The NFL processed waivers Friday afternoon, and the New York Jets have claimed wide receiver Bruce Ellington from the San Francisco 49ers, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The 49ers waived Ellington on Thursday, and have not made a corresponding roster addition thus far.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan talked about the decision to waive Ellington, citing the fact that they had a bunch of players with the same skillset. They made the move now as opposed to later this month because they thought it would give him a chance to land elsewhere before preseason games have started.
“Yeah, you know the first day when we actually lost [WR] BJ [Johnson III], he went down, we still hadn’t decided how long he was going to be out. But, we knew we were down a little bit there. And then the fact, you know Bruce had done a good job with us but we had a bunch of guys who were very similar in their skill set. Kind of the same type of players and we had to get some different skill sets in. I thought give Bruce a chance to go somewhere else. He handled everything great. He’s been a great person here in the short time we’ve been with him. He came back and battled from some tough injuries and gave himself a chance to go for a week, but you know we’re a little too loaded at that spot. So, we wanted to get some different guys in here with some different skill sets and mix up the group a little bit.”
Ellington was behind Jeremy Kerley and Trent Taylor on the slot receiver depth chart, and potentially could have lost his return role to Taylor. I’m sure he wasn’t overly pleased to lose his job, but getting cut now gives him a chance to catch on with the Jets.
The Jets wide receiver depth chart is a mess following their decisions to unload Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. They signed Quinton Patton, but he got hurt. Their depth chart currently includes Quincy Enunwa, Charone Peake, Robby Anderson, ArDarius Stewart, and Chad Hansen, among others. I halfway believe they’re making up a name like Charone Peake. Ellington is talented, but has struggled to stay healthy. He has a good shot of landing a job with the Jets if he can stay on the field these next four weeks.