Who Is San Francisco 49ers' Most Underrated Playmaker?

When the San Francisco 49ers signed wide receiver Torrey Smith to a five-year, $40-million contract this offseason, fans and analysts made a fuss over him. And for good reason.

Smith is a premier deep threat in the NFL, and he has been since the Baltimore Ravens drafted him in 2011. According to Pro Football Focus, Smith has made 42 catches of 20 yards or more during his career.

To put that in perspective, All-Pro wide receiver Dez Bryant has made only 40 catches of 20 yards or more since Smith was drafted in 2011, per Pro Football Focus.

Of course, Bryant is a better all-around receiver than Smith—Bryant might be the best all-around receiver in the NFL. He does everything extremely well. Smith does one thing extremely well—catch deep passes.

Which is valuable. When an offense has a deep threat, it doesn’t have to always execute perfect 13-play drives to score touchdowns. Sometimes it can go one-and-out, so to speak—the quarterback throwing the deep pass for a touchdown on the first play of the drive.

Going one-and-out is always nice.

A deep threat does more for an offense. A deep threat makes opposing defenses play honest, meaning they can’t stack the box with eight or nine defenders to stop the run. That’s what they did against the 49ers when Frank Gore was their running back.

Gore never played with a dominant deep threat. And that makes his career even more impressive when you think about it. Imagine how many more yards he would have gained if he had played with a deep threat as good as Torrey Smith.

Even when Smith doesn’t get the ball, he has a positive effect on the rest of the offense—not just the running back. The safeties must play deep so Smith doesn't burn them.

All of a sudden Anquan Boldin gets more room to run shallow routes over the middle. All of a sudden teams can’t double team him or tight end Vernon Davis. Everyone on the 49ers gets more room to operate because of Smith.

It’s tough to overstate Smith’s value to the Niners offense.

But Smith isn’t the only deep threat the Niners signed this offseason.

No one made a fuss when they signed veteran wide receiver Jerome Simpson on March 5. After all, they gave him just a two-year, $1.73 million contract with no guaranteed money, according to Spotrac. And he didn’t even play last season—the Minnesota Vikings released him after violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

Simpson is not a complete, all-around receiver. He hasn’t made more than 50 catches in a season. But when it comes to catching deep passes, he can be just as good as Smith. Seriously.

In 2013—the most recent season Simpson played—he and Smith each made 10 catches of 20 or more yards downfield, per Pro Football Focus. But those stats don’t tell the entire story.

Smith was targeted deep 41 times in 2013. Simpson? Only 24 times. He was the more efficient deep threat. But those stats doesn’t tell the entire story, either.

In 2013 Smith was catching passes from Joe Flacco—perhaps the best deep passer in the NFL. If he isn’t the best, he’s certainly up there. Simpson was catching passes from Christian Ponder and Matt Cassel—two quarterbacks not exactly known for arm strength.

You could argue Simpson was a better deep threat than Smith in 2013. Either way, both were excellent. A couple of big, fast, aggressive receivers who jumped and attacked the deep pass before the cornerback could make a play on it.

Take a look at the other wide receivers who caught 10 or more passes of 20 yards or more downfield in 2013. (Numbers courtesy of Pro Football Focus).

Name	Deep Catches	Pro Bowls
DeSean Jackson	16	3
Eric Decker	15	0
Josh Gordon	15	1
A.J. Green	15	4
Alshon Jeffery	14	1
Brandon Marshall	13	5
Demaryius Thomas	12	3
Vincent Jackson	11	3
T.Y. Hilton	11	1
Antonio Brown	10	3
Calvin Johnson	10	5
Torrey Smith	10	0
Jerome Simpson	10	0

When it comes to catching deep passes, only some of the best receivers in the NFL outproduced Smith and Simpson in 2013.

Fans appreciate Smith, but Simpson flies under the radar. He is the most underrated playmaker on the 49ers and one of the most underrated receivers in the NFL.

Follow @grantcohn.