Vernon Davis: This year's Jason Witten?
Matthew Berry of ESPN says this in his Players I Love / Players I Hate column: "My friend Merril Hoge tells me Davis can't run a route to save his life. Stats seem to back him up. And the Martz offense doesn't use a tight end all that much. Too much hype, too little production..." You probably aren't surprised that Davis falls on his "Players I Hate" side.
Right now, Vernon Davis appears in the 8-10 range on most site's positional rankings for TEs. Last season, I projected (and correctly for a change) that Jason Witten would finish in the Top 2 of fantasy TEs and that it would be smart to target him as a possible trade target before others realized his true value. I think Vernon Davis will enjoy the same fate in 2008.
Mike Martz sums up why:
"I don't know if anyone in the league can run like he can at that position," Martz, the 49ers' first-year offensive coordinator, said of Davis. "He gets down the field so fast. I don't know who beats him in a footrace."
Martz said none of his offensive players worked harder this spring than Davis, who was on the field before practice started and hung around after it ended to hone his receiving skills.
With the lack of a big-time WR (Bryant Young, Isaac Bruce, Ashley Lelie, Arnaz Battle are the top 4 WRs), I expect Martz to utilize Davis like and as a WR. If he's working as hard as Martz says on his receiving skills, this 3rd-year TE might reach full stride in 2008. And, once he does, there's no stopping him.