Barrows: 49ers still considering Austin Collie

Matt Barrows is reporting that Austin Collie remains on the 49ers radar as training camp approaches. Barrows indicated a source said the team would not make any potential move on Collie until after training camp gets started. The 49ers worked out Collie a month ago.

This is not at all surprising given the youth on the roster. After Anquan Boldin, the 49ers wide receiver corps is just about all question marks. Those questions could be answered positively, but until the players get into training camp and the preseason, we have no idea how those questions will be answered.

A.J. Jenkins and Quinton Patton are the two most obvious questions marks, as the team invested a first round pick in the former and a fourth round pick in the latter. However, the rest of the wide receivers present just as many question marks. With Mario Manningham potentially starting the season on the PUP list, Kyle Williams will get a crack at the start job opposite Boldin. While Williams has flashed talent, he is coming off a torn ACL, and has never had the opportunity to show what he could do on a regular basis. This year's confluence of events would seem to provide Williams with that very opportunity.

After Williams, Jenkins and Patton, the 49ers have a whole lot of something at wide receiver. That's not to say one or more of those guys won't surprise us, but at this point, expecting anything significant from any of the collection of current and former undrafted free agents is a bit foolish. They'll get plenty of opportunities in camp and the preseason, but for now, who really knows.

And so, we are left in a position to wait on Austin Collie. If he were to sign, I could see it happening early in the week following the first preseason game of the year. The 49ers won't have definitive answers at that point, but they could decide they have a better idea of where their wide receivers stand.