Credit: Eric Hartline-US PRESSWIRE

One of the biggest holes the San Francisco 49ers need to fill on offense is at wide receiver.  GM Trent Baalke is expected to address this issue in both free agency and the draft.  There are plenty of free agent wide receivers available and the 49ers could find a sleeper in the later rounds of the draft, who could help contribute to the 49ers 29^th ranked passing offense that averaged only 183.1 yards a game.  Wide receiver Joshua Morgan, who broke his leg in week 5 against the Buccaneers and missed the rest of the season, has been running drills on his healed leg for the past two weeks.  Morgan had 15 receptions for 220 yards and one touchdown before he broke his leg, with five of those receptions coming against the Bucs.  The 49ers could have used Morgan at wide receiver as no one stepped up to take over for the WR’s production.  Morgan is a free agent, but he wants to return and the 49ers want to bring back the wide receiver.  Morgan can re-sign with the 49ers starting on March 13 when the free agency period starts.  Morgan said the following about re-signing with the 49ers,

“When they tell me, I’ll be there.”

Losing Morgan for the season was a big blow and it hurt the 49ers, especially in the NFC Championship game.  Morgan has been progressing well since he was drafted in the sixth round in 2008.  In 2010, Morgan had his best season with 44 receptions for 698 yards, two touchdowns and averaged 15.9 yards per reception.  He only started 11 games in 2010.  The wide receiver is not really  a number one receiver but can be a solid number two receiver for the 49ers.  The advantage to re-signing Morgan is his size and speed which is a good fit for Jim Harbaugh’s power-based West Coast offense.  He also has experience with  the offense, which is known to be complicated.

The 49ers should sign a true number one wide receiver to upgrade the passing offense and to push Michael Crabtree to produce like a top-ten draft pick.  Bringing back Morgan and adding him into that potential mix will do wonders for the 49ers passing offense next season.  There is a chance Morgan could test free agent market, but with him missing most of the season with a broken leg, he will probably receive his best offer from the 49ers.

Joshua Morgan, Ted Ginn Jr, Patrick Willis, Delaine Walker, Joe Staley, Braylon Edwards.  Ok, why did I just list off those players?  Well, those are the players that have been injured in the last 4 weeks (or for the year) for the 49ers.  My point, any week, anybody can get injured on any play.  We play the freaking St Louis Rams (thank you NFL Schedule making Gods) this week.  So should the 49ers sit their star players?

You can present an argument for both.  One goes, if the 49ers get a bye, which it looks like they will.  If they sit their starters those players will have sat for 2 straight weeks going into the next game.  The other, Frank Gore is injury prone, he should sit.  Edwards has been banged up all year, sit him.  Willis, is a beast and is backup is very good, sit him, he can wake up after a year of not playing and kill people.  Tell me I’m wrong, sit him.

But what should the 49ers do with the others?  My answer after the jump, plus our fan poll where you decide.

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As the 49ers  prepare to take the field Sunday against the Cleveland Browns coming off a bye week I thought let’s take a look ahead at the 49ers  current 2012 free agent outlook.  The team has 21 players currently on its 53 man roster with contracts set to expire at the end of the season.  It would be 22 players but the team signed running back Frank Gore  to a 3 year extension during training camp.  There is also mutual interest in a new deal for corner back Carlos Rogers  who stated he has given his agent permission to negotiate an extension  with the team and would like to sign a deal for 5-6 more seasons. 

The organization usually doesn’t open up to the media especially about their strategic direction.  The team brass did shed some insight into their views on extending players contracts during the season.  Jed York  had this to say:

“There are guys that we’ve extended. Obviously Frank (Gore) is one of those guys that we extended, so it’s not out of the question. But that’s something that Jim and Trent will discuss and figure out.”

PAGE 2: WHAT JIM HARBAUGH HAS TO SAY ON THE SUBJECT AND THE COMPLETE LIST OF 49ER 2012 FREE AGENTS AND MY PREDICTIONS ON THEIR FUTURES WITH THE 49ERS
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