Postion Battles: WR and TE

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Posted on March 10, 2011 by Eric Branch


Whew. I just unleashed my inner nerd (it’s not hard to do) and did some data crunching.

The findings? Vernon Davis was good last year. But he might have been better than you thought. And then there’s this — the best thing you could say about Ted Ginn as a wide receiver last season was that he was a good kick returner.

But first the good news: Tight end is officially not a draft need for the 49ers.

San Francisco quarterbacks had a whopping 113.8 rating in 2010 when they targeted Davis, who had a particularly good rapport with Alex Smith (124.0 rating). In addition, Delanie Walker caught 64.4 percent of the passes thrown his way, the highest percentage on the team.

Jim Harbaugh made extensive use of his tight ends at Stanford last year and he’ll obviously have plenty to work with in San Francisco.

Now for the bad news: A No. 3 wide receiver might be on the Niners’ draft list.

The details are below, but not many good things happened when passes were thrown to Ginn, whose most memorable moment as a wide receiver came when he inexplicably failed to get out of bounds to set up a Hail Mary at the end of the 49ers’ 25-17 loss at St. Louis.

Here’s a look at the numbers of the Niners quarterbacks in 2010 when targeting specific pass-catchers (minimum 9 catches).



To TE Vernon Davis
QB totals: 56 of 93, 914 yards, 7 TD, 1 INT
QB Rating: 113.8
Alex Smith: 40 of 64, 588 yards, 6 TD, 0 INT (124.0 rating)
Troy Smith: 14 of 25, 306 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT (96.4)
David Carr: 2 of 4, 20 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT (64.6)
Notable: Alex Smith’s rating when he didn’t target Davis: 72.6.



To RB Brian Westbrook
QB totals: 16 of 26, 150 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
QB Rating: 90.2
Alex Smith: 14 of 23, 137 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT (92.1)
Troy Smith: 2 of 3, 13 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT (75.7)



To TE Delanie Walker
QB totals: 29 of 45, 331, 0 TD, 0 INT
QB Rating: 86.4
Troy Smith: 15 of 22, 215 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT (99.6)
Alex Smith: 14 of 23, 116 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT (73.8)

Notable: Troy Smith’s completions to Walker gained an average of 14.3 yards. Alex Smith’s completions went for 8.3 yards.



To WR Josh Morgan
QB totals: 44 of 77, 698 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
QB Rating: 85.3
Alex Smith: 34 of 51, 502 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT (103.6)
Troy Smith: 9 of 23, 174 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT (48.1)
David Carr: 1 of 3, 22 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT (60.4)

Notable: In the season’s last four games, Alex Smith completed 15 of the 18 passes he threw to Morgan for 286 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback rating: 137.3.

To WR Dominique Zeigler
QB totals: 9 of 15, 98 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
QB Rating: 79.3
Alex Smith: 8 of 11, 88 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT (96.0)
Troy Smith: 1 of 4, 10 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT (39.6)

Notable: A serious question — does Zeigler have the best hands on the team?

To RB Frank Gore
QB totals: 46 of 72, 452 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
QB Rating: 79.2
Troy Smith: 9 of 14, 111 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT (88.7)
Alex Smith: 35 of 56, 316 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT (74.7)
David Carr: 2 of 2, 25 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT (118.8)

To WR Michael Crabtree
QB totals: 55 of 101, 741 yards, 6 TD, 8 INT
QB Rating: 64.8
Troy Smith: 17 of 34, 317 yards, 4 TD, 2 INT (97.3)
Alex Smith: 38 of 66, 424 yards, 2 TD, 5 INT (55.4)
David Carr: 0 of 1, 0 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT (0.0)

Notable: Alex Smith’s connection with Crabtree improved considerably after an unsightly start. In the season’s first three games, Smith had a 6.6 rating when targeting Crabtree (6 of 19, 81 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT). Smith rating rose to 94.5 when he targeted Crabtree during the rest of the season (32 of 47, 343 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT) … Niners quarterbacks threw 15 interceptions – eight (53 percent) when targeting Crabtree.

To WR Ted Ginn
QB totals: 12 of 34, 163 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
QB Rating: 36.8
Alex Smith: 10 of 21, 145 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT (46.8)
Troy Smith: 2 of 11, 18 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT (39.6)
David Carr: 0 of 2, 0 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT (0.0)

Notable: Yikes. During a nine-game stretch, Niners quarterbacks completed 5 of the 22 passes thrown Ginn’s way … Troy Smith and Ginn grew up together, played in high school together and played at Ohio State together. But they weren’t quite together last year when they reunited in the NFL.

[ Edited by PTulini on Mar 11, 2011 at 00:06:47 ]

Interesting article and confirms some thoughts about Crabtree (causing interceptions), VD (being very good), and Ginn (being very bad).

Talk about a QB and a WR not being on the same page! For such a good receiver, Crabtree was pretty ineffective. 8 ints!

Take Crabtree and Ginn out of the mix and QB ratings were pretty decent. Crabtree had more passes thrown his way than any other receiver, can't imagine why!

[ Edited by dtg_9er on Mar 11, 2011 at 06:16:14 ]

Its a good article, Alex Smiths figures look good on the first five recievers on the list.

A.Smiths numbers arent that bad for last year. I would also like to add that the offensively philosophy sucked as with the O.Line play. I might be just wishfull thinking but I would bet he would be alot more effective with Harbaugh. Something that Harbaugh has to do is build Smith confidence more. That is a good reason why Smith was so inconsistant with his throws. When a Qb doesnt have faith in himself or his O.line play it is a recipe for disaster.
We all know about his confidence level because of coaching,fans, etc etc. I would like to see him sign again with the team. I would love to see them draft Ponder and see where the cards fall.
Also for a true #3 or even #2 receiver draft Titus Young from Boise.

#3 receiver....hmmmm....DRAFT GREG SALAS and all our problems are over.

Thank God for VD.

Crabtree needs to step his game up. If Gore stayed healthy he would have easily been the 2nd best pass catching option behind VD. That's just sad.

Crabtree has yet to have a training camp with the Niners--holdout/injury. He needs that.

Michael Crabtree in 2010

Troy Smith: 17 of 34, 317 yards, 4 TD, 2 INT (97.3)-The best stretch he had in 2010

[ Edited by BloodyGore on Mar 12, 2011 at 12:54:01 ]

Originally posted by sfninerfanMax:
Crabtree has yet to have a training camp with the Niners--holdout/injury. He needs that.

May be the third year in a row with no training camp if the CBA is not concluded by fall.

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
Interesting article and confirms some thoughts about Crabtree (causing interceptions), VD (being very good), and Ginn (being very bad).

Talk about a QB and a WR not being on the same page! For such a good receiver, Crabtree was pretty ineffective. 8 ints!

Take Crabtree and Ginn out of the mix and QB ratings were pretty decent. Crabtree had more passes thrown his way than any other receiver, can't imagine why!

Just because the numbers reflect poorly on Crabtree doesn't mean he was "the cause" of interceptions. The statistics don't tell us how poorly the ball was thrown to him, which on most of them, was evident.

Originally posted by Lockout:

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
Interesting article and confirms some thoughts about Crabtree (causing interceptions), VD (being very good), and Ginn (being very bad).

Talk about a QB and a WR not being on the same page! For such a good receiver, Crabtree was pretty ineffective. 8 ints!

Take Crabtree and Ginn out of the mix and QB ratings were pretty decent. Crabtree had more passes thrown his way than any other receiver, can't imagine why!

Just because the numbers reflect poorly on Crabtree doesn't mean he was "the cause" of interceptions. The statistics don't tell us how poorly the ball was thrown to him, which on most of them, was evident.

Do you mean to suggest the quarterbacking for the 49ers played a role in the interceptions?

I am having quite a bit of difficulty believing that one, my friend.

Originally posted by DuhWinning:

Originally posted by Lockout:

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
Interesting article and confirms some thoughts about Crabtree (causing interceptions), VD (being very good), and Ginn (being very bad).

Talk about a QB and a WR not being on the same page! For such a good receiver, Crabtree was pretty ineffective. 8 ints!

Take Crabtree and Ginn out of the mix and QB ratings were pretty decent. Crabtree had more passes thrown his way than any other receiver, can't imagine why!

Just because the numbers reflect poorly on Crabtree doesn't mean he was "the cause" of interceptions. The statistics don't tell us how poorly the ball was thrown to him, which on most of them, was evident.

Do you mean to suggest the quarterbacking for the 49ers played a role in the interceptions?

I am having quite a bit of difficulty believing that one, my friend.

Eh, what do I know, better to LOOK AT DA NUMBERZ then actually evaluate the film...

Originally posted by Lockout:

Originally posted by DuhWinning:

Originally posted by Lockout:

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
Interesting article and confirms some thoughts about Crabtree (causing interceptions), VD (being very good), and Ginn (being very bad).

Talk about a QB and a WR not being on the same page! For such a good receiver, Crabtree was pretty ineffective. 8 ints!

Take Crabtree and Ginn out of the mix and QB ratings were pretty decent. Crabtree had more passes thrown his way than any other receiver, can't imagine why!

Just because the numbers reflect poorly on Crabtree doesn't mean he was "the cause" of interceptions. The statistics don't tell us how poorly the ball was thrown to him, which on most of them, was evident.

Do you mean to suggest the quarterbacking for the 49ers played a role in the interceptions?

I am having quite a bit of difficulty believing that one, my friend.

Eh, what do I know, better to LOOK AT DA NUMBERZ then actually evaluate the film...

I think the DVOA might say you're wrong. You can't argue with DVOA...whatever it is.

Originally posted by DuhWinning:

Originally posted by Lockout:

Originally posted by DuhWinning:

Originally posted by Lockout:

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
Interesting article and confirms some thoughts about Crabtree (causing interceptions), VD (being very good), and Ginn (being very bad).

Talk about a QB and a WR not being on the same page! For such a good receiver, Crabtree was pretty ineffective. 8 ints!

Take Crabtree and Ginn out of the mix and QB ratings were pretty decent. Crabtree had more passes thrown his way than any other receiver, can't imagine why!

Just because the numbers reflect poorly on Crabtree doesn't mean he was "the cause" of interceptions. The statistics don't tell us how poorly the ball was thrown to him, which on most of them, was evident.

Do you mean to suggest the quarterbacking for the 49ers played a role in the interceptions?

I am having quite a bit of difficulty believing that one, my friend.

Eh, what do I know, better to LOOK AT DA NUMBERZ then actually evaluate the film...

I think the DVOA might say you're wrong. You can't argue with DVOA...whatever it is.

Yep, Austin Collie is the best receiver in football...Didn't you know? NOTHING to do with that all-pro QB throwing him the ball.