We found out Wednesday that 49ers star receiver tore his achilles and more than likely will be out for the season the majority of the season. Crabtree finally claimed his spot as the 9ers number 1 receiver last year, being the first receiver to get over 1,000 receiving yards for the 9ers since Terrell Owens.
With injury comes opportunity for other players to step up. Crabtree will be a big loss for however long he is out but this will be time for 2012 1st round pick A.J. Jenkins to step up and show why the 9ers reached for him in the 1st round.
Honestly Jenkins can do nothing but improve on his rookie season, he had no catches during the regular season and playoffs. The 9ers had a pretty solid receiving unit so it might not be a slight to A.J. he didn’t make much noise last year. Jenkins has good speed and the flair for the spectacular catch, at least that’s what we saw from him in college at Illinois.
The injury to Crabtree makes the Ravens fleecing trade to bring Anquan Boldin in that much more of an important move. The cupboard isn’t bear for the 9ers receiving corps they just already have two other key contributors coming back for season ending injuries already(Manningham and Williams). They drafted a receiver in the 4th round Quinton Patton that has the chance to pick up some slack but all eyes will be on A.J. to prove he wasn’t a wasted pick last year.
Crabtree is due to be out at least 6 months so all my not be lost this season. With the void left Jenkins will get ample opportunities to show he belongs on the field. If, he proves what Harbaugh and Baalke already believe with the return of Crabtree the Super Bowl hungry 49ers get that much stronger.
As a 9er fan I’m rooting for A.J. to blow up. Good luck A.J. people are watching.
