49ers still need No. 1 receiver after missing out on Josh Gordon trade

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Editor’s note: Former 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia, now an NBC Sports Bay Area analyst, will share his thoughts on the 49ers each week throughout the season. This week, he examines how failing to acquire Josh Gordon affects the 49ers’ offense and what he saw out of QB Jimmy Garoppolo in Sunday’s 30-27 win over the Lions.

The 49ers are in need of a true No. 1 wide receiver, but it looks like Josh Gordon won’t be filling those shoes after he was traded to the Patriots.

Not to take anything away from Pierre Garçon, but he’s not the No. 1 threat that’s going to make defenses overly prepare for the 49ers' offense and ask themselves, “How do we take that away?”

The 49ers do not have a receiver who requires a double team on one side of the field, which opens up matchup opportunities on the other side of the field. Going into last offseason, that was one of the areas they could have targeted. They needed a true No. 1 guy who definitely can be a threat on the outside.

They went after help on the offensive line, which was necessary, with right tackle Mike McGlinchey. And they got Dante Pettis as a receiver, but he’s not necessarily that No. 1 threat right now. And I don’t know if he ever will be, but that’s yet to be determined.

It’s too bad they missed out on a potential guy who can be a game-changer like Gordon.

There was definite risk in the pursuit of Gordon, but the guy knows he’s on a very, very short leash. I think being around a group including John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan, who he played for in Cleveland, and some of the veteran guys the 49ers have could have been a good fit.

The 49ers need another playmaker. I think having Marquise Goodwin out right now definitely hurts because he is that guy who can take the top off. He is that deep threat who can get down the field, who can challenge just about anybody in the National Football League, as far as speed is concerned.

You need that guy. You need to soften up the coverage. On Sunday, we didn’t see any real attempts that were down the field, outside of some deep crossing routes and a sail route that they hit early on with Pettis. You have to take those shots during the game, to make the defense feel like you’re not fearful of going down the field. That didn’t happen.

Jimmy Garoppolo right now is trying to be too perfect.

It’s part of the learning curve. He doesn’t have a lot of starts. But I think what happens oftentimes, especially with young quarterbacks, with a young team, you’re trying to be too perfect. And it’s great to strive for perfection, but you also have to understand that perfection is very elusive. It’s very rare that you’re going to have that perfect game, that perfect decision-making process on every single play, and sometimes the perfect play is the throw-away.

You have to figure it out quickly and just get rid of the football and live for the next play. There were times on Sunday where the receivers just weren’t getting open, and that’s going to happen with this group. Outside of Pierre Garçon, the receivers the 49ers have are young. And they’re not real burners from the standpoint of creating great matchup opportunities. So what are teams going to do against you? They’re going to line up in an eight-man box in and play man to man. That’s what the Lions did. The Lions said, “You guys don’t scare us.”

When that sort of stuff happens, you also have to know who your best matchup opportunity is, your best route-runner, your best man-to-man route-beater in those types of situations, and you might have to lean on that guy to just give him a chance in a tight window. I just feel like Garoppolo was trying to be too perfect in his decision-making, trying to find the wide-open guy, not wanting to force a throw or make a bad decision, which he did at the end and nearly cost them the game. And because of that, he ended up taking the sacks instead of getting the ball out of his hands.

First of all, you have to have that natural clock going off in your head. The protection looked good. It really looked like they were coverage sacks, but at some point you need to do something yourself.

You either need to find a lane to push the pocket, escape the pocket or live for another day -- just throw the ball away.

You can’t afford to just sit there and allow the defense to eventually get to you, take those unnecessary hits. It’s within his power as a quarterback to pull that trigger to make that decision and to save his team, especially when you’re talking about the red zone.

Taking sacks and getting yourself knocked out of the red zone is extremely critical, especially when it comes down to scoring touchdowns, as opposed to field goals.

Watch Garcia on 49ers Pregame Live this Sunday at 9 a.m. and 49ers Postgame Live immediately after the game on NBC Sports Bay Area and live streaming on the NBC Sports app. Greg Papa, Donte Whitner, Matt Maiocco and Laura Britt will join Garcia and share everything you need to know about the 49ers’ Week 3 game in Kansas City.

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