There’s reason for significant doubt surrounding the San Francisco 49ers’ skill position players heading into the 2026 season.
With George Kittle, Mike Evans and Ricky Pearsall all coming off injury-affected seasons, the 49ers’ group of playmakers is star-studded, but comes with significant durability concerns.
But those worries weren’t enough to knock them out of the top five of Bill Barnwell’s ranking of the league’s RB/WR/TE groups for ESPN.
Having ranked the 49ers fourth last year, Barnwell bumped
San Francisco’s skill group down to five, but he poses the question of whether it is a collection of players worthy of a higher spot.
“Between Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and new addition Mike Evans, the 49ers can call on surefire Hall of Famers at each spot in the lineup for these rankings. The wide receiver room has been overturned, with Jauan Jennings and Brandon Aiyuk replaced by Evans, Christian Kirk and second-round pick De’Zhaun Stribling. There’s even the obligatory Kyle Shanahan middle-round pick at running back, with third-round selection Kaelon Black vying to back up McCaffrey this season. Should the 49ers be higher?”
In answering his question, he lays out the reasons for optimism and pessimism regarding this top-heavy group.
“Well, how confident are you that you’ll get the typical healthy seasons from all those players? Kittle is coming off a campaign that had already been impacted by hamstring and ankle issues before he tore his right Achilles in the playoffs. Evans was limited to eight games by hamstring and collarbone injuries. McCaffrey was healthy all season, but he has missed significant time in three of the past six campaigns. All three are on the wrong side of 30. And Ricky Pearsall, the team’s second-best wideout, missed nine games with a posterior cruciate ligament injury last season.
“OK, but should we be optimistic? Of course! We’re not far removed from McCaffrey, Kittle and Evans all having elite seasons. McCaffrey wasn’t quite as efficient as a runner in 2025 as you might like, but he added 924 receiving yards for his third 2,000-scrimmage-yard season. Kittle already is far along in his rehab, per reports, and might be ready to start the season. Evans’ streak of 1,000-yard seasons might have ended because of injury, but he was incredibly consistent for a decade and was still extremely efficient as recently as 2024. And Pearsall averaged 2.0 yards per route run last season.”
The skill position group is reflective of the roster as a whole. The floor is pretty high, and there is a tremendous ceiling, but a lot of things need to go right for it to reach that potential.
As Barnwell articulates in summing up: “There’s a No. 1 playmaker group on paper here, but it requires the new big three in San Francisco to stave off both aging and injury in 2026”.
The offense will go as McCaffrey and Kittle and Evans go, but others can influence the offensive performance and put the attack in a better position to survive injuries to the stars. San Francisco obviously needs Pearsall to stay healthy and produce the kind of play he did before his knee injury over the course of a full season, but the 49ers will have reason for a lot more confidence in the offense with any of its key trio injured if Stribling and two previous draft picks, Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins, show promise.
At running back, the 49ers desperately need one of Black, Jordan James or Isaac Guerendo to make the backup role their own, while San Francisco is in a holding pattern at tight end, with Jake Tonges likely to deputise again in the event of any Kittle absences.
The 49ers’ stars have the ability to propel the skill-position group to No. 1 in the league, but the development of the young players behind them is just as important for the present and the future of this offense.
