SANTA CLARA — Less than four weeks until the 49ers start their regular season, there is less and less certainty about which wide receivers will be available for that opener in Seattle.
“It’s a lot more open than it’s ever been,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday of who’ll make the initial receiving corps.
It’s basically Ricky Pearsall and … fill in the blank. Let’s get right to the roll call of this jumbled unit.
— Brandon Aiyuk is not expected to make his season debut until possibly Week 6 of the regular season, said Shanahan, adding that Aiyuk’s knee rehabilitation certainly should keep him out of the Sept. 7 opener.
— Rookie Jordan Watkins, to his surprise, learned Sunday he sustained a high ankle sprain in the preseason opener and will be out a month, so at least the remaining two preseason games, including this Saturday’s at the Las Vegas Raiders.
— Demarcus Robinson, a veteran acquisition and potential starter, is appealing NFL discipline after last month’s no-contest plea to a November drunken driving arrest while with the Rams. The league imposes a baseline suspension of at least three games for such incidents, and Robinson did not state whether he drew a longer penalty.
— Jauan Jennings remains out since a July 27 practice in which he aggravated a calf issue that also kept him out all of last summer’s training camp. “It’s something we think won’t be too serious but it’s bothering him now,” Shanahan said. “When he’s out there, he helps the team, but Jauan was all right last year missing time.”
— Jacob Cowing is expected to practice Tuesday for the first time since injuring a hamstring in warmups for camp’s first practice.
— A big-name free agent isn’t expected to bail out the unit, with Shanahan alluding to how a “panic” move such as that could have negative implications on the 49ers’ salary cap for this season and next. Current options on the bench are Russell Gage, Terique Owens, Isaiah Hodgins, Junior Bergen and Robbie Chosen, the latter of whom made a nice touchdown catch of a Mac Jones pass Monday.
Running back Christian McCaffrey and tight end George Kittle could be Brock Purdy’s money targets more than ever.
Having traded away Deebo Samuel in March to the Washington Commanders, the 49ers braced themselves for a revised room by signing Robinson off the rival Los Angeles Rams and drafting Watkins in the fourth round.
Robinson’s early-season absence was anticipated before his March signing, after he was arrested last November; he pleaded no contest last month and drew a minimal fine along with a treatment plan.
Shanahan said of Robinson’s status: “There is an appeal process. I’m not sure how it’s going, so I always just plan for the worst and hope for the best. He’s done a good job here. I really enjoy him. Knowing he won’t be in there most likely those first few games, he’ll play a lot more in the preseason. But hopefully they’ll shorten (discipline) with the appeal process.”
Robinson addressed his then-Rams teammates last season after his arrest, recalling Monday how it was “a learning time for myself, younger guys, older guys, anybody in the room, and give them feedback so nobody goes through that.”
Most of this camp has seen Robinson line up with Pearsall as the 49ers’ starting combination of wide receivers. Added Robinson: “You try to learn from your mistakes, teach the other guys around you not to make the same mistakes, and keep a clear head so you can focus on football.”
Robinson played his first six seasons with the Chiefs — he was on their 2019 team that rallied past the 49ers in the Super Bowl — before going to the Baltimore Ravens for a year and then the Rams the past two. His addition figured to serve at least as insurance amid Aiyuk’s knee surgery comeback.
Aiyuk has been an active observer at practices this camp, but it’s looking like he’ll remain on the Physically Unable To Perform list and thus miss a minimum four games, as is the case with safety Malik Mustapha and quarterback Kurtis Rourke in their ACL comebacks, Shanahan said.
“I see them around Week 6, which means it could be Week 10 or Week 5,” Shanahan said. “But that’s the area I start thinking, which is a long ways away. I know it’s not Week 1.”
Week 5 is a short one as the 49ers play Thursday night at the Rams, thus denying any full week of practice before a season debut. Week 6 is an Oct. 12 visit to Tampa Bay.
The 49ers might want to bubble wrap Ricky Pearsall at this point considering, (a) how thin their receiving corps is, and, (b) just how ready he looks after missing camp’s first three practices. Pearsall caught three touchdown passes in the 49ers’ brief red zone drill, including two from Purdy and one from Mac Jones.
On Friday, the 49ers placed Equanimeous St. Brown on injured reserve (foot), a day after Andy Isabella was released following a hamstring injury in practice.
RB WILSON RETURNS
Running back Jeff Wilson Jr. is relishing his return to the 49ers, having first broken through as an undrafted rookie in 2018. He was their 2020 leading rusher, and he got traded to Miami midway through 2022 upon the 49ers’ trade for Christian McCaffrey.
Wilson, who did not start any games the past two seasons for Miami, said of this offseason’s unemployment: “I was in a rought spot but as soon as news circulated (of his 49ers return), so many fans were texting me, ‘I love you.’ There are people that still care and love. That’s the main reason it made it sweeter to come back. To hear those things at the right time, it can be a big difference.”
In a corresponding move, running back Ameer Abdullah was placed on injured reserve. He sustained a rib injury while fumbling on a third-quarter run Saturday.
NEW VETERAN PASS RUSHER
Defensive end Trevis Gipson, in his practice debut, made the most of a first-string cameo by deflecting a Purdy pass that landed in Nick Bosa’s hands for an interception to open a red zone drill.
Gipson is a sixth-year pass rusher who signed before practice to bolster a defensive line hit hard by injuries. Mykel Williams is out with a hyperextended left knee from Thursday’s joint practice with the Denver Broncos, and also out are Sam Okuayinonu, Robert Beal Jr. and Kevin Givens.
Gipson has 10 career sacks in 53 games, with seven sacks coming in 2021 during his second of three seasons with the Bears before moving on to the Titans in 2023, then the Jacksonville Jaguars last year before an Aug. 26 trade to the Seahawks.
Bryce Huff also saw first-team snaps opposite Bosa in Monday’s 75-minute practice.
OFFENSIVE TACKLE HELP
Andre Dillard debuted as a backup left tackle in his first 49ers practice, having been activated off the Physically Unable to Perform list following spring ankle surgery. Dillard will challenge Spencer Burford and Austen Pleasants for a backup role behind left tackle Trent Williams and right tackle Colton McKivitz.
Dillard opened his career as a first-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Eagles (2019-22), then started 10 games for the 2023 Tennessee Titans, and appeared as a backup in 10 games for last season’s Green Bay Packers.
QUARTERBACK EXITS AGAIN
Tanner Mordecai was waived for the second time in eight days. He completed just 3-of-6 passes for 21 yards and fumbled once as the 49ers’ third quarterback in Saturday’s game behind Mac Jones and Carter Bradley while Brock Purdy sat out.
PRACTICE PARTICIPANTS
Marques Sigle practiced despite a knee injury in Saturday’s starting debut, and fellow safety Ji’Ayir Brown also returned after missing time last week with ankle irritation.
Cornerback Renardo Green’s comeback from an early camp hamstring injury is on hold until next week, and Upton Stout’s calf could keep him out of practice until Thursday’s session with the Raiders or until next week.
Running back Isaac Guerendo (shoulder) did individual conditioning on the side.