Rookie receiver Jacob Cowing could find himself a role on a handful of NFL offenses.
But being on the San Francisco 49ers means he's far down on the totem pole. Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings, and Ricky Pearsall are all ahead of him, so finding a role on the offense this year was unlikely. That's not even factoring in Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle.
However, Cowing has been gifted a prime opportunity entering 49ers training camp. He is poised to see more practice reps come his way than he did last week. That is because Aiyuk is most likely going to hold out of training camp after he recently requested a trade from the 49ers. I'd bet that his hold out goes on for a while too.
On top of Aiyuk's absence, Pearsall looks like he will miss a bit of time after he was placed on the non-football injury list. There's no telling what exactly Pearsall injured and the severity of it, but I'd say he's missing at least a bit of time when training camp opens up on July 23. This means two spots worth of reps have opened up.
It only bodes well for Cowing to use those opportunities to flourish. It'll help bring him up to speed further and allows him the chance to impress Kyle Shanahan to possibly be considered for a role on the offense. It's unfortunate that Pearsall is hurt, but the reality is that this is a prime opportunity for Cowing to take advantage of.
Again, there's no telling the severity of Pearsall's injury, so who knows how long he'll be out or how limited he'll be. Either way, Cowing needs to realize what he's been gifted and make the most of it if he ever hopes to see the offensive side of the field during his rookie season.
