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Pressure builds on Crabtree to perform well for 49ers
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Newly signed wide receiver Michael Crabtree of the
San Francisco 49ers appears before an NFL football
game against the Atlanta Falcons in San Francisco,
Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
On Monday, the 49ers cut ties with kick returner Allen Rossum. The move creates an open roster spot for newly signed first round draft pick Michael Crabtree.
With this move, the 49ers now have two major issues to figure out during the bye week.
The first issue at hand is the kick returning duties: who takes over? Currently on the roster, there are a handful of players that have returning duties. In the two weeks that Rossum has been inactive for games, Delanie Walker, Michael Robinson and Arnaz Battle all have shared returning duties on kickoffs and punts. Also Nate Clements and Micheal Spurlock are potential candidates to take over the returning duties.
The release, however, was a little puzzling. There were speculations that the 49ers would release Micheal Spurlock (the bottom-dweller of the wide receivers depth chart) to make rook for Crabtree. Instead the team cuts a very good returnman in Rossum.
Last year, Rossum was a huge sparkplug for the 49ers offense, setting up great field position for the team and one of the season's biggest highlights.
The move to release Rossum didn't make as much sense since Rossum was the best returner on the team. Now the 49ers will have to figure out which current player on the roster would now fill in as the full-time returner. Two players that made the most sense to me at this point would be Battle and Spurlock. Battle has had decent success as a punt returner and has by far the best assets to do so. And it makes a lot of sense for Battle as well since he is currently very underutilized as a receiver. As for kick returns, Spurlock has to be the answer. For the fact that the 49ers have retained him means that they must have something planned for him on the roster. And as the team's bv\est option at the position (and holding one of the most memorable kick returns in Buccaneers history) we might see Spurlock as the new full-time returner. Also, Spurlock is the team's "quarterback" in the Wildcat formation. Rookie receiver Michael Crabtree will be getting extra practice during this bye week to prepare for his NFL debut in Houston on October 25. For Crabtree, the expectations is very high since the entire holdout was based upon how much the rookie would be paid based on his talent. Even though Crabtree was the second receiver taken in the draft, he has set the bar high for himself. The 49ers have planned to provide simple package plays for Crabtree to ease him into the offense. But since the 49ers passing game has struggled tremendously in recent weeks, Crabtree will have to do a lot more to help out this offense. There will be changes to the 49ers when we next see them in two weeks. With Rossum gone and Crabtree in, the team now has to prove to the league and themselves that they are a team that is legit. Expectations could not be any higher for the team than what will unfold after this bye week. === The struggles of guard Chilo Rachal in recent weeks could mean more playing time for Tony Wragge in the offensive line. The 49ers have not provided the best protection for quarterback Shaun Hill and changes could be made. Mike Singletary doesn't expect the 49ers to make any trades before the Week 6 trade deadline, but doesn't rule anything out. === Tackle Khalif Mitchell returns to the 49ers as he fills in the empty practice squad spot. Mitchell spent training camp with the team before being released.
Follow me on Twitter for updates. Check me out here @SLam49ers
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