Will Alex Smith Be Out of Excuses? 49ers Heavy Depth Chart at Wideout

For most of his first two seasons, quarterback Alex Smith, (right) might have known where his first read on a route was, but he often didn’t know what receiver would be there. Back then Johnnie Morton was in the mix, along with Brandon Lloyd, and Arnaz Battle who was in and out of the lineup as he batted a knee injury. Last year Smith’s go-to-target early on became Antonio Bryant, which quickly drew double coverage. Smith would look and often find tight ends Vernon Davis and Eric Johnson, but he would throw the most of his passes underneath to Frank Gore or Battle who finished with a team leading 61 and 59 catches respectively. There are many reasons Smith says the team and this camp are not even comparable to the past two years. For starters, there's the obvious. For the first time, he's not learning a brand new offense. Secondly, he's got weapons to work with in the passing game.

Not only has Davis matured as a receiving tight end, but the landscape looks much improved this training camp with the off-season additions of wide receivers Darrell Jackson, (below,right with Seattle), Ashley Lelie and Jason Hill, (below, left, Washington St.) . Across the board, wide receivers coach Jerry Sullivan has a group that will be hard to sort out when the 53-man cuts roll around. Veteran receiver Bryan Gilmore has been a long-time pupil and benefactor of Sullivan’s technique-sound coaching and continues to be in the mix, but wide receivers Taylor Jacobs and Brandon Williams are also showing polish in their second season with the 49ers. A third-round pick Williams was selected primarily for his skills as a returner, but the young receiver used this off-season to improve, hoping to make his case during training camp and the preseason as to why he should see playing time at receiver.

The Redskins parted ways with Jacobs, a former second-round pick who had battled injuries since coming into the league in 2003 last year during camp. Jacobs finished the season with only four receptions for the 49ers, but he’s caught just about everything in sight this camp to find his way ahead of Lelie on the depth chart.After sitting out the OTAs with a quad injury, Lelie is also fighting hard for his spot on the roster. Lelie has worked primarily with Trent Dilfer in the team periods and as expected has been able to stretch the field vertically. He also shows a solid ability to track the ball well in the air and make adjustments, something he did while getting air born during the Tuesday morning practice to make the play of the day on a 40-45-yard deep ball from Dilfer.