Jordan Watkins has spent the first two weeks of training camp getting chances, but he has not turned them into the kind of catches that hold a roster spot. While he has seen a higher volume of passes alongside De'Zhaun Stribling, the harder throws have been landing in Stribling’s hands instead.
That matters now because Watkins was drafted in the fourth round in the summer of 2025 with the hope he could help after injuries thinned the group of young pass catchers. Instead, his first run as a pro has been defined by missed time and limited production, leaving the former Ole Miss standout trying to prove he can be more than a name with upside.
The numbers from his first year tell the same story. After injuries slowed him down, Watkins caught just two passes in four games and was a complete nonfactor in a year when the San Francisco 49ers needed unproven pass catchers to step up. A successful career at Ole Miss made him look like a plausible answer, and his final season there even rivaled Stribling’s finale at the University of Mississippi, but that form has not yet carried over once the competition got faster and the catches got tighter.
The problem is not volume. Watkins is getting thrown to. The problem is what happens when the ball arrives in traffic. Stribling has been the one finishing those tough passes across the middle, and Watkins has not. Matt Burrows put it plainly: there are two players drawing a lot of targets, and the difference is that Stribling has brought in the difficult throws while Watkins has not been able to do the same. After two weeks, the two are moving in opposite directions.
That leaves Watkins in a live roster battle he cannot afford to lose. San Francisco has had early injury troubles in camp, and younger receivers have had an opening to stand out while Brock Purdy looks to be playing at an MVP level. For Watkins, the next step is simple and unforgiving: start catching the throws that have been finding him, or watch the chance slip to someone else.
