The 49ers had a serviceable wide receiver room in 2025. Most of that service won’t be there in 2026. Jauan Jennings is set to hit free agency, Kendrick Bourne’s status is still up in the air, and 2024 first-round pick Ricky Pearsall can’t do it all on his own, or when injured.
That’s where today’s mock draft addresses things. CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson has the 49ers taking Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. This isn’t the first time Cooper Jr has been linked to the 49ers. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated
suggested this as well.
We’ll see what happens with Jauan Jennings in San Francisco, but Brandon Aiyuk may have played his last snap. As it stands, the WR room includes Ricky Pearsall, Demarcus Robinson, Jordan Watkins and Jacob Cowing under contract … and that’s it. There’s a need at guard too, but Cooper Jr. feels like a Kyle Shanahan-type receiver.
He’s definitely a Kyle Shanahan-type receiver, well, sorta. We’ll get to that. Something tells me that with all the interest he’s getting, he might be going a bit earlier. Now, if he is there at 27? That’s definitely a consideration. The missed tackles alone make me giddy with what Shanahan could draw up for him. The 49ers are expected to have interest in wide receivers during the free agency period, with Alec Pierce, Romeo Doubs, and Jalen Nailor among some of the names. So add one of those with Ricky Pearsall, Cooper, and hopefully Jordan Watkins, and that’s a decent room.
There are just two things that worry me about Cooper. The first is, if you watch his highlight reel, most of his catches are in space, and it would be more concerning if he didn’t catch it. Sure, he’s trucking defenders after the catch with that lower-body strength, but it’s not like he’s put in tough spots to snag the ball. That’s not his whole resume; I’ve watched him make a couple of one-handed grabs when the coverage is tight, but contested catches or just when defensive backs glued to him, I felt I didn’t see enough of. It’s not like he’s bad at it when it happens, just never enough for me to say “Oh, he can handle that.”
My other concern? What his draft profile on NFL.com says: “disappointing effort and physicality when asked to run block.” That right there could be a disqualifier for Shanahan’s offense. When I see “disappointing effort” for coming out of the locker room, let alone run blocking, I wonder what else he won’t put effort into. There’s also that “no block, no rock” mantra we’ve heard goes on with the 49ers.
Speaking of blocking, that, of course, is the other issue with this pick, and it has nothing to do with the wide receiver position. It has to do with free agency and the left tackle position. What will happen with Trent Williams? Because if the 49ers can’t lock him up, that changes everything. Imagine if they had just gotten themselves that understudy a year or two ago, so they didn’t have to scramble for a replacement—Le sigh.
If the 49ers can secure Williams, then Cooper Jr. seems like a nice addition to Brock Purdy’s weapons, provided the run-blocking thing is vetted and deemed a non-issue. Personally, I still want the offensive and defensive line to get stuffed up, but if Cooper Jr. were to fall to the 49ers, it wouldn’t be A.J. Jenkins vibes at the very least.
What do you think of this?
