RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 2 sourcesIt's too early to panic about injuries plaguing the San Francisco 49ers but at some point there has to be a level of concern for their wide receiver room.
The Bang Bang Niner Gang is banged up .
The 49ers have now had five wideouts injured since the beginning of training camp.
The list grew having added third-year Jacob Cowing suffered a hip flexor strain and missed the Niners' practice on Aug. 5.
Cowing joins an injured list that includes veteran receiver Mike Evans (quad) and rookie De'Zhaun Stribling (hamstring), who are still not practicing.
Ricky Pearsall has been ruled out for the entire 2026 season to undergo season-ending surgery to repair the PCL in his knee. One of the newest 49ers, Christian Kirk, has a calf injury. He was signed to the team during the offseason on a one-year contract, worth $3 million base salary ― and up to $6 million with incentives.
Although not a wide receiver, George Kittle is still a trusted asset for Purdy and the 49ers offense. Kittle is still making his way back from an Achilles injury he suffered in a wild-card playoff win against the Philadelphia Eagles .
The most affected by all this is Niners quarterback Brock Purdy as his weapons have routinely been dropping like flies. All of the injuries piling up beg the question ― what's being done to prevent these injuries and is it enough?
One thing that has been done is debunking the electromagnetic substation theory . The 49ers injury do not correlate to the substation facility that sits next to their practice field and home game field, Levi's Stadium.
Another solution has been to bring in additional receivers along to join the roster. Veteran wide receiver Deebo Samuel is returning to the team that drafted him on a one-year deal worth up to $7 million, a person familiar with the negotiations has confirmed to USA TODAY Sports' Tyler Dragon . NFL Media and ESPN insider Ian Rapoport was the first to report the deal.
49ers announced on Aug. 5 that they have signed receiver KhaDarel Hodge. They added tight end Josiah Deguara and receiver Trenton Irwin to one-year deals on July 31.
MORE: What's next for Brandon Aiyuk after Commanders sign Stefon Diggs
On the other hand, the injuries can be result of San Francisco really going hard in preparation of an anticipated long, gruesome 2026 football season.
Assistant head coach and offensive line coach Chris Foerster downplayed the amount of injuries the team faced saying being hurt is a testament of playing hard.
“It seems like we're very healthy. I mean, we have injuries. We have dings and bumps and bruises, and guys are missing practices. ... If you're two deep at every position, you can practice. You can always adjust with the threes, one, two, threes," Foerster told reporters after an Aug. 5 practice. "Threes are hard to stay healthy through the course of training camp, if you're practicing football hard. If you're not practicing football hard, you can get through camp easily without injuries, a couple muscles here and there. But if you're practicing hitting, contact, style of football, whatever it is."
Regarding the injuries to his receiving core, Foerster cautioned that not all injuries are major injuries and that if there were a game this week, many would suit up to play.
"That's why I say injuries are positive and negative, right. Sometimes guys are dinged up, you keep them out just because you don't wanna risk it in July. Guys that probably would play if it were a game this week. So, you can't overreact to injuries," Foerster told reporters at Aug. 5 training camp. "You also have to be careful. You can't not pay attention to them, but it's always opportunities for other guys, the next guy, next man up philosophy."
One of the positives that Foerster focused on is the opportunity injuries provide to players who are lower on the depth chart, or even just the practice squad. It can be seen as a win-win, depending on your outlook.
In most cases, it's a real chance to be evaluated and potentially move up the ranks, while the main guys get rest and healed up.
"It does let us evaluate the lower end players. They get more reps. Where they'd be going up against the threes, you might think, ‘Gosh, this guy looks really good, but he's only going against the third corner, or the whatever it might be.’ Then you move him up to the twos, and he gets some work with the ones. Next thing you know, you can really evaluate what the player is. Is it overall great? No. You want to keep everybody healthy for every single snap, but as far as an evaluation process goes, it is helpful.”
It doesn't negate the fact that the 49ers have already been banged up. Multiple reports have the total number of injured players up to 20.
Other 49ers injuries include:
DE Nick Bosa (soreness)
LB Dre Greenlaw (soreness)
DE Osa Odighizuwa (soreness)
FB Kyle Juszczyk (finger fracture)
OL Carver Willis (concussion protocol)
OL Brett Toth (unspecified)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY Sports: San Francisco 49ers face wide receiver room nightmare with injuries
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