Whether or not EZ ever does enough to develop into a reliable #3 has nothing to do with his skill set. For this to ever happen, first, his neck problem, whatever it was, must be 100% okay. Then he must mentally be able to grasp the responsibilities of every WR role in the McDaniel offense. Because Mike expects the #3 to be able to come in for Hill or Waddle, interchangeably or line up with them as the 3rd WR, wide or in the slot. Motion across and into his route, or remain static till the snap and then take off. As a rookie, this was reportedly where EZ struggled, so Sherfield was used ahead of him. Cracraft at times too, or whoever else was available, but they kept EZ as the last WR on the roster all season. This was after a pretty good showing in his rookie preseason, so fans were taken by surprise for the most part.
Then he was getting used in a backup role the first two weeks in 2023, mostly with designed runs, and we all know which SF gets used most with designed runs. Then completely out of the blue from a fan perspective, we hear he was placed on NFI with a neck issue. I do not believe it was ever made completely clear to the public when, where, or how the neck condition happened. We do not know for sure if he was physically ready to come off NFI before the end of last season, and the team just decided they could not afford to use one of their returns from IR/NFI on EZ, considering how they had to use so many on players who would apparently be needed for more snaps. So here we are now. He is back on the roster, indicating he has recovered from the neck issue. The first two games last season showed enough to indicate a plan for using him. Even though it did not appear to be in a traditional #3 WR role. So, even when we sign OBJ, and he fills the #3 role, I'd expect EZ to be the 4th or 5th WR active on game days and they design some more ways to utilize his skill set for a modest number of offensive snaps most weeks. If one of the top 3 WRs has to miss time, then we may see EZ take on the #3 WR snaps.