The San Francisco 49ers are heading into the second half of the season after starting off 6-2 and with the team coming in hot with five straight wins, the offense is expecting a big boost, as Mario Manningham and Michael Crabtree will return to join Anquan Boldin for one of the best fantasy football groups of wide receivers.
Manningham was added back to the active roster for the 49ers as they released Nnamdi Asomugha and now Manningham will return a bit ahead of Michael Crabtree, who is expected back in a couple weeks after missing the entire season so far from suffering an Achilles injury back in the spring during workouts. The 49ers have been able to get by without their two receivers, but the team needs some more firepower in the passing game and that was one reason why the team was mentioned in numerous trade rumors at the deadline, including for names like Kenny Britt, Hakeem Nicks and Josh Gordon, but none of those players ended up even getting traded and now the 49ers are getting their top players back at just the right time.
The team opened up slow with a 1-2 record, but since then it has been all positive and they have not lost since back in September and coming out of the bye week after playing the Jaguars in London they will play against the Carolina Panthers next in what could be a tough game with the way that team is playing. The 49ers are currently ranked last in the league in passing yards per game and first in rushing and while they have been able to get by without Manningham and Crabtree, they desperately need some firepower alongside Boldin and now they will get that back.
The 49ers have a tough second half schedule and they will need Manningham and Crabtree to contribute, as the second leading receiver on the team is Vernon Davis and while he has seven touchdowns, the team needs more WRs to get into the mix. Boldin has not been very productive this season, as he has 38 catches, but 13 of those came in the opening win against the Packers and adding the other two wideouts could finally open things up for him and for Colin Kaepernick. He had over 500 yards and so does Davis, but the team needs more to stay up at pace with the Seattle Seahawks.
According to ESPN.com, Manningham and Crabtree are needed for the 49ers, as they have just 102 snaps with three receiver sets, the lowest in the NFL and that has been due to injuries. Crabtree had over 80 catches and 1,000 yards last season and now he should be one of the top receivers for the team when he returns. Manningham has not been a factor for a while for the 49ers, as he was injured last season and played in just 12 games while making 42 catches for just under 450 yards and while his impact won't be huge, just having another body up there for Kaepernick to throw to will make defenses have to account for him and he could be very solid as a fantasy pickup in leagues until Crabtree returns.