Breaking: 49ers Tweak Roster With Recent Draft Pick Ahead of…

After a relatively encouraging rookie season, very little has gone right for Ronnie Bell in 2024 and, on Friday, the wide receiver lost his place on the San Francisco 49ers’ 53-man roster.

Bell was waived by the 49ers on Friday ahead of Sunday’s Week 13 clash with the Buffalo Bills in a move most will view as long overdue.

The 2023 seventh-round pick appeared an outsider to make the 53 when the 49ers added two wide receivers in the 2024 draft.

However, Trent Williams’ holdout enabled the 49ers to keep him on their initial 53 as a seventh receiver and, with first-round pick Ricky Pearsall forced to go on the non-football injury list after being shot through the chest on August 31, Bell retained a place on the active roster.

Pearsall made his debut in the Week 7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, a game that saw Brandon Aiyuk suffer a season-ending knee injury, with that blow necessitating the extra depth Bell’s presence provided.

But the 49ers’ decision to play Bell, a receiver of limited physical traits, ahead of fourth-round rookie Jacob Cowing raised a lot of eyebrows, especially with the former guilty of an egregious error in San Francisco’s defeat to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3.

Bell dropped an extremely well thrown Brock Purdy pass that would have put the 49ers in position for a game-winning field goal.

A critical Purdy interception in the defeat to the Chiefs came on a third-quarter play on which he and Bell appeared to be on different pages, though the quarterback came out after that game and took responsibility.

Still, that turnover happening in a game that also saw Purdy and speedster Cowing hook up for a 41-yard deep shot served for many as the perfect illustration of Bell’s status as a progress stopper for a much more gifted young talent.

San Francisco’s decision to waive Bell suggests the 49ers now finally agree, though there is a chance it could simply be a move that precedes him being placed on the practice squad.

The 49ers already have three wide receivers, Terique Owens, Trent Taylor and Russell Gage, on the 17-man practice squad, from which one player would need to be removed to make room for Bell if the Niners do decide to bring him back.

But, after eight catches for 90 yards and three touchdowns, all of which came last year, in his career so far, it would be no surprise if the 49ers have simply decided they have seen enough from Bell.