Bleacher Report - A.J. Jenkins

San Francisco 49ers: Michael Crabtree's Injury's Impact on the 49ers' Receivers

Peter Panacy — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:18:18 -0400

It is a bad day for the San Francisco 49ers.

Only hours removed from the news that standout wide receiver Michael Crabtree suffered a torn Achilles tendon during last Tuesday's organized team activities, the 49ers learned that Crabtree could miss the entire 2013 season.

According to the same source, the extent of Crabtree's injury is not yet known and it remains to be seen how the injury and subsequent surgery and recovery will thwart his return to San Francisco's starting roster. What is known however is that Crabtree's injury has a significant impact on the 49ers' offense and begs plenty of questions surrounding their receiving corps.

There is no doubt that Crabtree would have started 2013 as the number one wide receiver on the blossoming San Francisco offense. One season removed from his 2012 campaign that saw 85 receptions for 1,105 yards and nine touchdowns, Crabtree was poised for another great year hopefully complemented by a deeper group of receivers.

Now, Crabtree's injury forces the 49ers' hand and shall require the team to take an even tougher look at their wide receivers.

San Francisco learned last season what a depleted receiving corps could do to its chances. When fellow receivers Mario Manningham and Kyle Williams were lost to ACL injuries for the latter portion of the 2012 season, the 49ers became thin at the position. San Francisco's 2012 first-round draft pick A.J. Jenkins failed to have an impact during the season and veteran Randy Moss looked nothing like the vaunted receiver he used to be earlier in his career.

San Francisco fans would have to look no further than the 49ers' last offensive drive during Super Bowl XLVII to see just how reliant the offense had become upon Crabtree.

Fortunately, the 49ers made some attempts during the offseason to correct the situation. They traded a sixth-round pick to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for veteran wideout Anquan Boldin. San Francisco then drafted former Louisiana Tech wide receiver Quinton Patton in the fourth round of the draft. In addition, the 49ers know that both Manningham and Williams are hoping to return from their respective injuries suffered last year.

Despite the apparent positives, Crabtree's injury concerns and their effects remain legitimate.

In all likelihood, Boldin should emerge as the top receiver for quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers offense. Why would he be anything else? There is, of course, his age. At 32 years old, will he be able to perform at the same level like he did in 2012 with Baltimore? He did haul in 65 receptions for 921 yards and four touchdowns last year. San Francisco will hope that he can at least repeat or even exceed those numbers in 2013.

There are also the pending returns of both Manningham and Williams. Manningham, who developed chemistry with former 49er quarterback Alex Smith at the beginning of last season, is still questionable on his return for training camp. The same goes for Williams, although he recently ran again and the knee "felt great." This is potentially good news for San Francisco and hopefully indicates that both receivers should be able to step up in Crabtree's absence.

Yet there remains the questions surrounding Jenkins. Jenkins, who failed to record a single catch in 2012, has made significant efforts to have a better impact in 2013. One of those efforts included adding muscle to his frame and spending more time training for the regular season. If he impresses enough during preseason, it is not too far from possible that he could start alongside Boldin in the 49ers' offense. Provided that happens, Jenkins would look more like what San Francisco was hoping for when they used their first-round pick in the 2012 draft opposed to the potential "bust" moniker that he was headed towards.

Crabtree's injury may also put a lot of pressure on San Francisco's 2013 fourth-round draft pick Quinton Patton as well. The former Louisiana Tech wide-out was drafted to give the 49ers added depth at the position and potentially provide long-term solutions for San Francisco. Before Crabtree was injured, Patton may have remained a work-in-progress. Now, the 49ers may be putting more pressure on him to adapt to the NFL this season and contribute right away.

Patton totaled 183 receptions for 2,594 yards and 24 touchdowns at Louisiana Tech. Initially ranked by CBS Sports to go in the second round during the draft, San Francisco was able to sit on him and pick him up with a fourth-round pick instead. The 49ers hope Patton will play more like a second-round prospect this year.

The 49ers were also able to recently sign Patton, preventing any possibility of the rookie sitting out any portion of his first NFL season. At least that is good news moving forward and Patton should be able to openly compete with Jenkins on San Francisco's depth chart which should hopefully benefit both receivers in the long run.

There are also some tangible "wild cards" that the 49ers will have to consider. Chief among them is Ricardo Lockette. Lockette played his rookie season with the Seattle Seahawks but only made it on the field for two games and then found his way onto San Francisco's practice squad last year.

Lockette is raw and undeveloped, but he does have speed which is an element that may assist the slower Boldin on offense. In addition, Lockette spent much of the offseason working out with Kaepernick and there is hope that the two will build more chemistry on the field.

Other possible candidates to help fill Crabtree's void may be Marlon Moore and Chad Hall.

Of course the 49ers may be interested in making deals outside of their own camp if deemed necessary. Would they consider bringing back Randy Moss? Probably not, but stranger things have happened. Terrell Owens is out there somewhere, but that possibility deserves more laughs than anything else at this point. Brandon Lloyd is available as well, but could he replicate the season he had last year catching passes from Tom Brady?

San Francisco may also be potentially forced to trade one of their 2014 draft picks to acquire a wide receiver at any point between now and the regular season trading deadline.

While any of these scenarios remain to be determined, what is known is that the 49ers' receiving corps has been shaken up by the news of Crabtree's possible season-ending injury. Certain players will be required to step up and fill the void and there is the likelihood that the situation will warrant some added competition in the months and weeks before the regular season begins. Healthy competition is good right?

The 49ers would positively agree with that statement, but if asked, the team would certainly say they wished Crabtree was back.

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Will There Ever Be Room for A.J. Jenkins in San Francisco?

Tyson Langland — Thu, 16 May 2013 06:00:00 -0400

When Jim Harbaugh and Trent Baalke took over in San Francisco, the organization was in desperate need of big-play ability at the wide receiver position. In 2010, former 49ers head coach Mike Singletary fielded Michael Crabtree, Josh Morgan, Ted Ginn and Dominique Zeigler on a weekly basis.

This four-man rotation led to one of the NFL’s worst passing attacks. At the end of the 2010 NFL season, the Niners were at the bottom of the league in terms of completion percentage, first downs through the air and quarterback rating.

Not a single wide receiver on the roster that year had more than 55 catches and 741 yards receiving. Pro Bowl tight end Vernon Davis led the 49ers in every single receiving category including receptions, yards and touchdowns.

The subpar play didn’t sit well with Harbaugh and Baalke. So they made it a point during the 2011 offseason to add new players to the mix while coaching up the group of wideouts who had held roster spots previously.

Unfortunately, San Francisco’s lone big-name free agent signing at wide receiver fizzled out before the end of the 2011 season. Braylon Edwards only appeared in nine games for the 49ers. Aside from the fact that Edwards didn’t score a single touchdown, he only caught 15-of-32 targets for 181 yards.

Even though Davis led the team in receiving touchdowns for the second-straight season, Crabtree showed significant progress by stepping up and amassing more receptions and yards than No. 85.

As you can imagine, Harbaugh was still yearning for more production out of his wide receiving corp. Instead of signing often-injured playmakers like Edwards, the organization went a different route. They made it a point to sign players who were productive on an annual basis.

This notion led to the signings of five-time All-Pro wide receiver Randy Moss and Super Bowl champion wide receiver Mario Manningham. Yet, those two free-agent acquisitions were only the beginning. Baalke and the 49ers’ front office had one more trick up their sleeve on draft day.

With the 30th pick in the 2012 NFL draft, San Francisco selected University of Illinois wide receiver A.J. Jenkins. Coming out of college, Jenkins was viewed as an ultra-productive receiver who showed good foot speed at the NFL combine.

He also showed enough flexibility at the collegiate level to be considered a threat in the slot and on the outside.

His lofty draft status didn’t immediately translate into playing time, as he was only active for three regular-season games in 2012.

With an already stacked roster on the offensive side of the ball, his limited number of snaps throughout the 2012 season came as no surprise. Crabtree, Moss, Manningham, Ginn and Kyle Williams all logged more snaps than the 23-year-old rookie wideout.

In fact, there were only four offensive players total who recorded fewer snaps than Jenkins. Two of them were reserve running backs, one was a player who primarily played defense and the other was a player who had been promoted from the team’s practice squad.

Aside from having a stacked roster, some of you may be wondering what other things factored into the scarce playing time. For one, San Francisco acknowledged that Jenkins was out of shape at last May’s rookie minicamp (h/t Matt Maiocco on Twitter).

Secondly, he wasn’t motivated to make a change. Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice offered to personally help Jenkins get in shape after his less than impressive showing at minicamp. The rookie declined (per Grant Cohn of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat).

Jenkins’ poor decisions and showings forced Coach Harbaugh to publicly defend him before training camp had even started. Here’s what Harbaugh told Doug Farrar of Yahoo! Sports:

A.J Jenkins was an outstanding football player when he got here. His progress has been very, very good, and exceeded expectations.

For those -- the scribes, pundits, so-called experts -- who have gone so far as to say that he's going to be a bust, should just stop. I recommend that because they're making themselves look more clueless than they already did.

I'll go on record: A.J. is going to be an outstanding football player. So far in camp and what he's done in the offseason has led us to believe nothing but he'll be an outstanding football player in the National Football League.

Whether Harbaugh really felt that way or not is beside the point; San Francisco’s head coach was simply protecting one of his players. Jenkins wasn’t the first, nor will he be the last player he publicly defends.

Will there be room for Jenkins on the 49ers’ 53-man roster when the light bulb finally goes off? After a disappointing rookie campaign on and off the field, the immediate answer appears to be no.

Let’s not forget that San Francisco’s front office didn’t do Jenkins any favors in the offseason. They traded away a sixth-round pick for Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin and they drafted Louisiana Tech wide receiver Quinton Patton.

Moreover, Coach Harbaugh is “fired up” about wideout Ricardo Lockette (via Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area). The two offseason moves, coupled with the high-level of praise for Lockette, don’t exactly bode well for the former first-round pick.

Undoubtedly, Jenkins has an uphill battle on his hands.

After training camp concluded in 2012, the 49ers kept six wide receivers on their 53-man roster. If that same sentiment rings true in 2013, Jenkins will be fighting for one of the final roster spots at his position.

As it sits right now, Crabtree, Boldin and Manningham are all ahead of Jenkins on the depth chart. He will be battling Williams, Patton and Lockette for that sixth and final roster spot at wide receiver. Chad Hall, Marlon Moore, Chuck Jacobs and Joe Hastings all appear to be long shots at best.

With that being said, Jenkins appears to be taking his 2013 offseason more seriously than his 2012 offseason.

According to Eric Branch of sfgate.com, Jenkins spent time training with quarterback Colin Kaepernick in February.

Building a rapport with San Francisco’s signal caller will be his only saving grace during training camp. If he and Kaepernick show off a solid one-two punch, his roster spot will be all but guaranteed come September.

After all, most head coaches and general managers won’t give up on a Day 1 pick after one year. However, Harbaugh and Baalke drafted Jenkins. These two men rarely follow the status quo amongst league circles.

Mr. Jenkins has officially been put on notice; his time is now ticking away.

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