The 49ers pop up anytime there’s discussion about a wide receiver getting traded before Tuesday’s deadline, but General Manager Trent Baalke said Friday that the team will be counting on the return of Mario Manningham and Michael Crabtree to bolster the receiving corps.
“It plays a big role and what you can do and what you’re willing to do from a roster standpoint,” Baalke said, via Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. “Because those are two pretty good football players.”
Manningham has returned to practice for the Niners, but isn’t expected to be activated in time for Sunday’s game against the Jaguars. Following the bye in Week Nine seems like the likelier moment to return. Crabtree is further off in his recovery from an Achilles injury, but it seems that the 49ers will be content to hold fast until it happens.
It also seems like they’ll be holding onto the players currently on their roster. Baalke said that the 49ers are “not interested” in trading running back LaMichael James, who has expressed frustration with his limited role on the team’s offense. James has been active just six times in the first two years of his career, but Baalke pointed to the way he filled in for an injured Kendall Hunter late last season as the reason why the team’s in no hurry to send James elsewhere.