Blah Blah Vernon Davis this.
Blah Blah Vernon Davis that.
Can he catch the ball? Should he be blocking?
In the end... it boils down to money. This
article is a bit dated but it will suffice. Take a gander at the pay these players make. Unfortunately it's sorted by "Cap Value" and I don't care enough to export into Excel and resort. Feel free if you wish, I'd love to see the results.
Offensive line Top 10 players: 9.4m - 6.8m
Wide Receivers Top 10 players: 12m - 6.6m
Tight Ends Top 10 players: 5.0m - 3.3m
Guess what, Vernon is the 10th highest paid TE at 3.3m.
Ranking him amongst WR's: He'd fall into slot #37 (Bruce made 3.5m 2008)
Ranking him amongst OL's: He'd fall into slot #78
Sure, it'd be great if he learned how to read defenses and run his route... and catch a ball thrown his way. But if all he turns out to be is a underpaid tackle who occasionally runs a route to distract a safety, I guess I'm pretty okay with that.
Top 10 TE? I think he's coming on the cheap as a tackle who can block like a maniac and occasionally spook defenses. I also don't think the 49ers have been taking advantage of his skills. So there is a lot of upside. But who really knows.