Quentin Johnston Camp Update — August 23: Another Week Without Target News

Quentin Johnston's week produced no reportable usage. The starters played one three-snap series in Thursday's 41-to-17 loss to San Francisco, and both Justin Herbert throws on it went elsewhere — a nine-yard completion to tight end Charlie Kolar and a third-down incompletion intended for Ladd McConkey, per Myles Simmons at Pro Football Talk. Whether Johnston was on the field for those three snaps is not stated in the coverage we can cite, and he does not figure in the accounts of the reserve-heavy remainder, a night of seven penalties and 229 total yards that Jim Harbaugh summarized as "We got outplayed and beat ourselves in all three phases," per Eric Smith at the team's website.

For Johnston specifically, a three-snap starters' sample was never going to carry information — the June preview's question was arithmetic, not standing. That preview granted the third-year climb as real and questioned the fuel: a scoring rate history says does not repeat, on a complement's six targets a game, behind McConkey in an offense built for McConkey. The week's one relevant development is contextual: Tre Harris, the other name in Harbaugh's stated top three, missed the game working through an unspecified issue, per Smith — which changes nothing about roles yet, but is worth remembering if it lingers into September and targets need a home.

What to watch: Thursday's finale against the Rams, the only remaining preseason chance to see the receiver distribution with the starters on the field — Johnston's looks relative to McConkey and Harris, and any red-zone work, since the scoring rate is still the whole question — and then the cutdown to 53 next Sunday. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._