more at WR?

The San Francisco 49ers are facing some injury issues with their skill position players, with wide receiver Deebo Samuel notably missing a few weeks due to an ongoing calf injury.

With Samuel’s injury, which was sustained at the end of Week 2, the 49ers have looked to their depth at receiver, with Chris Conley and Ronnie Bell playing more in Week 3 alongside Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings.

Bell saw 30 snaps against the Los Angeles Rams, while Conley saw 20, with the former earning three targets in the game. Bell was subject to a ton of scrutiny, however, as he dropped two passes, including a major miss late in the fourth quarter that would’ve likely sealed the game for San Francisco.

With the issues that Bell has had early on, as well as the injuries for the 49ers, there are questions about whether fifth-round rookie Jacob Cowing should begin to earn some opportunities.

Cowing, who is the team’s lead punt returner currently, hasn’t seen any offensive snaps through the first three weeks, but many thought that would change in Week 3 after general manager John Lynch suggested the rookie could get some opportunities this past weekend while doing a radio appearance.

Ultimately, that didn’t end up being the case, and head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed that the rookie still has a ways to go before contributing.

“He’s still working to get out there,” Shanahan said of Cowing on Monday. “He is trying to get more comfortable with the offense and just earn a role with it, gets closer and closer each week. Still got a bit to go though.”

The head coach doubled down on that on Wednesday, revealing that the 49ers didn’t expect to play the rookie unless an injury occurred.

“It wasn’t the plan [to play Cowing on Sunday],” Shanahan said. “If there would’ve been an injury, he would’ve [played]. He wasn’t ready to do that yet, and so we kept him at punt returner. But, you have five guys up [on gamedays], so if someone did get hurt, he had to be ready and then he would’ve got those reps.”

Cowing flashed in the preseason, showing his capabilities as a separator and in space, but perhaps the holdup is his blocking efforts, as the rookie is a smaller wideout at 5’9, 170 pounds.

Still, the 49ers need more production from the No. 3 receiver outside of Jauan Jennings and Brandon Aiyuk and that was non-existent this past weekend, with Bell even hurting the team with some costly plays.

At the moment, it doesn’t seem like the rookie will be in line for opportunities yet, but the 49ers may need him sooner rather than later if they want more out of that third receiver spot with Deebo Samuel out.