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Willard and Dibs debate if the 49ers' 2026 wide receiver core -- Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, and De'Zhaun Stribling -- will end up being the best receiver core Kyle Shanahan has has as 49ers head coach.
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00:00The 49er receiving core has already gotten its fair share of attention
00:06going into this season, and we wanted to talk about it a little bit further
00:10because apparently quite a statement was made on social media
00:15and that caught Grandy's attention, and so we started talking about this earlier.
00:20Grandy, you want to bring this in? So what was it that you saw?
00:22Well, this was from our friend Bonte a couple of days ago.
00:26I saw him tweet this out.
00:27He wrote, if healthy, Shanahan may have stumbled upon the best wide receiver core
00:33he's had since he's been coaching the 49ers, and I'm a big fan of Mike Evans.
00:40He's a really good receiver, and I have high hopes for Dijon Stribling.
00:44I just immediately think back of what 2023 was when they went to the Super Bowl
00:48with an all-pro Brandon Iyuk.
00:50He still had a good Debo Samuel, maybe not a great Debo Samuel,
00:53but a good Debo Samuel, and you had Juwan Jennings' really, really good year.
00:58So that kind of shocked me because I don't think this is Shanahan's best wide receiver group.
01:04Okay, so let's pull this apart a little bit because, you know, I mean,
01:12sort of like to give your answer, he said maybe.
01:16He said maybe.
01:18Because first of all...
01:19May have stumbled upon.
01:20Well, we have to see them play.
01:22I'll just say this for Bonte.
01:23It's definitely a top 10 receiver group.
01:26Okay.
01:27Well, there's 10.
01:28Yeah.
01:29Good job.
01:29Thank you, Grandy.
01:30Plus, when you put together, and thank you very much for putting together,
01:34Grandy put together a list.
01:36Yep.
01:36But it only for each year gives three receivers, the top three receivers.
01:42Now, this might end up being a really good receiving core
01:45because it goes deeper than three, maybe.
01:49I mean, from Christian Kirk and Demarcus Robinson and Jordan Watkins,
01:54who knows what kind of seasons they have.
01:56But I think it's fair to just start with the number three.
01:59And just for the sake of this conversation,
02:03let's remind everybody the names we're talking about.
02:06Shanahan era, 2017.
02:10And why don't you just, like, put your hand up
02:12if you think the group that I name is definitely better than this current group.
02:18And we will use Mike Evans, Dajon Stribling, and Debo Samuel
02:23for the purposes of this year,
02:25even though there are others.
02:28Pearsall's out for the year, but there are others, as I mentioned.
02:332017.
02:34Marquise Goodwin, Pierre Garçon, and Trent Taylor.
02:38You'd take this group, wouldn't you?
02:40Uh, yep.
02:412018.
02:43Kendrick Bourne, Dante Pettis, Marquise Goodwin.
02:46Okay.
02:482019.
02:49Debo Samuel, Emmanuel Sanders, Kendrick Bourne.
02:53You went to the Super Bowl?
02:55Went to the Super Bowl.
02:56Yep.
02:56And Sanders was acquired at the deadline.
03:002020.
03:02Brandon Ayuk, Kendrick Bourne, Debo Samuel.
03:06And Debo only played seven games.
03:102021.
03:11Debo Samuel, Brandon Ayuk, Jawan Jennings.
03:15Same group, 2022.
03:17Same group, 2023.
03:19Right.
03:20Three years in a row.
03:21Ayuk, Debo, Jennings.
03:232024 is Jennings, Debo, and Pearsall.
03:28Last year, Jennings Bourne and Pearsall.
03:33And then this year, Evans, Samuel, and, uh, Stribs.
03:40Okay.
03:42So, is it, I mean, is it a fair or foul comment?
03:45I think it's fair-ish because, I mean, it, it's early and you have really no idea, but I was
03:52sharing with the group earlier today that I thought the group, and I think I cited the 2022 group with
03:58Ayuk, a healthy Ayuk, and Debo, and Jawan Jennings, who had his best year at that time.
04:05I think it was that year, yeah, because I'm looking at 2024, and it wouldn't have been that year.
04:09But, yeah, if you want to look at just the top three, I think that it's comparable to look at
04:14that, you know, Jawan's breakout year.
04:17Ayuk had 1,000 yards, and Debo was still good.
04:19But the thing about this year's group is you can name Debo, Stripling, and Mike Evans, but there also might
04:27be other people who contribute.
04:29I mean, Christian Kirk, if he makes the team, and there could be other guys who, you know, Demarcus Robinson
04:34could make an impact.
04:35Look, we're dealing with some level of speculation here, obviously.
04:39Stripling has never played an NFL game.
04:41We don't know where things are going to go with health.
04:44I think that Debo Samuel is viewed differently right now.
04:48Is that correct or incorrect?
04:50Like, Debo was a favorite, and then in his final year here, people thought he had, quote, lost a step.
04:58And it was a weird year.
05:00Remember, he got into the fight with the long snapper or whatever that was going to, Tabor Pepper.
05:06He also kind of, he chirped a little bit about targets and then went out on a rainy Thursday night
05:14and dropped what would have been the game-winning touchdown pass.
05:17And then he left.
05:18And then people think he had a bad year last year.
05:21He didn't pop, but he didn't have a bad year.
05:23He had almost 800 yards, I think, for a Washington team where he was, A, not the number one receiver,
05:28and, B, they lost their quarterback.
05:30So he wasn't, like, terrible.
05:32But there's speculation here.
05:34Is Debo going to re-find some of his old magic?
05:38The word is he looks great.
05:40He's in the best shape of his life.
05:42But we hear these things in August.
05:44Whether it translates, whether he even has the opportunities, I don't know.
05:48I think what we're doing right now is we can pretty quickly whittle it down to this.
05:55Evans, current Debo, and Stribling versus the group that went to the Super Bowl in 2023.
06:03Debo, Ayuk, and Jennings.
06:06And which one to you sounds like even potentially a better core?
06:13The group in 2023 had a phenomenal year and went to the Super Bowl.
06:17But, like, let me start with this.
06:21In terms of reputation and who the player has been in his career, in the 10 years of Kyle Shanahan,
06:31I don't even blink with the statement that Mike Evans is the best receiver he's ever had here.
06:37Now, he's 32, so we'll see what version they get.
06:42But Mike Evans is the best wide receiver that has played here in San Francisco with Kyle Shanahan.
06:47Did Shanahan ever have Isaac Bruce?
06:49Or was Isaac Bruce's little cup of coffee before Shanahan?
06:54I think that was pre-Shanahan.
06:57Okay, and I think Anquan Bolden was the same.
06:59I think so.
07:00For sure Anquan Bolden.
07:01I thought that Isaac Bruce might have been, like, his tail end was Shanahan's early years.
07:06I could be wrong.
07:07But even if not, those guys were on the real tail end.
07:11And I know that Evans is 32.
07:13I don't really see him that way.
07:16I know he missed some games last year.
07:17I think Mike, when healthy, I think Mike Evans is still performing like Mike Evans.
07:24When he played last year, he was still Mike Evans.
07:26Right, and you would hope that he can be the same player that he was before last year,
07:30which was the first year that he actually got hurt.
07:32The thing that is striking me about this whole conversation is,
07:36kind of playing off the Bonte Hill tweet, which is,
07:39this wide receiver core had better be the best one that they've had,
07:43because I'm looking at just last year, and I ran the numbers on every team in the NFL,
07:48and every team combined completed 54% of passes to their wide receivers.
07:53That's across all 32 teams.
07:56Okay.
07:56The Niners were at 40.5% last year, two wide receivers.
08:00They threw a ton to McCaffrey, 102.
08:03They threw a ton to the tight ends, 102.
08:06They didn't use their wide receivers a lot.
08:08And you look at this year, everybody wants McCaffrey to do less and have fewer touches.
08:13And George Kittle's going to miss either zero or who knows how many games.
08:18And so I look at this year's offense and I think, yeah,
08:21you need to throw to the receivers more than you ever have before,
08:24because last year they were ahead of only two teams in terms of percentage of passes completed to wide receivers.
08:31I'll agree with you, but also add in,
08:33I do think there was some,
08:35some portion of that is circumstantial.
08:38Like their receivers were so injured last year.
08:42Pearsall missed time.
08:44Ayuk never shows up.
08:46Kendrick Bourne got grabbed off of the street and quickly ended up being a receiver you relied on.
08:52Pearsall would come back.
08:54He was clearly still hurt.
08:56He was trying to push through it.
08:57You had Juwan.
08:58I just think you were severely hampered at that position all year long.
09:04And that contributes to how little they threw to them.
09:06That is true in terms of last year.
09:09But if you look at the historical numbers of a Shanahan offense,
09:12and I didn't run the numbers for every year of every team throughout the Shanahan era.
09:16But if you look at all his years,
09:19only once is he above 54%.
09:22And that was two years ago when you didn't have McCaffrey.
09:25And that was the year where they had to throw a bunch to the wide receivers.
09:28That's fine if it's not over 50,
09:30but I would think above what it was last year.
09:34What was the Super Bowl year?
09:362023.
09:37Do you have that in front of you?
09:3852.7.
09:39Okay.
09:39And last year it was 40.
09:4140.5.
09:42So that's what I think,
09:43like that's what we're looking at.
09:44And if you look at the years where they were really good,
09:46like 2019,
09:47it was 46%.
09:502022,
09:5154%.
09:522023,
09:5353%.
09:54So when you have good receivers and you have McCaffrey and you have Kittle,
09:58well,
09:58now you're going to be diverse and you can mix it up and you can throw to a lot of
10:01different guys.
10:02And I look at this year and I think,
10:04all right,
10:05Brock Purdy,
10:05you're now making big time money and you're a legit quarterback and you have this great wide receiver core.
10:12I'm interested to see if they open things up and have more three receiver sets than they normally do.
10:17I think is definitely going to be higher than 40%.
10:19Like that's the lowest,
10:21right?
10:21Of the Shanahan era with the Niners by far.
10:24Yeah.
10:24Like you go back to his second year and they were at 45.9%.
10:28And that's when they had virtually nobody.
10:30Right.
10:31And,
10:31and they were still trying to figure out the quarterback position.
10:34Like I,
10:34that's when Jimmy G got hurt and you had better.
10:36So I,
10:37to me,
10:38when you give me that number last year,
10:40I guess my only point is I don't think that was strategic.
10:44I don't think that the Niners were like,
10:45here's what we're going to do this year.
10:47We're just like McCaffrey and Kittle.
10:49And then,
10:50you know,
10:50if the receivers ever get open,
10:51then maybe we can look at them.
10:52I really believe that that was the circumstances of the position based on injuries,
10:58the inability to separate all of those things that we talked about so much last year.
11:03Now,
11:04look,
11:04this group's got to be healthy this year,
11:06but from a characteristic standpoint,
11:09if they are,
11:12I think that number is going to go way up.
11:13And I think they have depth to even withstand like a minor injury here and there.
11:21Like I would,
11:21if Mike Evans misses two games,
11:23three games,
11:24if Debo misses a couple of games,
11:26even if Stribbling misses a game,
11:28like I,
11:28I think that they've got a group that has the potential to go out there and get open and be
11:36involved.
11:36I don't think they had that for the majority of last year.
11:38Well,
11:38if you run down the receivers last year in order of catches,
11:42just receivers,
11:43Juwan Jennings,
11:44then Kendrick Bourne,
11:45Ricky Pearsall.
11:46Then you get to DeMarcus Robinson,
11:48and then Sky Moore,
11:51Marquez Valdez-Scantling,
11:53Jordan Watkins,
11:54and Malik Turner.
11:56Yeah.
11:56One target,
11:57no catch.
11:57I forgot Connor Colby,
11:59who had a catch.
12:00Yeah.
12:01Not a receiver.
12:03Not a lot.
12:04Right.
12:04But he had more catches than Malik Turner.
12:06I just,
12:07okay.
12:07So last year was last year,
12:10but if I offered this to you right now,
12:132023,
12:15Ayuk,
12:16Debo,
12:16and Jennings
12:17versus,
12:18what the 49ers have now,
12:21what would you rather have?
12:22Like just those three?
12:24Yeah.
12:25Yeah.
12:26So,
12:26and you can have the 2023 version of them.
12:29And their numbers.
12:30And I think I shared this on the thread.
12:32That was the year that Ayuk went crazy.
12:34Debo's numbers went way down
12:37because Ayuk started getting more of the share.
12:39And I think Kittle had a really big year too.
12:42Yeah.
12:43You're talking 2023.
12:44Yeah.
12:45The Superbowl year.
12:46Right.
12:46Ayuk,
12:4775 grabs,
12:48Debo 60,
12:49and Juwan 19.
12:50Mm-hmm.
12:51So you're looking at 70,
12:53154 catches
12:56and a grand total of 15 touchdowns.
13:01I probably would take that group.
13:03Ayuk went over 1,300 yards.
13:05Right.
13:06Yeah.
13:07And Debo,
13:08I mean,
13:08Debo played 15 games.
13:09He had 892,
13:10but Juwan was almost a non-factor.
13:12Right.
13:12So he was just the third down chain mover.
13:15Right.
13:16I probably would take this group
13:18just based on the fact that you've got,
13:20you know,
13:20between the three,
13:21I do think that you've got a little bit more
13:23of a dynamic trio.
13:24I will say this,
13:25and then we can continue the conversation.
13:27888-957-9570.
13:29You can have whichever opinion you want,
13:31obviously.
13:32I don't think it's a crazy statement.
13:35I do not think what Bonte said is a crazy statement.
13:38That this could end up being.
13:42If Stribling is what he looks like,
13:44if Evans stays healthy,
13:46and now Debo gets to get thrown in there
13:49as a Swiss Army knife kind of a player,
13:51I don't think it's a crazy thought
13:53that this could be the receiving core
13:56that you would want
13:57from the entire Shanahan 49ers era.
14:00I don't think it's nuts.
14:01I don't.
14:02I don't either based on a couple of major factors.
14:05One is Kittle is not going to be 100% right away.
14:08And if you are going to try to bubble wrap McCaffrey,
14:10then you're going to probably go about things
14:13in a different way.
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