“It’s worth noting that Vernon Davis participated exclusively with the wide receivers, not the tight ends, during the 49ers’ past mini-camp…
The Niners probably need him to play more wide out because their best receiver, Anquan Boldin, is a much better slot receiver than outside receiver at this stage in his career. During team drills, Boldin lined up in the slot the vast majority of the time.
The 49ers need an outside receiver who can stretch the field, like Randy Moss and Mario Manningham did last season. Davis may be the best candidate on the roster to fill that role this season.”
Here at RotoViz, we’ve been debating the merits of Vernon Davis vs. A.J. Jenkins as well. Jenkins has the draft pedigree and interesting college production, but underwhelmed last year.
Vernon Davis has a track record of solid production, though, and this report lends some more credence to the idea that Davis will be the primary beneficiary of Crabtree’s injury.