We all know if there's one thing Ninjames likes, it's his wide receivers. We also know that if there's two things Ninjames likes, it's positive affirmation from the many readers of Niners Nation. Well, it's true that these two facts are partially why this post is one that I've chosen. It's also because, well, it's a legitimate battle and I really am interested to know just how many people still feel that Dominique Zeigler shouldn't make the roster.
I didn't watch as much of the game yesterday as I'd have liked to, and in fact, I mostly followed in the game thread after the first half (that's right, folks, you were reporting news to me!). If I'm correct, though, Jason Hill didn't get a catch. I'm not sure if he played or was out there, but I see nothing on the statline, and to be honest, it's a little bittersweet for me.
I think we can all say that at one point or another, we had high hopes for Jason Hill. When he didn't get his reps, people complained — myself included. When he seemed to get on fire at times and have some good games, he would, for some reason, not even be in uniform the next day. A lot of people said this was because he was in the coach's doghouse, but I'm wondering if maybe they were just seeing — or not seeing — something in practice that lead them to believe they had better options.
I'm getting all over the place here, like I said: it's bittersweet for me. While I love me some "Ziggy," I also don't like to see a guy like Jason Hill go to another team. He grew up in the Bay Area and to my knowledge was pretty big on the 49ers. There are many things holding him down, though. His "speed," doesn't seem to translate that much to on-the-field speed. He doesn't look terribly fast as a receiver, and it's only shone on the odd punt coverage unit here and there. He's also had a few bad drops this preseason in the limited time he played.
So enter Dominique Zeigler; a guy who might have made the roster last season if not for a preseason injury. The oft-injured and ridiculously overpaid Brandon Jones (Smileyman made a good point: giving Jones the sixteen million and change that we did was akin to another team paying that kind of scrilla for our own Josh Morgan if he hit free agency at the end of last season) is already out of the mix, which of course means Seattle scrambled to get him under contract so he could divulge such 49ers secrets such as: "Their benches are pretty worn out, it may be a point of weakness," as well as "I dunno, I was hurt all the time." So the way is open for Zeigler, it seems.
Is he the favorite in your minds? I sort of jumped around a bit on this post, but in my defense it's 5:00 a.m. and I'm about to turn in for my customary hour of sleep. My point is that, my obvious fanboyism aside, Zeigler has to be the favorite to be that 4th or 5th wide receiver on the roster and I'm interested to know if there are still any Jason Hill supporters out there who think he deserves to be on. So let's hear it.