San Francisco 49er Vernon Davis's Fourth Year Might Be the Charm

We know San Francisco 49ers' tight end Vernon Davis has always talked a good game.

You listen to him boast about his ability, and you come away thinking, "If this guy was half as good as he thinks he is, he'd be twice as good as anyone else."

The man does possess the stats to be confident, however.

As the sixth overall pick of the 2006 draft, Davis was heralded as the physical prototype to which all future tight ends would be measured. He had a defensive end's physique with a wide receiver's speed.

He was supposed to be, along with quarterback Alex Smith, the top pick from the year before. They were supposed to be the passing combination that was going to lead the Niners out of the abyss and back into prominence.

Smith's journey has been well chronicled but less is known, at least nationally, about Davis.

Thus far in Davis's career he's built a reputation where he's seen as the classic "looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane" kind of player. He's a guy who's built his reputation on dropping easily catchable balls, celebrating wildly (to the point of drawing 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalties) on the ones he does manage to hold on to, and getting into fights with teammates in training camp.

Most of all, Davis is known nationally as the target of head coach Mike Singletary's infamous "Can't play with 'em, can't win with 'em" rant that the Hall of Fame linebacker delivered after sending Davis to the showers early for multiple offenses during his coaching debut last season (an embarrassing blowout loss to the Seahawks).

It got so bad for Davis last season that then-offensive coordinator Mike Martz felt compelled to defend his play to the press, saying that Davis had already mastered two of the three facets of being a great tight end: run blocking and pass blocking.

Martz added that all Davis needed to work on was the receiving part. Tight ends aren't drafted sixth overall to block.

Fast forward to 2009 with new offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye.

Davis has been far and away the most dominant player at camp. He's catching just about every pass thrown to him, whether it's high, low, inside, or out. He's sprinting away from defenders after every reception like a child hoarding his Halloween candy. He's still administering his helmet-crunching blocks, only he's been asked to deliver far fewer of them.

"Since I've been here I haven't really had the opportunity to showcase what I could do, but now that Jimmy Raye has come in, he's given me a lot more opportunity to make plays," Davis explained.

The ex-Maryland Terp has also demonstrated a newfound maturity, not getting into any skirmishes at camp or being overly demonstrative in practice. Every now and then he and Singletary still clash, but Davis actually relishes this, saying that it helps him as a player.

"He gets on me every day," Davis says of Singletary, "but I know he's doing it to make me a better player."

"It's a blessing to have a coach like him," he adds.

Maybe this is the year that the light turns on for Davis and perhaps while all the pundits are debating about who should be the starting quarterback or the starting receivers or when the heck Michael Crabtree will sign, ole' Vernon will quietly (okay, so not so quietly) sneak in and become what he was drafted to be—the No. 1 option.

"I work hard enough for it, so why not?" asked Davis when the possibility was brought up.

It's getting harder to come up with a valid reason.

Bet the "Over"

A developing theme at practice these past few days has been the passing offense and, regardless of whether it's been Smith or Shaun Hill at the trigger, the fellas are having no difficulties in roasting Greg Manusky's defense play after play.

There are, of course, a considerable number of excuses to be made here.

The pass rush isn't going full bore at the quarterbacks and certainly not showing any of their stunts or blitzes yet.

Two of the four linebackers—Patrick Willis and Parys Haralson—have been injured and aren't participating, but neither, for that matter, is Tarell Brown, who's competing to be the starting corner.

Still, Smith and Hill are connecting on a high majority of their passes, and not just the dink and dunk stuff. Guys are running wide open out there, particularly Davis and his understudy Delanie Walker. No one on the team can come close to covering them or the running backs.

This potential weakness was highlighted all too well in a Wednesday morning drill when the linebackers took turns covering the tight ends and backs one-on-one in pass patterns.

It was, in a word, ugly. None of the defenders could cover worth a lick and the only incompletions came after blatant, desperate holds or other displays of obvious pass interference.

For the most part, the tight ends and backs weren't running complex routes or making double moves either. It was pretty much one cut and good bye. Either there were speed mismatches, agility mismatches, or the defenders were just guilty of having awful technique.

Usually it was a combination of all three.

The 49ers' linebackers—particularly Takeo Spikes—and safeties were targeted by opposing defenses last year and expect to be again this season. If the ease in which Smith flicked 30-yarders to Isaac Bruce and Davis this morning was any indication, the offense better score early and often for the team to be competitive.

The Daily Dings

Right guard Chilo Rachal was the victim of the most alarming incident Tuesday afternoon, when late in the practice he appeared noticeably woozy and had to be helped by trainers just to stay upright. He was taken off the field in a cart and later diagnosed as having a "migraine," a condition of which he has no known history. Singletary said he will be "day-to-day."

Far more serious looking are the injuries to left guard David Baas and running back Michael Robison. The former strained his foot during Tuesday morning's "nutcracker" drill, while the latter strained his groin. Both will be out at least a week and will be re-examined after a few days.

With both starting guards out today, the team had backups Tony Wragge and Cody Wallace (normally the backup center) starting in their places with the first team.

Willis's ankle cannot, in all seriousness, be called "slight" anymore after he missed his third straight day, and fellow linebacker Jay Moore was missing again with his lacerated finger.

Brown missed his fourth consecutive day with a sprained left toe and, fullback Moran Norris sat out once more with a sore hammy.

The team did have some positive news, as both Haralson (sore right hip flexor) and defensive end Kentwan Balmer (sprained left knee) returned to action, albeit only for individual drills and not the team stuff.