Bell may be forcing his way onto Week 1 roster
After Deebo Samuel exited the postgame locker room Saturday night, the San Francisco 49ers’ All-Pro wide receiver saw a group of nearby reporters and offered two words: “Ronnie Bell.”
Bell evidently made an impression, possibly because he had just done a fair impression of Samuel in a 21-20 preseason win over the Broncos at Levi’s Stadium.
Despite not possessing Samuel’s tackle-busting frame, the rookie wide receiver ping-ponged off defenders and unveiled a violent stiff-arm in a seven-catch, 114yard performance that included a 28-yard punt return.
Bell, a seventh-round pick whose size (6-foot, 190 pounds) contributed to his late-round status, appears to be forcing his way on the 53-man roster.
Bell leads the 49ers in catches (10) and receiving yards (172) after two exhibition games. No other 49er has more than five catches or 58 yards.
“Some of the tackles he breaks are really impressive,” quarterback Trey Lance said. “He’s a guy who competes his butt off every single time.”
Bell’s big plays — he’s had catches of 43, 37 and 21 yards, his 28-yard punt return and a 15-yard run — have mitigated mistakes that would spell doom for many rookie seventh-rounders.
He also has dropped a pinpoint pass that resulted in an interception in each of his first two games. And he also fumbled at the end of a 8-yard catch in the second quarter Saturday, a ball that was recovered by the 49ers.
Still, when asked to assess Bell’s two-game roller-coaster ride, head coach Kyle Shanahan began by saying it “starts by being able to make plays.” He added that Bell has shown he can hang with “our group,” referring to a position that includes Samuel and 1,000-yard wideout Brandon Aiyuk, before acknowledging the obvious.
“Hopefully, he can clean this stuff up because we did give him a lot of opportunities,” Shanahan said. “So by no means was he perfect. He’s still got a long way to go and he has got to get better.”
Bell has probably done enough to open the regular season on the active roster, given his play and injuries to wide receivers RayRay McCloud (broken wrist) and Danny Gray (shoulder).
Bell’s ball-security issues haven’t shown up on kick returns — he has fielded four kickoffs and three punts cleanly — and he’s the leading candidate to assume McCloud’s runback duties.
Meanwhile, Bell has assumed Samuel’s role as a wide-receiver enforcer during the preseason. On Saturday, Bell drove two defenders nearly five yards backward while finishing a 13-yard bubble screen. He also stiffarmed cornerback Faion Hicks to the ground to punctuate a 7-yard sideline reception. And he ran over 223-pound long snapper Mitchell Fraboni on his long punt return, gaining 11 extra yards.
Bell said Saturday he wasn’t pleased with his yards-after-the-catch performance as a senior at Michigan last year. And he has been inspired by the 49ers’ “YAC Brothers” — Samuel, Aiyuk and tight end George Kittle — to improve in that area.
“Especially around these guys, the way that they’re toting the ball,” Bell said. “I want to be able to do the same thing.”