Having covered both the back-up RB and QB battles, I figured I might as well stick with the offense and take on the back-up WR battle. This last pre-season was sort of a grab-bag of goodies and not-so-goodies. Even though I am going to make pretty clear arguments for certain players, I want to preface this post with a sort of disclaimer: I think this battle particularly is going to require more footage and time to really evaluate. I'm giving my impressions from the game, but they are subject to change quite drastically - more so than with most other positions, I think.
After the game, I don't think the depth chart has changed that much. I think Michael Crabtree, Randy Moss, and Mario Manningham will be the main three with occasional Ted Ginn Jr. deep passes here and there. I imagine Kyle Williams will be mixed in a bit, but not as much as last year. I don't think we see much A.J. Jenkins - though this is more than likely for the best. Let's let him develop before throwing him into the fire. He's the type of guy who can benefit from such treatment.
Ladies and Gents, your 49ers receiving corps. As I see it, that is.
That said, there are a couple guys who, I thought, made decent statements for their inclusion on the roster. I don't think Jenkins is in danger of being cut, though. I imagine if there is a choice between Jenkins and another guy, the team will just run with seven WRs (though that seems like A LOT to me).
This shouldn't come as a surprise, but the two guys who looked good were Nathan Palmer and Chris Owusu. Obviously, dropsies were a problem here, as they were with Jenkins' two easy drops. This, to me, seems pretty normal and expected from the youngters. While we should temper any excitement about these guys by reminding ourselves that they were playing against scrubs, we also shouldn't deny the potential these young men displayed.
So my question for you guys in the comments is two-fold: am I wrong for thinking that the depth chart for opening day will be Crabs, Moss, MM, Ginn, Kyle, and AJ? And, if you had to get either Owusu or Palmer onto the depth chart, whom would you drop? Or, would you include seven players.
I, for one, would probably drop Kyle Williams, though I am not as big of a KW fan as others on the site. I really like the man, and I do think he should make the team because he can contribute as a WR, but he is the weakest link in my mind due to his lack of separation with defenders.
Thoughts?