Getty Danny Gray on January 8, 2023 with the 49ers.
Deebo Samuel wasn’t the only member of the San Francisco 49ers wide receiver room who admitted to their struggles in 2022.
Fellow 49ers wideout Danny Gray — drafted in round three in 2022 and paid $5 million by the team — is one facing the hot seat this fall after a disappointing start to his rookie season. But in a revealing conversation with 49ers insider Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle released Thursday, August 3, he shared the personal life change he made.
“I just stopped all the hanging out and playing the games,” Gray told Branch. “And I replaced it with football.”
Judging by the rhetoric of Gray’s words, sounds like he was distracted by people outside of the 49ers facility — ultimately leading to his slow 2022 start. But now, he tells Branch he’s had a new set of focus.
“I make sure I take two-and-a-half hours out of my day to just study my plays, study my concepts, study my formations. Study the depths and the landmarks on the routes,” Gray said.
Gray Was Supposed to be the Field Stretcher for San Francisco
While Samuel was coming off an epic 2021 All-Pro season, and Brandon Aiyuk was emerging as a strong aerial option, Gray was still taken as the final pick of day two of the ’22 draft for this reason: To stretch the field.
Gray came to the Bay Area equipped with 4.33 speed in the 40-yard dash. He was even compared to Super Bowl winner Demarcus Robinson — then with the Kansas City Chiefs before signing with the Los Angeles Rams during June 2023 — by nfl.com draft expert Lance Zierlein. The draft expert wrote in his evaluation:
Two-year starter on the FBS level with athleticism and play speed to project a continuing ascent at the next level. Gray stepped into a top playmaking role for SMU in 2021 and showed an ability to work all three levels of the field. His long, gliding strides separate from coverage on attack-oriented routes but he has the bend and agility to become a quality target working underneath. He needs to get a little stronger and limit the focus drops, but Gray has an inside/outside skill set with intriguing upside as a future WR3 with more work.
The 49ers selected him envisioning he’d establish himself as the third option in a room with Samuel and Aiyuk. But his final numbers went like this: One catch, 10 yards.
Gray shared how disappointed he was in his 2022 production with Branch. But he now sounds more into film and playbook study instead of “playing all the games” in his spare time.
Has His Head Coach Noticed the Changes?
Meanwhile, has Kyle Shanahan noticed a much different Gray compared to the one who struggled with getting his footing down in the NFL?
Shanahan has noticed how Gray “is in shape” to handle the rigors of the 49ers offense. He wants to see more.
“We’ll see how he handles this whole camp,” Shanahan told reporters on July 26. “I thought he had a pretty good OTAs, took a step forward, and came back in good shape, and we’ll see, as he gets more reps and more opportunities and stuff, how much better he’s gotten.”
Shanahan also knows that Gray’s speed can still be capable of becoming a dangerous asset for the Niners offense.
“Anytime you’re the fastest guy on the team and stuff, you are a guy who can make defenses defend all three levels,” Shanahan said. “And if you can isolate on those routes very well and run those consistently, and when they don’t honor it, we throw at you, and you catch it, that’s a hell of a role. And if you can own that, he’s got the advantage with that because of his 40-time.