Mid-Round WR Prospects Who Can Contribute Immediately for San Francisco 49ers

There had been a consensus opinion that the San Francisco 49ers' biggest draft need was wide receiver.

Offseason departures may have changed that. The Niners now have a hole at inside linebacker and a lack of quality depth at the cornerback position. They could also use further reinforcements on a defensive line that could be without Justin Smith in 2015 should he choose to call it a career. 

And with Torrey Smith arriving in free agency, it is feasible to envisage San Francisco looking to a position other than wideout in the first round. The good news for the 49ers is that this is a deep enough receiver class for them to find players who have the ability to make an instant impact in their rookie year.

Here I look at the receivers who could be available in Rounds 3 to 5 and have the potential to be immediate contributors in 2015 for an offense that struggled in the previous campaign.

Phillip Dorsett

The 49ers have already added a deep threat in Torrey Smith, but why not give Colin Kaepernick another weapon who can take the top off a defense?

Viewed as a second- to third-round pick, Miami's Phillip Dorsett is one of the fastest receivers in the class and has magnificent big-play potential. He averaged more than 24 yards per catch in his senior season with the Hurricanes.

What sets Dorsett apart is his speed—he posted a 40-yard dash time of 4.33 seconds at the combine—which compensates for his small 5'10" and 185-pound frame and enables him to create separation on a consistent basis. As well as proving to be a significant deep threat, Dorsett is adept at generating yards after the catch on short-to-intermediate routes. To put it simply, he is a wideout who can line up outside or in the slot and give defenses problems underneath and downfield.

His lack of size may be a concern at the next level, and it will be interesting see how easily he is knocked off his routes in the NFL and how he copes with big hits over the middle.

Teams will also want to make sure that there are no lingering problems from the MCL tear that forced Dorsett to miss the entire 2013 season. Nevertheless, the NFL is a league where speed is king, and if he is available in Round 3, the 49ers would be foolish to pass up the chance to add this versatile home run hitter to their offense.

Tyler Lockett

One of the problems with the 49ers offense last season was that it featured too many of the same types of receiver.

Anquan Boldin, Michael Crabtree and Stevie Johnson are all possession receivers, but with Johnson now gone and Crabtree still on the open market, there is an argument that San Francisco needs to bring in a similar type of player for when the 34-year-old Boldin's contract expires at the end of the 2015 season.

And Kansas State's Tyler Lockett is a strong candidate to fill the void potentially left by Boldin, should San Francisco be his last stop, or he choose to play elsewhere.

A prospect with impressive hands, Lockett is a reliable pass-catcher who displayed year-on-year improvements in production in his time with the Wildcats. In 2013 he posted 81 catches for 1262 yards and 11 touchdowns before recording 106 catches for 1515 yards and another 11 scores in 2014.

As the featured receiver in Kansas State's offense, that kind of production is not surprising given Lockett's skill set. He is an accomplished route-runner who can generate separation and climb the ladder to catch the football at its highest point.

Lockett was a threat out of the backfield and undertook kick-return duties while at Kansas State, and although he disappointed slightly in terms of creating yards after the catch and could struggle against press coverage in the pros, the ceiling is high for a player whose father and uncle both had NFL careers—the latter even spent a brief spell with the 49ers.

At the very least, Lockett, who is likely to be available in the second or third round, can contribute as a serviceable slot receiver in his first year in the league. With the right coaching, there is no reason why he could not become the long-term replacement for Boldin.

Kenny Bell

Nebraska's Kenny Bell has not been on many people's lips so far in the predraft process; however, his blend of size and speed makes him an intriguing prospect who is graded as a fourth-round pick.

At 6'1" and 197 pounds, Bell has the size to make an impact in the deep-ball game and combines that with good speed. He clocked a time of 4.42 seconds at the 40-yard dash at the combine and improved on that mark at his pro day with runs of 4.38 and 4.37, according to Lance Zierlein of NFL.com.

Bell used those athletic traits to catch 47 balls for 788 yards at an average of 16.8 yards per catch with six touchdowns in 2014. However, on tape he does not appear to be overly physical and may need to add some bulk to his frame in order to succeed at the NFL level, particularly if he is drafted by a 49ers team that faces three aggressive defensive teams in the Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals and St. Louis Rams twice per year.

There are some questions over his route running and struggles with dropped passes, but Bell has the length and acceleration to give defenses problems. His game could use some fine-tuning, but the big-play potential is clear. With Torrey Smith, Anquan Boldin and Vernon Davis likely to draw greater attention from defenses, Bell could take advantage against lesser defenders and make a quick impact for Geep Chryst's offense. 

Chris Conley

There has been a buzz about Chris Conley since his performance at the combine, which saw him clock a time of 4.35 seconds in the 40 and post a vertical jump of 45 inches. And on tape Conley flashes plenty of the attributes needed to be a success at the NFL level.

An impressive route-runner who explodes out his breaks, Conley has the acceleration to generate separation as a deep threat and when running short-to-intermediate routes over the middle. He averaged 18.3 yards per catch in a 2014 season in which he recorded 36 catches for 657 yards and eight touchdowns, numbers that would have been higher had he not played in a run-heavy Bulldogs offense.

He displays impressive body control as a hands catcher with the ability to pluck the ball out of the air. While he has the field awareness to keep his feet in bounds when catching on the sidelines and in the end zone, there are doubts over how he would fare against press coverage in the NFL.

Despite those concerns, the upside is high for Conley, who at 6'2" and 213 pounds has the size to win contested catches. Learning from a receiver like Boldin would only aid his development. For the price of a fourth-round pick, Conley could prove to be a bargain with the potential to help the offense in the short term and perhaps develop into a future No. 1 wideout for the 49ers.

Stefon Diggs

The 49ers already have two former Maryland standouts in Torrey Smith and Vernon Davis on their roster, and it seems as if they could have some interest in adding a third. 

According to Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun, the Niners are due to visit with Maryland wideout Stefon Diggs in early April. As a junior, he set a career high with 62 catches, ending the campaign with 792 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

A dangerous and versatile receiver who lined up predominantly out of the slot in college, Diggs has displayed the pass-catching ability and raw acceleration needed to terrorize defenses on underneath routes, exploding out of his breaks quickly and turning up the field before shifting through the gears to generate yards after the catch.

With outstanding body control and the suddenness to make defenders miss after the catch, Diggs' skill set may leave some wondering why he is graded as a fifth- to sixth-round pick. Yet there are legitimate concerns surrounding the 2014 second-team All-Big Ten selection.

At 6'0" and 195 pounds, Diggs can often be outmuscled by defenders and remains raw in terms of his route running, which will need to improve if he is not able to beat NFL corners with sheer speed. There are also questions about his durability after he missed six games with a broken right fibula in 2013 and three in 2014 with a lacerated kidney—Diggs was suspended for the first of those three for making contact with an official prior to a matchup with Penn State.

There is no denying Diggs' attributes, though, and it is intriguing to think about the kind of numbers he could have put up had he played a full season in his three years with the Terps. Diggs has the talent to make plays out of the backfield, in the screen game and as a kick returner. If the Niners are able to pick him up as late as Round 5, then they should do their best to ensure he is on the field right away.

Collegiate statistics courtesy of Sports Reference. Draft grades courtesy of CBS Sports.

Nicholas McGee is a San Francisco 49ers Featured Columnist based in Leeds, England. Follow him on Twitter @nicholasmcgee24.