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Why the 49ers Waived Wide Receiver Ronnie Bell

This was random.

Grant Cohn

August 18, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ronnie Bell (10) misses a catch defended by New Orleans Saints cornerback Rejzohn Wright (28) during the third quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
August 18, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ronnie Bell (10) misses a catch defended by New Orleans Saints cornerback Rejzohn Wright (28) during the third quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
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This was random.

The 49ers waived second-year wide receiver Ronnie Bell out of the blue on Friday. They didn't claim anyone in a corresponding roster move or activate someone from injured list. They just waived Bell.

See ya, Ronnie.

The 49ers originally drafted Bell in the 7th round of the 2023 NFL Draft. In 26 career games, he caught 8 of 19 targets, gained 90 yards and scored 3 touchdowns.

He seemed to have gotten his career off to a promising start as a rookie. Brock Purdy's passer rating when targeting Bell in 2023 was a stellar 101.9 -- in limited opportunities, of course. But in 2024, Purdy's passer rating when targeting Bell is a microscopic 5.6.

Bell's most memorable play as a member of the 49ers came this season during Week 3. The 49ers were playing the Rams and it was the fourth quarter. Purdy threw a deep pass to a wide-open Bell. If he would have caught the pass, the 49ers would have been in field goal position and might have won the game. Of course, he didn't catch the pass -- he dropped it. And the 49ers lost a game they should have won. If they ultimately miss the playoffs, that drop could be the difference.

In hindsight, it's surprising the 49ers didn't waive him sooner.

Expect Bell to land on some team's practice squad -- perhaps the Los Angeles Chargers, considering he played for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan a few years ago.

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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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