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The San Francisco 49ers headed into this offseason with some question marks about the depth of their wide receiver corps. After Michael Crabtree, everybody else has some question mark heading into the 2013 season. Kyle Williams and Mario Manningham are both recovering from knee injuries, and A.J. Jenkins is simply trying to take a step forward from a rookie season with few positives.
The 49ers will likely add one or two receivers this offseason, but the question is where. Earlier this week we had some discussion about Victor Cruz, and there has been plenty to talk about with Percy Harvin as well. While both could do some amazing things for the 49ers offense, they also would likely cost an arm and a leg.
But what about Danario Alexander? The Chargers wide receiver is a restricted free agent, but the team elected to place the original round tender on him. This means the lowest salary tender $1.323 million and the right to match any offer he receives. However, the Chargers would not get a draft pick from the signing team because Alexander went undrafted.
If you're the 49ers, do you consider making an offer to Alexander? He has three years under his belt and has made modest improvements each year first with the Rams and then this past year with the Chargers.. In his 2010 rookie season he had 20 catches for 306 yards and a touchdown. In 2011, he had 26 catches for 431 yards and two touchdowns. This past season he had 37 catches for 658 yards and seven touchdowns. His 17.8 yards per catch was second in the NFL.
The big problem for Alexander has been injuries. He has never played more than ten games in a season, and his draft stock plummeted in 2010 because of injury concerns. He has dealt primarily with knee injuries, but was released by the Rams during training camp last year because of a hamstring problem. He signed on with the Chargers in October and emerged as arguably their most dangerous threat.
There has been some chatter in here about taking a look at Alexander, but given the injuries, is it really worth hoping he can stay healthy? It's hard to even tell what kind of contract would make sense at this point if you don't want the Chargers to match it.