Make California Post a Preferred Source SANTA CLARA — Before the 49ers hosted the Raiders on Sunday, Jerry Rice was where he normally is most gamedays, on the field, interacting with fans and schmoozing for the cameras.
Rice’s pregame routine was interrupted by San Francisco general manager John Lynch, who put his arm around his shoulder while the two Hall of Famers walked down the sideline.
Rice, 64, certainly wasn’t offering his services, nor was Lynch asking.
At least at the time of their conversation, the 49ers’ receiver room was in dire straits. While Demarcus Robinson returned from a high-ankle sprain, the 49ers had to go another week without Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel or De’Zhaun Stribling and lost Christian Kirk for the year.
After the 38-17 win, though, it suddenly doesn’t seem like such a pressing need.
A solution just may have existed internally all along. He was just inactive the first two weeks of the season.
There was no injury or other outside circumstance preventing Jordan Watkins from being on the active roster in Australia and the home opener. Coach Kyle Shanahan simply deemed the 2025 fourth-round pick to be the sixth receiver on a depth chart with room for five on gameday.
Watkins looks like a more viable option now, after hauling in four passes for 86 yards, including a contested 37-yard catch in the end zone for the first touchdown of his career.
“That,” Shanahan said, “was a hell of a play.”
“My trust,” quarterback Brock Purdy said, “has definitely grown in him more and more.”
It has shown the past two weeks. Purdy has targeted Watkins 10 times, and he’s come down with seven of them. In eight previous games across a season and a half, Purdy had thrown him the ball six times for five total catches.
“If he’s got a one-on-one matchup, I’m not going to shy it down. I’m going to give him a chance. I’m going to give him an op,” Purdy said. “At practice, going back to training camp and OTAs, he comes down with those one-on-one matchup balls. I think he does a great job with creating separation, getting in and out of cuts, coming down with contested catches.”
Shanahan, notoriously tough on young receivers, said that Watkins had taken “a huge step forward” the past few weeks. Watkins missed much of his rookie year due to injury, but he was a healthy scratch the first two weeks of his sophomore season.
That led him to seek out Shanahan and ask what it would take for him to see the field. A lot has happened since that has been out of his — or the 49ers — control that opened the opportunity, but the second-year receiver put himself in position to capitalize on it.
Enough for Lynch to prioritize other areas ahead of Tuesday’s 1 p.m. trade deadline?
“We’re always looking to upgrade our team in any way,” Shanahan said. “It’s not just to replace one guy or anything like that, but we wanted to give Watkins this opportunity when people got hurt and he’s really stepped it up and given us a lot of confidence, too.”
