HawkWow":fowkhe7u said:
Boldin runs like he's carrying Harvin on his back. He was once a great one, but he won't scare anyone on the LOB.
Based on what we 49er fans have heard in camp, Boldin is a better WR than Crabtree in many ways. Besides speed and ability to make people miss, Boldin has him beat. Better hands, better route running, better at beating press coverage, better able to get jump balls, better leader, etc. Of course, Crabtree was just beginning to come into his own. We'll see when he comes back, but what I've seen of Boldin so far, and also last year and the year before, I really feel that Boldin is better. Or at least a better possession WR, and that was basically what Crabtree has been used for his entire career.
mr.stlouis":fowkhe7u said:
Agree whole heatedly the Niners offense was much better last season. Reports are saying they have V. Davis getting a lot of reps at WR. The thing is they lost D. Walker in free agency! Who's gonna play TE if Davis lines up at WR?
Jenkins, their first round WR last year, doesn't appear to be progressing well in camp. That wouldn't be such crushing news if he wasn't trying to fill the shoes of Manningham/Crabtree. Niners have some serious question marks on offense.
Heck, they don't even have a true burner to take the top off the defense. Ted Gin Jr. left in free agency, as well. That's not good for Boldin!
At TE, rookie Vance McDonald has looked very good in camp (2nd round pick). Based on what we 49er fans have seen in camp, Vance is going to be better than Walker. He's bigger, too. A lot bigger.
Now, the thing is, Vernon Davis won't be playing WR. He'll just be moved around more. He'll probably do what Walker did for us last year, and Vance will do what Vernon did. But our second WR situation is not good, unless Kyle Williams is at full strength by the opener. I believe in Williams. He was really starting to grow with Kaepernick throwing to him last year until he got injured. By the time he, Manningham, and Crabtree are back (last fourth of the season), we will have quite the WR corps. Until then, the quality of our WR corps beyond Boldin hinges on Kyle Williams getting healthy. With Williams fully healthy, our WR corps, in my opinion, DOESN'T take a step back from last year. Last year it was Randy Moss and Crabtree. Moss still drew a lot of double coverage, but he was the third WR until Manningham got injured. Without Williams and Manningham, I would say that last year's WRs were only a little better than what we're fielding now, if Williams is healthy.
If not, however, we're screwed at that position. Because as physically talented as Lockette is, he seems to be a little dense. He's not picking things up quickly enough to really make a difference.