The San Francisco 49ers are the current Super Bowl favorite despite a wide receiver room that’s been decimated by injuries.
It got even thinner this week.
The 49ers placed Christian Kirk on injured reserve on Saturday after he hurt his knee in practice. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco doesn’t expect him back this season. Kirk joins Mike Evans (Achilles), Deebo Samuel (hamstring), De’Zhaun Stribling (ankle), and Ricky Pearsall (knee) on a growing list of banged-up 49ers wideouts.
Many expect the team to make a move to add another WR before the Nov. 10 trade deadline.
And according to Fox Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano, San Francisco has emerged as a sneaky landing spot for one of the most talented receivers on the market.
49ers Named ‘Dark Horse’ for Jaguars WR Brian Thomas Jr.
Vacchiano and Fox Sports colleague Eric Williams surveyed people around the league to predict where the top trade-deadline candidates will land.
According to Vacchiano, almost everyone expects the Jaguars to move former first-round pick Brian Thomas Jr., who’s been an afterthought in head coach Liam Coen’s offense. Thomas has been targeted just 22 times this season and is playing only about 44% of Jacksonville’s snaps.
“It doesn’t make sense,” one NFL executive told Vacchiano. “He can still run. He can still move. He’s still big. It was just two years ago that he was one of the best rookies in the league. He’s had issues with drops, but you can fix that. He’s just too talented to give up.”
Vacchiano expects there to be some competition for the talented 24-year-old. The same executive told him there could be some smoke around Thomas Jr. to the 49ers.
“It does seem Liam Coen has given up, though, and Thomas could be the best wide receiver moved at the deadline,” Vacchiano wrote. “Figure the Chiefs, Bills and Steelers will be at the front of the line. The NFL executive told me to watch the 49ers as a dark horse given all the offensive injuries they’ve had.”
San Francisco isn’t just a name being floated either. The Ringer’s Tom Pelissero named the 49ers — along with the Chiefs and Steelers — among the teams calling around for receiver help.
Vacchiano believes Thomas ends up in Kansas City. Williams predicted he lands in Pittsburgh. But the 49ers have as good a case as anyone.
Why Thomas Jr. Makes Sense for the 49ers
It wasn’t long ago that Thomas looked like one of the league’s next star receivers.
The 2024 first-round pick out of LSU made the Pro Bowl as a rookie, racking up 87 catches for 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns. But drops and inconsistency plagued his second season, which ended with just 707 yards and two touchdowns.
Things have gotten worse in 2026.
Thomas has just 10 catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns through eight games. He has fewer targets than Parker Washington, Jakobi Meyers, and tight end Brenton Strange. He was even benched in the second half of Jacksonville’s Week 6 loss to the Houston Texans in London.
But Thomas Jr. is just 24 years old. And the 6-foot-3, 209-pound wideout has the size and speed that Brock Purdy’s receiver room is missing right now.
He also shouldn’t cost a fortune. Vacchiano thinks the Jaguars can get a third- or fourth-round pick. The Athletic’s Jonathan Jones believes Jacksonville could land a Day 2 pick.
That’s certainly a price worth paying for a 49ers team that ranks top-10 in both scoring offense and defense and has legitimate Super Bowl aspirations.
The bigger question is whether the 6-2 Jaguars — a contender themselves — want to hand a former first-rounder to a team they could see in January.
49ers Named ‘Dark-Horse’ Contender to Trade for 1,000-Yard Pro Bowl WR