This is getting ridiculous.
Every day, it seems another wide receiver on the 49ers goes down with an injury. To be fair, none of the injuries seems to be season-enders. Still, the 49ers are making trades because they have so few healthy wide receivers.
The latest wide receiver to go down is Russell Gage, who sprained his MCL during Wednesday's practice and will miss the next 7 to 10 days, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Which means Gage is expected to return before the season opener against the Seattle Seahawks, which is two weeks from Sunday. Still, it's not a guarantee that he'll be ready. And before he went down, he was the No. 3 recei ver on the depth chart, at least while so many others are out.
Brandon Aiyuk is out until Week 5 at the earliest as he recovers from a torn ACL and MCL.
Jauan Jennings has a calf injury and there's no timetable for his return. He also wants a contract extension and could be holding in until he gets it.
Demarcus Robinson is healthy but will miss the first three games of the season due to a suspension.
Jordan Watkins has a high-ankle sprain and most likely will miss Week 1.
Jacob Cowing "tweaked something" on Tuesday, according to the team. They haven't yet said what he tweaked, but he has been dealing with a hamstring injury since the first day of camp.
And Malik Turner missed Wednesday's Wednedsay's practice with an undisclosed injury.
So those are six injured wideouts. And I'm not even mentioning Equanimeous St. Brown or Andy Isabella, who were on the team for a week before landing on the Injured Reserve List.
If the season were to start today, here would be the 49ers' active wide receivers.
He's having an excellent camp, but he has been healthy only for the past three weeks. Before that, he had a hamstring injury. So he's another player the 49ers have to be careful with.
He's No. 2 on the depth chart until further notice. He has been on the team for two weeks and he caught one pass last season. But he played well in practice on Wednesday and he's healthy, and that's all that matters to the 49ers.
The 49ers traded for him yesterday, and he hasn't even practiced with the team yet. Now, he's third depth chart. He caught zero passes last season.
Caught two passes last season for the Giants,
Never has caught a pass in his career.
Also never has caught a pass in his career, but he's Terrell Owens' son, which is pretty sweet.
A rookie who played college football at Montana. A return specialist who will play wide receiver only if he has to. And the way things are going, he might have to.
Losing Gage for a week and a half won't hurt the 49ers in a vacuum. But with the exception of 2023, the 49ers have been among the most injured teams in the league every season that Kyle Shanahan has been their head coach. If he can't fix this issue, maybe the 49ers should replace him with someone who can.
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