Offensively, the San Francisco 49ers didn’t see much from their starters in the first game against the Kansas City Chiefs. They didn’t play for long, and we got an extended look at backup quarterbacks Matt Barkley and rookie C.J. Beathard, and a healthy cycling of offensive linemen.
The starting receivers — Jeremy Kerley, Pierre Garcon and Marquise Goodwin — all played fewer than 10 snaps and had just one reception for 14 yards between their four tickets. But one player who saw the field early, Aldrick Robinson, was one of the more impressive players on the field, for me.
Robinson was targeted four times in 15 snaps, catching two passes for 83 yards. He got his yardage in chunks, a lot like Kendrick Bourne, another receiver who did very well but who played significantly more snaps than Robinson. Bourne was the go-to target of Beathard in the second half, and finished with four catches on seven targets for 88 yards and a touchdown.
Robinson is a veteran going into his fifth season in the NFL. He had 323 receiving yards under Kyle Shanahan with the Atlanta Falcons a season ago.
Other notable numbers: DeAndre Carter and DeAndre Smelter had 48 snaps between them, with only four targets between them and just 4 yards receiving. Aaron Burbridge was on the field for 11 snaps, but saw no passes thrown his way. Victor Bolden played 24 offensive snaps and also saw no passes thrown his way.
Bolden did manage two stellar punt returns totaling 63 yards though, which was good to see.
Below are the wide receiver snap counts from Friday’s game.
Kendrick Bourne - 35 snaps, 7 targets, 4 receptions for 88 yards and 1 touchdown
DeAndre Carter - 28 snaps, 3 targets, 2 receptions for 4 yards
Trent Taylor - 28 snaps, 3 targets, 3 receptions for 33 yards, 3 punt returns for 40 yards
Victor Bolden - 24 snaps, 2 punt returns for 63 yards
DeAndre Smelter - 20 snaps, 1 target
Aldrick Robinson - 15 snaps, 4 targets, 2 receptions for 83 yards
Aaron Burbridge - 11 snaps
Marquise Goodwin - 8 snaps, 2 targets, 1 reception for 14 yards
Jeremy Kerley - 6 snaps, 1 target
Pierre Garcon - 4 snaps, 1 target
Tim Patrick - 2 snaps