For some reason, the Packers and 49ers, both laughably undermanned, thought it would be a good idea to stage a football game Thursday night in Santa Clara. Doing so proved challenging for all parties but particularly the Niners who, thanks to a brutal cocktail of injuries and COVID conspiring against them, were left with the equivalent of spare parts at wide receiver. Deebo Samuel? Out. Brandon Aiyuk? Ditto. Kendrick Bourne? Keep trying.
With those three shelved, the Niners, in all their injury and COVID-depleted glory, trotted out a ragtag receiving unit of anonymous Richie James, slot specialist Trent Taylor, practice-squadder River Cracraft and draft-bust-turned-journeyman Kevin White (I could hear an audible groan from Bears fans as I typed that).
So how'd it go for the real-life Washington Sentinels? Not great! The Packers were, at one time, ahead 34-3, though a pair of late Niners touchdowns, both of the inconsequential "garbage time" variety (Aaron Rodgers' night was long over by that point), pushed the final tally to a marginally more respectable 34-17. Probably not the outcome San Francisco had hoped for, but at least one Niner made the most of his rare opportunity.
Richie James, a core special-teamer who, under normal circumstances, would only see sporadic reps on offense, enjoyed the game of his life Thursday night, spanning 184 thrilling yards on nine catches in the losing effort. Both amounts were more than he registered all of last season. In fact, James' receiving total was the highest by a 49er since George Kittle bludgeoned Denver for 210 yards in Week 14 of the 2018 campaign.
James, whose slight measurables (5'9"/185) bare an eerie resemblance to former Patriots slot weapon Wes Welker (now employed as the Niners wide receivers coach, ironically enough), accounted for nearly 2/3 (63.2 percent) of Nick Mullens' passing output Thursday night, gashing the Packers for chunk gains of 47, 43 and 41 yards. The latter of those plays went for a touchdown, just the fourth of James' three-year, San Francisco tenure. It seems only a handful of fantasy owners benefited from James' meteoric breakout. The 25-year-old Middle Tennessee grad is owned in a minuscule 0.1 percent of ESPN leagues with similarly scarce one-percent ownership across Yahoo platforms.
The Niners figure to be much better-staffed for their next game against the Saints in Week 10, but at least for one memorable night, an end-of-the-bench role player got to live like a king.
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