Kendrick Bourne

9 NFL seasons, 4,430 receiving yards — an undrafted free agent who outlasted his draft class.

Why it matters. Bourne went undrafted in 2017 yet has played 9 NFL seasons and crossed 4,400 receiving yards — longevity that's rare for any wide receiver, much less one without draft capital.

2021 in New England was the peak: 62-877-7 with a Mac Jones rookie QB.

Bourne signed a 3-year, $15M deal with the Patriots in 2021 and immediately put up a career year: 62 receptions, 877 yards, 7 TDs in 18 games. He caught passes from a rookie Mac Jones at a 79.5% catch rate (62-of-78 targets) — the highest of any of his seasons.

The 14.1 yards per reception that year was also a career high — he was used as an outside-X with vertical responsibility, not the screen-game slot role he'd played in SF.

Why it matters. Bourne's first year in New England paired him with rookie Mac Jones and produced his only career season of 60+ catches, 850+ yards, and 7 TDs — a one-time peak across a 9-year career.

Coming home to SF in 2025: 37-551 in 15 games, his best output since 2021.

Bourne re-signed with the 49ers in 2025 and immediately delivered the best back-to-back games of his career: 142-yard outings in Weeks 5 and 6. Those two games alone account for 51.5% of his 551 receiving yards.

For a 30-year-old veteran on a 1-year prove-it deal, 37 catches for 551 yards is a strong return — and he caught everything (67% catch rate on 55 targets) without a single TD.

Why it matters. Two 142-yard outings in back-to-back weeks (5 and 6) account for over half of Bourne's 2025 receiving yards — a heavily concentrated production curve that lifted an otherwise quiet 30-year-old's season.

4 career 2+ TD games — half of them came in a single month of his 2021 NE peak.

Of Bourne's four career 2+ TD games, two came in his 2021 New England season — a Week 12 win over Tennessee and the Wild Card loss to Buffalo, where he caught 7 of 8 targets for 77 yards and 2 TDs in a 47-17 defeat. His only other multi-TD outings were a 3-catch, 2-TD cameo vs New Orleans in 2019 and the Week 1 opener vs Philadelphia in 2023 — meaning the bulk of his multi-score production clustered around one career peak.

Why it matters. Bourne is a low-volume scorer (25 career TDs across 129 games), so multi-TD games are rare; concentrating half of them in his single best season underlines how unrepresentative the rest of his career has been at the goal line.

9 seasons, 8 different starting QBs — and a 68% career catch rate that survived every supporting cast.

Across two stints in San Francisco and four years in New England, Bourne has caught passes from at least eight different starting QBs — including Jimmy Garoppolo, C.J. Beathard, Nick Mullens, Mac Jones, Bailey Zappe, Jacoby Brissett, Drake Maye, and Brock Purdy. His career catch rate is 68.0% (342-of-503), and he's posted a 70%+ catch rate in 3 of his 9 seasons (2021, 2022, 2024).

Why it matters. Bourne's value to coaches has been availability and reliable hands across wildly different QB and scheme environments — a 68% career catch rate is sticky for a perimeter receiver who has rarely been the primary read.

Torn ACL in Week 8 of 2023 — back for Week 1 in 2024, and a career-long 56-yard catch in 2025.

Bourne's 2023 season ended in Week 8 vs Miami: he'd been quietly productive (37 catches, 406 yards, 4 TDs in 8 games) before tearing his ACL. He returned for Week 1 of 2024 and played 12 games on the rebuilt knee.

The 2025 SF reunion showed the recovery was real: his 142-yard Week 6 vs Tampa Bay included a 56-yard catch from Brock Purdy — the longest reception of his entire career, and one of just two 40+ yard catches he has posted since 2022.

Why it matters. ACL recoveries can sap deep speed for years, especially for 30+ wideouts; Bourne's career-long 56-yard reception in his second post-injury season is the cleanest single signal that the explosiveness came back.