The Super Bowl got me a little behind on a small bit of news from the Senior Bowl. During the week of practice, the San Francisco 49ers met with Arizona State wide receiver D.J. Foster, according to Walter Football.
Teams meet with a lot of players, so as always, we take things with a grain of salt. However, Foster is the kind of weapon that could intrigue Chip Kelly and Trent Baalke. He played running back the first three seasons of his college career, before switching to wide receiver full time in 2015. He's a guy who could be moved all around the field, and will get some kind of NFL opportunity given his ability to move in open space.
The 49ers need to find more weapons on offense as they develop their new offense. It will start with figuring out who will be the starting quarterback, but then it will move on to adding more complementary pieces. Carlos Hyde is currently situated as the starting running back, with Torrey Smith as the only clear starter at wide receiver. Blake Bell will get plenty of opportunities at tight end, and Vance McDonald is entering the final year of his contract. After that, nothing is particularly certain. Yes, the 49ers have some players they'll look to at those positions, but none have done enough to make them clear-cut options.
Foster does not appear to be your prototypical receiver or running back at this point. He seems like a hybrid option that will certainly be welcome by plenty of NFL teams. Whether he can develop that into a career or not remains to be seen, but he'll get drafted and I think could get some significant opportunities.