Well it's official, Michael Crabtree ends his holdout by signing a 6 year deal with the 49ers, but what Fantasy owners want to know is what type of effect he will have, and whether or not he should be picked up.
Crabtree is a sizable, speedy receiver, and was a monster at Texas Tech; let’s take a look at his stats:
|
YEAR |
REC |
YARDS |
AVG |
LNG |
TD |
T.O. |
|
2007 |
134 |
1962 |
14.6 |
75 |
22 |
0 |
|
*2008* |
97 |
1165 |
12.0 |
82 |
19 |
0 |
|
CAREER |
231 |
3127 |
13.3 |
79 |
41 |
0 |
*Fractured heel cut season short
The Positives: Crabtree is the guy who everyone thought was going to be the eventual replacement for Bruce, and the future of San Francisco. Crabtree has excellent size and reliable hands as shown from his collegiate career at Texas Tech.
Crabtree is a downfield threat who has the ability to utilize his size and speed and provide the type of offensive weapon the 49ers have been lacking so far this year. These are the types of qualities that make him an interesting WR consideration for Fantasy owners who are looking to pick up a gem off the waiver wire, but wait, just because a guy looks good doesn’t mean he will immediately produce.
If this were an article being written in early to mid August, and Crabtree attended camp and had a slew of practice reps under his belt you could very well consider him a immediate impact player, but this is now October, and the aforementioned doesn’t apply.
The good news is the 49ers have a bye week after this week’s matchup at home vs. Atlanta which gives Crabtree some time to get prepared for his NFL debut—but this is also what leads us into the negatives.
The Negatives: There’s a lot of work for Crabtree to do just to get up to NFL speed let alone get him to the point of a Fantasy impact player.
As mentioned before, Crabtree is way behind in practice and overall experience in the offense ( outside of playing catch with Dilfer ) so thinking the guy will automatically come in and—POOF!—be a stellar receiver is utterly insane.
Crabtree will not only need time to adjust to learning this offense a lot quicker than he should have to, but he will also have to very quickly adjust to the speed of the NFL. In addition, since there is already film on the 49ers, it will be a bit easier to defend against Crabtree since all the coordinators have to do is plug in where Crabtree will go.
There is also the concern of Crabtree’s injured foot and how well it hs actually healed. Just because he is walking around the practice field is no comparison to playing every week, and since we don’t know yet, it could act as a X-factor to his overall performance.
There is also one other little detail.
San Francisco is not the type of team to take long shots down field. Shawn Hill is a very conservative QB and the overall style of San Fran has been ball control. Now, that could change in time with the addition to Crabtree which would be better for him, but not in the immediate future.
The Conclusion: The fact that Crabtree has signed is enough to consider adding him to your BENCH—provided he is still out there—but it isn’t enough to say start him just yet. There aren’t many WRs left on the wire at this point in the year, and grabbing Crabtree should pay off later down the road rather than the immediate future.
If you get him now and expect an immediate impact you will ultimately be let down, but I would recommend picking him up and letting him sit for a few weeks until he is ready.
So, what are you waiting for? The article is over, and the Waiver Wire is waiting for you—HURRY!
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