49ers’ Stevie Johnson will have to ‘clearly’ win the No. 3 receiver job
By Mike Dyce
The San Francisco 49ers passing offense struggled during the 2013 season, and the team set out to address it in offseason. Not only did they made a mid-draft trade with the Buffalo Bills for wide receiver Stevie Johnson, who has three 1,000 yard receiving seasons to his name, they drafted South Carolina product Bruce Ellington.
Even though they traded for Johnson, there is no guarantee that he will be a regular part of the wide receiver rotation.
From CSN Bay Area:
"The 49ers lacked a No. 3 wide receiver, though….The 49ers’ No. 3 producer at wide receiver was Kyle Williams, who was cut at the midseason mark after catching just 12 passes for 113 yards.…Johnson is the front-runner for the No. 3 job, but he will have to clearly win the job due to his scheduled $3.925 million pay for the season."
Going from the No. 1 option on a team to a No. 3 option is a big hit, and the fact that he isn’t even being considered for a spot outside of No. 3 is another slight. If Johnson can manage to use that as motivation though it might just pay off for the 49ers, and there is certainly nothing that would prevent him from climbing the depth chart if he played well.