Vernon Davis..potential finally translates into #'s

[SameSongNDance]

Vernon Davis has been blessed with athletic, freakish talent and ability. He's 6'3, 235 lbs. He ran a blistering 4.38 40, faster than most RBs and WRs at his combine, and was touted as the top TE prospect of the 2006 draft. Well after three dissapointing years in the NFL, is he finally going to live up to the hype? Let's look at his numbers after 1/4 of the year has progressed.


Targets: He is currently tied in 6th place, with Jason Witten, Heath Miller and Brent Celek with 27 targets. He is averaging just under 7 targets a game.

Receptions: He is tied with Owen Daniels and Kellen Winslow in 7th place with 17 receptions. It's interesting to note that he isn't capitalizing on all his targets. Heath Mille (24 rec.), Jason Witten (23 rec.) and Brent Celek (22 rec.) have all done more with their looks. This could mean that Vernon hasn't reached his ceiling yet, or he just doesn't have as good of hands as the previously mentioned TE's . I'm inclined to go with both.

Yards: He has 211 yards on the season. Good enough to land him 6th place in this category. He is outperforming some big names such as Owen Daniels and John Carlson, not by much though. It is also interesting to note he is one yard shy of tying Jason Witten (212 yards) for 5th place.

Touchdowns: He currently leads all TE's with 3 TD's. This is probably the most appealing aspect of Vernon. As soon as a can get a list of Red Zone targets ill post the statistics.

FF Points: Last but not least, Vernon is ranked 3rd in fantasy football points (standard scoring). Only Dallas Clark and Antonio Gates have more points than him.

Well, its safe to say Vernon Davis is exceeding everyone's expectations. He is on pace to finish the year with 68 catches for 844 yards and 12 TD's. The addition of Crabtree, IMO, will help to free up some space over the middle for Vernon to do his dirty work, although Crabtree can end up stealing some of Vernon's RZ thunder. All in all I am excited to see how Vernon produces for the rest of the year. He has a good matchup vs. ATL this week who are ranked 22nd against the TE.

[da bears]

27 out of Hill's 106 attempts have gone his way thus far. I think right now given the 49ers being very committed to the run that his numbers are going to drop and he likely won't top 650 yards. But if he remains their big goal line threat which I don't see changing, then he should be somewhat valuable but I'd still only want to own the 49ers running backs on any of my teams.

[Kareighuis]

The most gifted receiver on the team. Now that Crabtree is on the team, Davis can attack downfield while Crabtree develops into possession receiver.

I wish I had drafted him more.

[joejlitz]

I, for one, am shocked. I don't watch college football, so it is a lot easier for me to disassociate myself with a player who is supposed to be awesome straight into the pros. I watched Davis his rookie year, didn't buy into the hype. I doubted him his next year. I laughed at him last year. In fact, I wrote a humorous (well, I thought it was humorous ) article about Davis last year called,

Protect Yourself Against VD.

So honestly, I am somewhat shocked that he is performing well this year. It is only Week 4, so I remain unconvinced, but if your #'s are right and he is being target 27/106 pass attempts, than I don't see why he can't continue to succeed. Go get 'em VD! Just not against my team!

[Montana168]

as a niners fan, i am some what surprised he is finally showing potential (key word: showing, needs to keep producing now). i was disappointed his first 2 years in the league that he didnt produce. then last year it was pretty much a guarantee that he wouldn't produce bcuz TE's in mike martz' system don't produce big numbers. also, last yr he was primarily used as a blocking TE (which he now excels at), not as a receiver. however, last yr he showed flashes when shaun hill was given the starting job, and davis was hill's fav. target. so i sort of knew that there was a chance he could produce if hill won the job, however, i had not planned/hoped that he would excel anymore bcuz i had given up after being very high on him his first 2 yrs.

good thing i hung onto him in my dynasty league tho, thought about dropping him a bunch of times but bcuz im a niners fan i kept some hope. now i have 2 great TE (owen daniels the other) that i can play matchups from week to week. hopefully these 1st 4 weeks are flukes...

[moochman]

I, for one, am shocked. I don't watch college football, so it is a lot easier for me to disassociate myself with a player who is supposed to be awesome straight into the pros. I watched Davis his rookie year, didn't buy into the hype. I doubted him his next year. I laughed at him last year. In fact, I wrote a humorous (well, I thought it was humorous ) article about Davis last year called,

Protect Yourself Against VD.

So honestly, I am somewhat shocked that he is performing well this year. It is only Week 4, so I remain unconvinced, but if your #'s are right and he is being target 27/106 pass attempts, than I don't see why he can't continue to succeed. Go get 'em VD! Just not against my team!

You may have to take your medicine, Joe, VD love is spreading.

I am curious to see how well he does from here on out. Crabtree introduces another dynamic that will change the passing scheme. I suspect that his QB has gotten a dose and can't get VD out of his head. He should continue to post quality numbers. Wish I would have gotten me some.

[Fade2White12]

Touchdowns: He currently leads all TE's with 3 TD's. This is probably the most appealing aspect of Vernon. As soon as a can get a list of Red Zone targets ill post the statistics.

He has 3 RZ targets, tied for 9th with 11 other TEs.

[thejusman1]

He's been a savior for my team because I drafted Zach Miller as my starting TE. Scooped him up the WW in Week 3 after his monster game and I'm quite pleased. I hope he can maintain his production as well.

[Kensat30]

Vernon Davis... finally catching the ball.

Don't know what happened, but this guy is using his two bricks he calls hands and finally catching the ball between them. Guy has the ability to get open, he just never caught the passes in the past. I think the reason might be Hill. Hill doesn't throw anything on a rope, his normal pass it almost like a lob ball. Every single one of Vernon's big plays have been about 15-20 yards down the field, in the seam, and Hill just kinda lobs it up in there. I don't know if that is a pass defenses are going to start taking away, but Davis might be just the guy that can beat the coverages anyways. Very pleasant surprise as a Niner and I'm starting to understand why Davis was made a team captain this year. Guy has obviously put in a lot of work this offseason catching passes.

[LeBron James]

I am still skeptical of VD, he's doing all this without Gore, could be a nice sell high value now, especially when Crabtree starts catching some balls also.

Check out his numbers the first 2 games with Gore, he didn't do much because Gore was the first option. With Gore gone, they are going to VD more cause they don't have any WRs. When they get Gore and Crabtree, his numbers from game 3 and 4 will go down for sure.

And you throw in the fact that Minnesota cannot cover TEs and that STL sucks. And yes I am a niners fan but I am just being objective.