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Jacob Cowing Will be the 49ers' X-Factor Sunday Against the Rams

Look for Cowing to get some jet sweeps, reverses and extended handoffs on Sunday.

Grant Cohn

August 18, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jacob Cowing (83) before the game against the New Orleans Saints at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
August 18, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jacob Cowing (83) before the game against the New Orleans Saints at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
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Both the 49ers and the Rams limp into their Week 3 matchup this Sunday in Inglewood.

The Rams are missing five starters on offense and the 49ers are missing three, which means there might not be much scoring in this game. Both teams will need backup wide receivers to step up and produce in ways they never have before.

For the 49ers, Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings most likely will be the starting wide receivers while Deebo Samuel nurses a calf strain. Both Aiyuk and Jennings are good receivers who are capable of taking over games on their own. But neither one is a gadget player and neither is much of a YAC threat.

The 49ers still need someone to replace Samuel's unique skill set. Someone who can run an end around and a jet sweep and catch a screen pass and run a slant and a crossing route and fade. Someone who can do a little bit of everything while adding some speed and explosion to an offense that's otherwise slow and methodical.

That player is rookie wide receiver Jacob Cowing.

He was one of their most exciting players during the preseason. He looked fast and tough and fearless as a receiver. The 49ers haven't played him at receiver yet during the regular season because Kyle Shanahan plays rookies only if he has to, but now Cowing has to play. They need a third receiver and he's their best option. Much better than veteran wideout Chris Conley who's not a gadget player.

Look for Cowing to get some jet sweeps, reverses and extended handoffs on Sunday.

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Grant Cohn

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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