The 49ers may be one of the worst teams at drafting wide receivers over the last few years. Take out Quinton Patton because it’s too early to assess him, and Michael Crabtree and their recent picks have been dreadful. A list that includes A.J. Jenkins, Ronald Johnson, recently cut Kyle Williams, and Josh Morgan lets you see how bad it has been in the last 5 drafts. Number one wide-receivers are hard to find, but the 49ers haven’t even been able to find capable number two wideouts.
With Crabtree set to be a free agent after the 2014 season, the 49ers may elect to not resign him if he asks for too much money. Crabtree asking for more than the 49ers are willing to pay is a strong possibility and will remind fans of his holdout prior to his rookie season. The wide receiver position is going to be a big question mark moving forward, and fans may be skeptical of who the 49ers select no matter who it is with their recent history.
A wide receiver I’d like to see in the 49ers offense is Donte Moncrief of Ole Miss. A bigger wide receiver, he’s listed at 6’3, 226 on the Ole Miss website, with enough speed to take any catch to the house. Moncrief is a good route runner who can make contested catches with ease. He can creates separation on a regular basis, and right now separation is something the 49ers wide receivers need badly. He’s suffered from less than great quarterback play in his career, which hurts the stat sheet but not his value.
Moncrief has deceptive speed, he’ll likely run around a 4.45 forty yard dash come combine time, and can run great routes. When I say he CAN run great routes, it’s a bit of a knock because he can be slow off the line sometimes. It could be he’s figuring out how to attack his corner, or it can just be that he isn’t a high read on that play and isn’t expecting the ball. Either way it’s not a great trait.
A big reason Moncrief could excel on the 49ers is that he uses his size well when run blocking. Not the most willing blocker in the world, some plays he’ll avoid blocking all together, but when he is trying he does great job. He tends to lose leverage and not turn his corner away from the run but this can be fixed. He’s a small project as he needs to work on a few things, but all rookies have something to work on when going to the next level.
With Anquan Boldin a free agent after this year, a big physical receiver will be needed and Moncrief can be that receiver. That’s not to say someone can replace Boldin per say, but Moncrief is very similar. He’ll be a good fit in an offense like the 49ers where winning jump balls and run blocking is needed from the receivers.