“I love where we’re at now,” is how Kyle Shanahan describes the state of the roster lately. After a 6-11 season that saw the team start the season with four losses in their first seven games, and seven losses in their final eight showings to close the season, Shanahan knows he can’t afford to make mistakes. Not anymore. But judging the team’s preseason state, it’s tough to say: A 30-9 loss against the Broncos, followed by a 22-19 and 30-23 win vs the Raiders and the Chargers, respectively. Now, if you ask Rob Gronkowski, he has no doubt that the Niners better buckle up. Or else, things may not be looking so good.

On August 28, during the latest episode of the Dudes on Dudes podcast, Julian Edelman asked his co-host for his “hot take”. After pondering for a bit, the retired tight end said, “San Francisco 49ers stay where they were last year. Bottom of the pack. Six, seven, maybe eight wins. Didn’t really do anything this offseason to upgrade. They paid Brock Purdy. They had to get rid of Deebo Samuels because the salary cap was just getting so out of control. So, my hot take is that they, they look good on paper, but they don’t perform that well.” 

Notably, as a standout wide receiver, Deebo Samuel was one of the most lethal offensive weapons on the 49ers’ roster. Throughout his six seasons with the team, Samuel recorded 4,792 receiving yards and 22 receiving touchdowns, while adding 1,143 rushing yards and 20 rushing scores. While the numbers spell ample confidence, the reality behind closed doors couldn’t be far from it. The most overwhelming proof of that came in December last year—a stretch of games during which the WR had his fourth consecutive game with less than 25 yards of receiving and 35 scrimmage yards in each match—when Samuel wrote in a now-deleted tweet, “Not struggling at all just not getting the ball!!!!!!!” with a shrug emoji.

Finally, after months of speculation, the Bucs finally traded him to the Washington Commanders in exchange for a fifth-round pick. Less than three weeks later, the player was at it again. “I like winners. I like to win,” he said in a subtle dig toward his former team during his introductory press conference video call as a Commanders player.

So, cut to the present, is the situation better in Shanahan’s squad? While there’s talent such as running back Christian McCaffrey and Purdy, there are also injuries. Guard Dominick Puni and defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos are struggling with knee injuries, with latter likely to start the 2-25 as a PUP candidate. Yet, the worst-hit area is perhaps the wide receiver room. With Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings, Jordan Watkins, and Jacob Cowing dealing with injuries, the list of injured players is long. Rickie Pearsall and Skyy Moore can be considered the safe and healthy options for now.

As the 49ers continue to add depth to the roster, Shanahan is also making cuts to make space for valuable additions. That gave them enough cap space to add a Super Bowl champion to the roster.

Super Bowl champion joins Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers

As said, the 49ers have a thin wide receiver room. After trimming their roster down to 53 players, the team addressed the issue by signing veteran Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Valdes-Scantling’s experience solves the issue of a lack of depth in the unit. He has played seven NFL seasons with the Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, the Bills, and the New Orleans Saints. And in that span, he’s caught 205 passes for 3,566 yards and 20 touchdowns while winning two Super Bowls with the Chiefs.

Currently, though, the player is added to the practice squad. It could be due to the veteran player’s underwhelming performance in Seattle and the Chiefs. But with multiple players injured, Valdes-Scantling may have a chance to prove himself and climb back up.

Will he be able to do it? Only time will tell.