San Francisco 49ers Undrafted Free Agent Signing: Dontavia Bogan, A Gem In The Making?

Fooch's Note: Another brief UDFA profile from nocal81 before the 3pm start to free agency.

Some players tend to fall under the radar during draft season. There could be a couple reasons for this. First, the team that they played on were not covered on a national basis, and secondly the player didn't have great pre-draft workouts.

I am not 100 percent sure where Bogan fits into on this list, but one thing is for sure; he can play football. San Francisco may have gotten a little bit more than training camp fodder when it comes to the former South Florida receiver. As I will show you below, his talents translate well to the NFL 

Bogan's stats really don't impress, but you have to look at what he had to work with in college. He caught nearly half of South Florida's touchdown passes, a team whose quarterbacks have combined for 10 more picks than TDs over Bogan's four year career. 

NFL Draft Scout pretty much echoes this feeling

Dontavia Bogan has been the only reliable the Bulls have had to anchor their passing attack 

Its hard to catch passes when you don't have anyone throwing the ball to you, just ask any 49er receiver over the last decade. 

Bogan is extremely polished in his route running and has refined this aspect of his game over the last couple of seasons. He isn't the tallest or strongest receiver at 6 foot 1, 190, but he makes up for that with these route running skills. 

Bogan's 40 time is not indicative of his speed on the field. He is quick off the line of scrimmage and much faster as he gets a wind behind him, he also has great hands. 

National Football Post had the following to say about Bogan

Does a nice job avoiding defenders off the line and/or down the field and quickly accelerating into daylight. Isn't real explosive off the snap and lacks great speed down the field, but knows how to create a step when corners want to be physical and try to get into his frame. Exhibits a good set of hands and does a nice job working himself free and tracking the football over his shoulder.

Listen, it is pretty obvious that Bogan projects as a slot receiver and is a major project at this point. However, it is really hard to discount his drive for the game and the upside that he holds. You are looking at a player that will be given a chance to prove what he is worth in training camp, and that is all he is asking for. 

I don't think Bogan is training camp fodder at this point, he did receive pre-draft workouts from a number of teams and was invited to the combine. You have to look at San Francisco's wide receiver depth to get a better understanding of where he stands.

Currently, San Francisco has five "locks" on their roster in Michael Crabtree, Josh Morgan, Dominique Zeigler, Kyle Williams and Ronald Johnson with Ted Ginn on the roster bubble. So, in order to make the team Bogan would have to beat out Ginn.

Is that beyond the realm of possibility? No. Ginn isn't a polished route runner and was an extreme liability in the pass game last season, he is set to make 1.5 million and San Francisco has ample return options. In reality, I would rather see the upside of Bogan on the roster than sit through another year of Ginn butchering the receiver position. Of course, this is all predicated on the idea that the 49ers are not going to address the receiver position in free agency, which still remains a strong possibility. 

The likeliest scenario is Bogan showing enough to be given a spot on the practice squad, where he will improve on the aspects of the game that he needs to translate to the NFL. However, I really doubt that he makes the 53 man roster unless San Francisco decides he is a better asset in 2011 than Ginn.

As you can see Bogan does have some mad skills 

DONTAVIA BOGAN 2010 OFFICIAL HIGHLIGHT (via pcane05)