The San Francisco 49ers’ already thin receiving corps took another hit Sunday at Levi’s Stadium when veteran wideout Demarcus Robinson was carted off with a right ankle injury during the second quarter of their Week 2 home game against the Miami Dolphins.
ESPN’s Nick Wagoner then reported that Robinson was ruled out for the game.
Robinson had just hauled in a catch of roughly 20 yards when the play went wrong. Brock Purdy’s throw pulled him slightly off his line; as he secured the ball and tried to turn upfield, his ankle rolled and he went down without being hit. He tried to rise and continue toward the end zone but could not put weight on the leg.
A Dolphins defender touched him down, and Robinson immediately favored the right ankle as he limped toward the medical tent. Moments later a cart arrived and took him to the locker room.
The team first listed him as questionable to return, then ruled him out at halftime. He finished the afternoon with three receptions for 34 yards.
The loss lands on a position group that has been depleted since before the season even began.
Rookie De’Zhaun Stribling suffered a left ankle injury in Week 1 that required surgery and landed him on injured reserve for at least several weeks. Ricky Pearsall is out for the year and Christian Kirk is also on injured reserve.
With Robinson now unavailable, the 49ers are left with Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, Jacob Cowing and KhaDarel Hodge as their healthy wide receivers.
Robinson arrived in the Bay Area in March 2025 on a two-year, $9.5 million contract after productive stretches with the Chiefs and Rams. His first season in San Francisco was uneven.
He served a three-game suspension to open the year for a violation of the league’s substance-abuse policy and then posted modest regular-season numbers—22 catches for 276 yards and one touchdown in 14 games.
He flashed in the playoffs, however, catching six passes for 111 yards and a score in the wild-card win over Philadelphia. That performance earned him another year on the roster as veteran insurance.
Whether this latest ankle injury is a sprain that costs him a week or something more serious will not be known until further tests. What is already clear is that Kyle Shanahan’s offense, which relies on timing and spacing at receiver, is once again operating with a patchwork group.
Robinson’s absence forces even more snaps onto Evans and Samuel and increases the likelihood that Cowing or Hodge will be asked to contribute in two-receiver sets.
For a franchise that has spent recent seasons cycling through injuries at the position, Sunday’s scene felt painfully familiar: another receiver on a cart, another mid-game adjustment, and another reminder that depth at wide receiver remains one of the 49ers’ most fragile assets.
How quickly Robinson can return will shape both the rest of this game plan and the coming weeks of a season that has already tested San Francisco’s resilience at the skill positions.
