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Pro Football Focus writer Jeff Deeney pointed out an interesting statistic regarding San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Torrey Smith.
#49ers WR Torrey Smith has run 31 pass routes during the preseason and has been targeted just once.
— Jeff Deeney (@PFF_Jeff) August 27, 2016
The 49ers passing game has been fairly anemic through the first three preseason games. We’ve seen some solid moments, but little in the way of consistency. It is not surprising then that the team’s top wide receiver is not seeing a lot of targets his way.
The question then becomes, is this a matter of keeping the team’s plans for Smith under wraps until the season starts? Or is this what we can probably expect once again from the 49ers offense in 2016? Chip Kelly may bring volume to the passing game, but if the quarterbacks are not consistently finding the wide receivers, will it matter? We can point to a vanilla game plan in the preseason, but I don’t think that would necessarily explain only one preseason target for Smith.
I certainly expect the 49ers starting quarterback to connect with his wide receivers at certain points this season. But I would not be at all surprised if the tight ends and running backs ended up with more consistent targets than the wide receivers.