Cooks to the Practice Squad, and San Francisco Keeps Patching the Same Hole

The 49ers signed veteran receiver Brandin Cooks to the practice squad, the latest move in what has become a running emergency at the position. It is the third wide receiver the team has lost in roughly two weeks, and the front office responded the way you respond when your options narrow: you find whoever is available and you add them.

Cooks is a long way from his peak years — he spent the better part of a decade as a reliable number-two receiver bouncing through New England, Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas — but he knows how to run routes and he has caught passes in big games. That is more than you can say for most of what is currently behind Mike Evans on this depth chart, with Evans himself listed as questionable. Demarcus Robinson is out. The names below him on the grounding — Jacob Cowing, Jordan Watkins, Will Pauling — are not names that inspire confidence in a passing game already operating without a full complement of healthy skill players.

The practice squad designation matters here. Cooks is not on the 53-man roster, which means he cannot play unless he is elevated. That is a real limitation, but it also tells you something about where the front office sees him: insurance, not starter. The problem is that San Francisco has been burning through its insurance all month.