Any time Jim Harbaugh and Trent Baalke took over in San francisco bay area, the organization was within desperate need of big-play ability with the wide receiver position. Really, former 49ers head teacher Mike Singletary fielded Ellie Crabtree, Josh Morgan, Ted Ginn and Dominique Zeigler using a weekly basis.
This four-man rotation led to one of the NFL's worst passing episodes. At the end with the 2010 NFL season, the Niners were at the bottom of the league with regard to completion percentage, first downs through the air and quarterback rating.
Not a single wide receiver relating to the roster that year had more than 55 catches and 741 yards receiving. Pro Bowl tight terminate Vernon Davis led the 49ers holdings and liabilities single receiving category which include receptions, yards and touchdowns.
That subpar play didn't be seated well with Harbaugh in addition to Baalke. So they meant it was a point during the 2011 offseason to provide new players to your mix while coaching in the group of wideouts exactly who had held roster sites previously.
Unfortunately, San Francisco's lone big-name free agent signing at extensive receiver fizzled out before the end of the 2011 months. Braylon Edwards only shown up in nine games to your 49ers. Aside from the point that Edwards didn't score a single touchdown, he only captured 15-of-32 targets for 181 showrooms.
Even though Davis led the team in receiving touchdowns to your second-straight season, Crabtree showed significant progress by stepping up and amassing more receptions together with yards than No. eighty five.
As you can imagine, Harbaugh was still wishing for more production because of his wide receiving corp. As an alternative to signing often-injured playmakers just like Edwards, the organization went a unique route. They made it a point to sign players who had been productive on an yearly basis.
This notion brought about the signings of five-time All-Pro large receiver Randy Moss and Super Bowl champion diverse receiver Mario Manningham. Nevertheless, those two free-agent acquisitions were only the beginning. Baalke and the 49ers' front office had one more trick up their sleeve at draft day.
With the 30th pick within the 2012 NFL draft, S . f . selected University of Il wide receiver A. L. Jenkins. Coming out of college, Jenkins was viewed as an ultra-productive receiver whom showed good foot speed with the NFL combine.
His lofty draft status didn't immediately lead to playing time, as he was only active to get three regular-season games in 2012.
With an already stacked roster over the offensive side of the ball, his limited availablility of snaps throughout the 2012 season came as hardly surprising. Crabtree, Moss, Manningham, Ginn and Kyle Williams most logged more snaps in comparison to the 23-year-old rookie wideout.
The reality is, there were only 3 offensive players total that recorded fewer snaps as compared to Jenkins. Two of these were reserve running backs, one was a gamer who primarily played defense plus the other was a player who had previously been promoted from the team's put into practice squad.
Aside from using a stacked roster, some of could very well be wondering what other things factored within the scarce playing time. For just one, San Francisco acknowledged that Jenkins was from shape at last May's novice minicamp (h/t Matt Maiocco on Twitter).
Secondly, he wasn't motivated to manufacture a change. Hall of Fame broad receiver Jerry Rice told her i would personally help Jenkins get in shape after his less compared to impressive showing at minicamp. A rookie declined (per Grant Cohn of the Santa Rosa Push Democrat).
Jenkins' poor decisions and showings forced Coach Harbaugh to publicly look after him before training stay had even started. Here's what Harbaugh told Doug Farrar involving Yahoo! Sports:
A. J Jenkins was an experienced football player when they got here. His progress has become very, very good, and exceeded expectations.
For some of those -- the scribes, pundits, so-called experts -- who have gone in terms of to say that he will be a bust, must just stop. I recommend that because they're making on their own look more clueless than they already did.
I'll embark on record: A. J. will likely be an outstanding football gamer. So far in camp and what he's done with the offseason has led us to believe nothing but he'll be a great football player in the National Football League.
Whether Harbaugh really felt like this or not is next to the point; San Francisco's head discipline was simply protecting considered one of his players. Jenkins wasn't the primary, nor will he be the last player he widely defends.
Will there be room for Jenkins over the 49ers' 53-man roster when the light bulb finally is going off? After a disappointing rookie campaign off and on the field, the immediate answer is definetly no.
Let's not forget of which San Francisco's front office didn't do Jenkins any favors within the offseason. They traded away a good sixth-round pick for Baltimore Ravens large receiver Anquan Boldin plus they drafted Louisiana Tech extensive receiver Quinton Patton.
On top of that, Coach Harbaugh is "fired up" about wideout Ricardo Lockette (via Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area). The two offseason goes, coupled with the high-level of praise for Lockette, don't exactly bode well with the former first-round pick.
After training camp concluded in 2012, the 49ers kept six wide receivers on the 53-man roster. If this same sentiment rings a fact in 2013, Jenkins will be fighting for one of the final roster spots in his position.
As it sits right now, Crabtree, Boldin and Manningham are ahead of Jenkins on the depth chart. He are going to be battling Williams, Patton and Lockette for any sixth and final roster location at wide receiver. Chad Corridor, Marlon Moore, Chuck Jacobs and Joe Hastings all are long shots at most effective.
With that being claimed, Jenkins appears to get taking his 2013 offseason even more seriously than his 2012 offseason.
Building a rapport by using San Francisco's signal caller will be his only saving acceptance during training camp. If he and Kaepernick present a solid one-two push, his roster spot can be all but guaranteed can be bought September.
After all, most head coaches along with general managers won't give up on a Day 1 pick after 12 months. However, Harbaugh and Baalke drawn up Jenkins. These two fellas rarely follow the position quo amongst league circles.
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