Former NFL general manager and current ESPN NFL analyst Mike Tannenbaum believes the 49ers should work on signing free agent wide receiver Stefon Diggs.
Diggs is widely regarded as the best remaining free agent on the market. In a vacuum any team would improve their receiving corps by signing the 32-year-old. However, Tannenbaum’s analysis of the 49ers’ receiver situation served as a scathing critique of one of San Francisco’s offseason additions. While rolling through the reasons Diggs makes sense for the 49ers, Tannenbaum slotted Diggs into a role currently occupied by veteran WR Christian Kirk.
“I look at San Francisco, and even though they added Mike Evans and drafted (De’Zhaun) Stribling in the second round, I still think if they brought in one more veteran receiver for a team that’s in a win now mode, I think you’d get one year out of Stefon Diggs and San Francisco has done that over the years,” Tannenbaum said. “He’s past his prime, but come on in while Stribling develops, see what you have in (Ricky) Pearsall who’s been hurt, I think Diggs can help the 49er passing attack.”
Perhaps Tannenbaum simply forgot about the Kirk signing. Perhaps he means the 49ers should bring in Diggs to push Kirk further down the depth chart.
The problem is he mentions a veteran WR to play while Stribling develops who can also act as Pearsall insurance. That would seem to be the roster spot slotted for Kirk. He figures to be the third or fourth WR depending on Pearsall’s health and how well Stribling develops in his first preseason.
That means there are two scenarios here.
One, Tannenbaum fired off a 49ers take without first take a glance at their roster to determine whether the take was sound. Or two, he believes Kirk is such a non-factor that he doesn’t even want to put him in the veteran third or fourth WR role.
The former is tough because the Kirk addition didn’t move the needle for the former New York Jets GM. The latter is brutal because it means Kirk wasn’t even worth a mention when considering whether Diggs was a necessary add for San Francisco.
It’s worth noting that Kirk over the last two seasons has only 55 catches for 618 yards and two touchdowns in 21 games for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans. In the three seasons prior to that he hung up 218 catches for 2,877 yards and 16 touchdowns with the Arizona Cardinals and Jaguars.
Diggs, who posted 1,013 yards and four touchdowns on 85 receptions last season with the New England Patriots, would undeniably be a “better” option. However, the 49ers have historically leaned on in-house talent over outside additions. They signed Evans to fill one of the top two WR spots. Pearsall will get all of the opportunities to be the No. 2. Stribling was the first pick of the second round in this year’s draft and should push for snaps right away. Kirk will also be in that mix along with veteran Demarcus Robinson and second-year fourth-round pick Jordan Watkins. 2024 fourth-round pick Jacob Cowing also figures to get an opportunity to make the roster.
The 49ers have at on of bodies at wide receiver, and while Diggs may still have enough juice to be near the top of the depth chart, that ship probably sailed when the 49ers signed Evans and Kirk and used their top pick in this year’s draft on Stribling. The ideal version of the 49ers’ roster puts Diggs in a spot where he’s a third or fourth WR, and neither he nor the 49ers are likely keen on a marriage under those circumstances.
Diggs is still a good player, but if the 49ers wanted to sign him they’d have operated differently this offseason. And they surely wouldn’t have gone out and added Kirk. Even if Mike Tannenbaum forgot/doesn’t care that he exists.
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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Former NFL GM buries 49ers veteran with disrespectful take on WR corps
Reporting by Kyle Madson, Niners Wire / Niners Wire
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By Kyle Madson, Niners Wire | USA TODAY Network
