The San Francisco 49ers pulled off a dominant win on Monday night football in Week 12 of the season and now they could be getting a star player back heading into the Week 13 schedule, as Michael Crabtree is expected to make his debut for the team on Sunday when the Niners play the St. Louis Rams and that makes fantasy football owners and players very happy and other owners should look to Nate Burleson and Rod Streater as solid adds in Yahoo leagues.
The 49ers have had the worst passing attack in the NFL this season and adding Crabtree back to the offense will help Colin Kaepernick a great deal, as Crabtree was his best receiver last season. Fantasy owners have been hoping that Crabtree will be able to return fully healthy and if he can, it should greatly help get the passing game going for the 49ers, who have not been able to do it consistently all season. Crabtree is set to be activated after the Monday night game and will make his season debut at home against the St. Louis Rams, as ESPN.com reported that coach Jim Harbaugh said he would be ready to return.
The team has added back Michael Crabtree and Mario Manningham in recent weeks and that takes some pressure off of Anquan Boldin, who has been the main target all season since the Niners traded for him after the Super Bowl. Tuesday would have been the deadline for the team to either activate Crabtree or keep him out for the rest of the season and now the 26-year-old star will be back in the lineup for a team that ranks last in nearly every major category when it comes to passing offense and wide receiver statistics.
Crabtree has been practicing with the team and his last action for the Niners was in the Super Bowl and now it looks like he will be back in action on Sunday. Crabtree was a former top 10 pick a few years ago and he comes in after having his best season as a pro with 85 catches and 1,100 yards last season with nine touchdowns and he was a major factor in the playoffs as well, catching 28 balls for nearly 300 yards and three touchdowns and he also was tops in the league on third downs last season with touchdowns and receptions, according to EPSN.com.
Boldin has been doing a solid job with 53 catches for over 700 yards and five touchdowns, while Vernon Davis has made up for his scoring with a team leading nine touchdowns. Injuries to Crabtree and other players depleted the roster of wideouts for most of the season and now the Niners are 7-4 and hanging onto second place in the division just as all the reinforcements are starting to get healthy and that could make the team a scary one going forward. Manningham is back as well and with Crabtree in the lineup, Colin Kaepernick should play much better down the stretch.
The team is 7-4 on the season after the win against the Redskins and after playing the Rams next week the team has a huge matchup with the Seattle Seahawks at home in Cali. Both Streater and Burleson should put up good numbers in Week 13 as well.
