The San Francisco 49ers have seen their wide receiver room decimated by injuries, and the issues for that position group grew Wednesday when word got out that veteran wideout DeMarcus Robinson is facing a three-game suspension.
“D-Rob, we’re not going to have through the first three weeks,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said on KNBR radio yesterday. “You can always appeal it, so we’ll hope for the best on that, but that’s what we are planning for.”
Robinson pleaded to a misdemeanor DUI charge from last November when he was with the Los Angeles Rams. The suspension from the league is for a violation of the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.
The 30-year-old Robinson is entering his ninth NFL season. The University of Florida product had 31 receptions for 505 yards and a career-high seven touchdowns in 17 games for the Rams in 2024. He had three catches for 74 yards in a 28-22 loss at Philadelphia in the NFC semifinals.
In 131 career regular-season contests, Robinson has 250 catches for 3,013 yards and 27 TDs. His teams have been to the playoffs in seven of his eight NFL seasons.
In 16 career postseason games, Robinson has 23 receptions for 410 yards and two TDs.
WR Brandon Aiyuk, who signed a four-year, $120 million extension before the 2024 campaign, had knee surgery last November and isn’t expected to be ready until Week 6. WR Jordan Watkins, an Ole Miss product the 49ers took with one of their fourth-round picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, is expected to be out until mid-September due to a high-ankle sprain.
WR Jauan Jennings is dealing with a calf injury, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter has reported that he’s demanded a trade or a contract extension. Whatever the case, he hasn’t participated in training camp at all.
Jennings enjoyed a breakout 2024 season, snagging 77 catches for 975 yards and six TDs. In four years and 60 regular-season games for the 49ers, the former Tennessee Volunteer has 155 career receptions for 1,938 yards and 13 TDs.
WR Jacob Cowing didn’t practice Wednesday after suffering a lower-body injury at Tuesday’s practice. Cowing, who had four catches for 80 yards as a rookie in 2024, had previously missed time during training camp due to a hamstring issue.
Furthermore, WR Russell Gage has a sprained MCL that’s expected to sideline him for at least the next 7-10 days.
In an attempt to remedy the situation, San Francisco traded its 2026 sixth-round pick to Kansas City on Wednesday for WR Skyy Moore and the Chiefs’ 2026 seventh-round selection.
Moore, KC’s second-round pick out of Western Michigan in the 2022 NFL Draft, had zero catches on three targets in six games last season. In 16 games as a rookie, he had 22 receptions for 250 yards. Moore had 21 catches for 244 yards and one TD in 2023.
If Robinson doesn’t win his appeal, he’ll miss back-to-back road games at Seattle and at New Orleans, in addition to the club’s home opener vs. Arizona in Week 3.
Besides possibly fading San Francisco, the betting implication for what ails this team at WR revolves around second-year WR Ricky Pearsall. After missing the 49ers’ first six games while recovering from a gunshot wound in 2024, their first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft produced 31 receptions for 400 yards and three TDs in 11 games.
Pearsall had eight catches on 10 targets for 141 yards and one TD in a 40-34 home loss vs. Detroit on Dec. 30. Then in the team’s regular-season finale, he caught six balls on eight targets for 69 yards and one TD.
Pearsall appears poised for a big season and will be QB Brock Purdy’s favorite target until Aiyuk gets back into the lineup. Even though we don’t know what sort of number books are going to post for Pearsall’s ‘over/under’ on receiving yards in Week 1 yet, we’re going to consider the ‘over’ when the 49ers face the Seahawks.