49ers Training Camp Battles

By Kalen Patrick

Of course there will be many battles going on for the 49ers at many positions, but to me, the two most intriguing competitions will be at RB and WR. Long have these positions been one of weakness for the 49ers, especially when you wanna look at the depth at these spots. It suddenly seems that the 49ers are stacked at both RB and WR and there could very well be some tough cuts prior to week 1 vs the Green Bay Packers.

49ERS RB - KENDALL HUNTER

At RB, of course Frank Gore has held down that spot for the last 6 years or so, but now he has some fierce young competition. Kendall Hunter was the primary backup to Gore last season and showed flashes of quality running. However, I don't really ever envision Hunter becoming a full-time, carry the load type RB, more complementary if anything.

Where the strongest competition will be ultimately coming from will be rookie RB LaMichael James. It may take James a little while to get acclimated to the intricacies of the position (knowing blocking schemes, adjusting to audibles etc.) but going forward I see James and Hunter splitting a lot of time at RB. I think Gore holds down the spot for this season, but don't be too surprised if the 49ers look at interest around the league for Gore's services. (No disrespect to Gore, I love him and everything he has done, but with his injury history and the short shelf life of RB's, he realistically doesn't have more than 1-2 more productive years left.)

Sticking with RB but more for the bruiser type RB is another interesting competition between Brandon Jacobs and Anthony Dixon. Jacobs has experience on his side, being a 2 time Superbowl Champion, he also has proven himself in the role and can be very effective. While experience is a plus it also plays in to Dixon's favor too. He can feed off Jacobs' experience, learn a few things from him, and with youth on his side he will no doubt give Jacobs a run for his money.

Lets turn our attention to WR now. The 49ers looked for Crabtree to be the #1 WR but he has yet to fully claim that spot, and more handed that spot if anything. On a 53 man regular season roster, you expect a team to carry 5 WR's. The 49ers have Michael Crabtree, Randy Moss, Mario Manningham, AJ Jenkins, Ted Ginn Jr and Kyle Williams. Of course that is 6 WR's right there, now the 49ers could decide to keep all 6, have 1 inactive on gameday and the other 5 ready to play. Ginn Jr would mostly be a returner and see little action at WR. Leaving Crabtree, Moss, Manningham and Jenkins as your top WR targets in my opinion.

49ERS WR - RANDY MOSS, LOOKS REJUVENATED IN HIS RETURN TO FOOTBALL

The tricky thing here is that Jenkins seems to be a more raw player, maybe not ready to contribute a whole lot immediately, but obviously being a 1st round pick there is no chance he would ever get cut any time soon. So it is definitely possible Jenkins could be the guy inactive on Gameday and Kyle Williams could get more time on the field.

Everything seems good IF 6 WR's are kept on the 53 man roster. If not, I expect there to be a very tough decision to come for the 49ers coaching staff. Ultimately, this is a good "problem" to have, what I mean is that should the 49ers return to the playoffs, we won't be trotting out Brett Swain or Joe Hastings on to the field like last year.