Don’t be surprised if the Niners don’t resign free agents Carlos Rogers or Ahmad Brooks.
The Niners have roughly $33.8 million in cap space. They’re most likely going to franchise tag Dashon Goldson, so $6.2 of that would go to him. Another $7 or $8 million will go to Alex Smith, probably.
Then there are the guys who will probably come back on cheap contracts – Joshua Morgan, Adam Snyder, C.J. Spillman, Blake Costanzo, Tavares Gooden. Then there are the draft picks and the practice squad guys who the Niners have to sign.
After all that, the Niners will probably have around $13 million in cap space. That might not be enough to bring back both Rogers and Brooks.
Rogers is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL because he can cover a team’s No.1 receiver or their slot receiver. He said he’d resign with the Niners for slightly below market value, but he still wants a four or five year contract. He’ll be 31 next season, the same season the Niners think Chris Culliver will be ready to start. Tarell Brown is under contract for one more season, and he’s a starter, too. Plus, the Niners really like Tramaine Brock.
So, they’re not desperate for Rogers. They may be better served spending money on someone else.
What about Brooks?
Brooks played almost all the downs for the Niners elite defense last season. He can “set the edge” in the run game, rush the passer (seven sacks) and even drop back in coverage. He’s a complete 3-4 outside linebacker who can play all three downs. Players like Brooks are rare and valuable. The Niners won’t be able to resign him cheaply. Could they afford to lose him?
Here’s why they could: Aldon Smith will most likely be a three-down player next season at right outside linebacker. This season, Parys Haralson played first and second down at that spot and Aldon Smith came in for him on third down. The Niners didn’t draft Smith with the No. 7 overall pick to be a situational pass rusher for his whole career. They were breaking him in slowly in 2011, but in 2012 he’ll probably play almost every single defensive snap.
So, the Niners could move Haralson over to left outside linebacker, Ahmad Brooks’ spot, and draft a situational pass rusher to play third downs and compliment Haralson like Smith did in ‘11. Some prospects who fit that description are Whitney Mercilus, Andre Branch, Cam Johnson and Vinny Curry.
Or, DeMarcus Dobbs could be the situational pass rusher who splits time with Haralson. The point is, the Niners have options if Brooks wants more money than they’re willing to give him.
If they let Rogers and Brooks walk in free agency, they’ll have the cap space to make a competitive contract offer to one of the top wide receivers on the market, like Vincent Jackson or Dwayne Bowe or Marques Colston or Stevie Johnson or DeSean Jackson.
Or, they could sign a younger replacement for Rogers, like Brandon Carr or Richard Marhsall or Terrell Thomas.
Or, they could sign an older pass rusher, like Robert Mathis.
Or, they could put all this aside and go after the best, most expensive free agent: DE/OLB Mario Williams, who would make the Niners’ already great defense the best defense of all time.
If I were Trent Baalke, I’d have a long talk with Mario Williams and his agent before I signed or resigned anyone.
What would you do?
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they can back load the contracts and sign both of them. they would have to give them quite a bit more in bonus than salary, giving them much more guarenteed monies
We really need a playmaker at the WR position. I really thought Crabtree was that guy but now I see him as a very good #2 reciever. This is the year full of free agent WR’s so let’s do this !!! Go 49ers
If we assume the offense will improve by a significantly measurable amount due to an offseason and increased experienced/continuity, then I think your scenario is perfect with Williams. However, I think many of us felt that way about Raye in year 2. I know there’s no comparison, Harbaugh/Roman/Chryst are far more creative, it’s just a believe it when you see it thing for me after all these years.
We have so many tremendous pieces on defense already, if we can get the offense to not just make scoring plays, but actually kill some clock and move the chains consistently, the Saints and Giants games would never have been close and you would see our 6th being hoisted.
Good comment- With our D, 24ppg is PLENTY. Killing clock in the 4th with a lead is as important as a tunover earlier in the game, it ‘takes away possesions’ from the other team. That was the offenses’ [not just AS] biggest problem this year. They win the Dallas, AZ and the NFC Championship with 1 or 2 more 1st downs in each game.
Resign Josh Morgan & Ted Ginn. This is not a team or q.b. that regularly targets receivers, so no need to spend for what you could get in the draft. Size and speed to open the field as a diversion for underneath routes and block. Focus should be on improving your strengths. That would be an improved pass rush that would make any secondary seem elite. Someone with double digit sack ability to go opposite Aldon Smith.
Well first off j Morgan will be for uh coo lil minute. So we need wideout top notch that can get open if we don’t get a top notch qb hint hint. But I’m coo with alex as long as we can get someone else out there to help him if we get a wideout that can run routes and get open and also has great hands, then that will open up a lot for crabtree and especially having Kyle going deep even a lot of people don’t like him he is one fast dude that can burn the third corner back on any team. Let’s talk defense I like aldon as a defensive lineman I say if we can bring in someone else that can average about ten sacks to go along with Justin and aldon we won’t need an elite secondary because the qb won’t have time to throw the ball. Play bump and run with over the top help and only rush four. I promise if we can do that and also get one more offensive lineman that will give Alex time no team will stop us bet money.
I meant to say j Morgan will be out for awhile coo minute.
Morgan will be ready for training camp.
is that in a lil coo minute?
What the hell is that? Is that like a nanu second?
News today from 9ers was JMorg was running at full speed!
Hofer,
not trying to bicker with you on every subject but here I go anyway. So what if Morgan comes back. I like Morgan a lot. Hard worker, good locker room guy. So what. Last year through five games before he was injured he averaged 3 receptions and 44 yards a game. He only had one touchdown through five games. And that was supposed to be Alex’s favorite wide out.
Bay,
Morgan is and has not been any great shakes. My question is, if we do target a wideout in free agency or the draft, who gets cut.
1. Crabtree
2. Morgan
3. Ginn
4. Rookie
5. Free agent
6 Williams
So I guess Williams won’t have a job next year.
Bay, I’d say it was learning the new offense. Every area including the OL were not playing well although they got better. Look, we all want the 9ers to be a perennial playoff team every year, but I tend to follow JH’s approach and others (you and Jordo) want a new QB. Difficult to disagree with JH’s plan.
Jordo makes a good point with his WR list. Who do they cut? JMorg may end up being a number 3 and TG the number 4 maybe. It will be interesting…
@Jordo Hopefully the 49ers sign as many new wide receivers as it takes to push Williams off the roster.
“Look at the bouncy ball. Such a pretty bouncy ball. Look at the pretty blue shirts on those guys running down here. Hey, that ball bounced off of my knee. Oh well, time for a nap.”
crabtree crabtree crabtree…..why does he keep popping into my head…..probably because i think morgan could do everything crabtree could do plus he has size…..something it would seem AS needs (my slanted fan based opinion)….i am not trying at all to diss crabtree but it does appear the chemistry is not there….i have seen crabtree demonstrate good leaping ability and snatching hands and typically feel good about him, although i do think he has a tough time getting open and when he doesn’t get open defenders seem to disrupt him easily enough…so i am just wondering if morgan could handle those duties….ok, i don’t know that answer
but am wondering if packaging MC and the #1 or MC and #2 would prove beneficial in the draft……maybe to target another WR or some other need…..
if the niners get a WR in free agency then i could see this happening…..
just thinking out loud…depends on what the niners are targeting and FA moves….but i would keep that card in the back pocket….
some say AS wouldn’t have any suitors……would MC have any suitors if the niners offered him up…..sort of too bad this draft is kind of deep in WRs…
rip away
Jordan: I bet Williams not only has a job with the Niners next year but he is a big part of the offense ! He was a great receiver this season when he was used. Just don’t let him return punts,unless he gets a lot of practice at it first !
@ Tim,
Kyle Williams was a great receiver last year, maybe I need to be REV Sing and look at the film and see this greatness you talked about.
@Neal,
Well, he did skew the entire WR roster’s YAC average up with one play.
FA desean jackson of philly, steve johnson of buffalo, sanu or jefferey in the draft’s first round….
would picking up two WR be problematic to the cap …..and then merging them with morgan, VD, DW, crabtree be shifting from the TE power game JH seems to want to run….
let’s say the niners get a johnson in FA and pickup a sanu in the draft….why would they need crabtree (and his contract) if morgan can take that spot….that would allow ginn to fill in if 4 rcvrs are needed and getting even a low to mid 2nd round pick for crabtree could be more useful at addressing other needs…
Windsor,
Morgan is not the guy that everyone here makes him out to be. Morgan is an example that the pro Alex crowd liked to use when it was brought up that Alex locks onto his TE. Every time it was brought up that Alex doesn’t look for his WR, someone would mention that he has good chemistry with Morgan. Not so.
Morgan could not have made all the difficult high snatches that Crabtree made this year. Crabtree was a 1000 yard receiver this year if Smith throws him more accurate balls. And on the accountability side, if Crabs doesn’t drop a few.
Crabs has gotten better every year. He is being blamed by the Pro Alex crowd for the performance in the last game. If we are going to begin judging players on one game then Alex should go too. Alex didn’t see open receivers, threw skip balls to receivers in the 4th quarter and bailed out of the pocket consistently in the 4th when his team needed him the most. Alex had several balls batted down because he locks on to a receiver instead of looking off first too. Fair? Not fair for Alex, and not fair for Crabtree either.
Crabs has gotten better every year which is what you expect your players to do. His receptions for the season totals go up every year 48, 55, 72.
Look at Morgans receptions in the last three years. 52, 44, 15 ( totals out to 47 if he went a full season )
I’d say that next year if one receiver has to go to make room for a new one, it’s Morgan or Williams that goes. For the record, I’d rather see Williams go. Never going to be able to get the fumbles out of my mind…..
To be fair Bay, Crab was a 1000 yard receiver last year if he wasn’t injured and didn’t avg a drop a game.
it certainly means there will no big name fa’s
draft fleener that takes care of alot of our problems on o. especially in the red zone
old coach: please state that again and again. If only half, repeat half of what is touted about this kid is accurate – grab him.
I’d sit back and be patient and watch Baalke do what he is getting paid to do. Based on my professional NFL scouting and player assessment experience, my two cents worth wouldn’t even be worth that much!
Mario Williams on the Niners sounds like a dream but if it comes at the price of replacing the dollars spent on Ahmad Brooks and Carlos Rogers then the dream becomes a nightmare if Culliver, Brock, Brown and Nelms aren’t ready or at Rogers’ Pro Bowl level.
I agree. After all the talk and speculation at the beginning of this season about what free agents we’d pick up it’s clear that we have no idea what this organization will do!
Baalke and co. showed they can make smart FA signings without overpaying, and certainly can add talent through the draft.
I would love to see them go after WR’s and maybe another RG (to replace Chilo), but have no idea how they’re going to move forward putting more pieces of the puzzle together.
I am thankful that there will be a full off season to make things happen rather than cramming everything into one or two crazy weeks.
Think the RG is already on the team. Adam Snyder is consistent if not spectacular. David Kilgore is the waiting in the wings.
Not only that….It seems everyone seems to forget that Frank Gore is nearing the end of his productivity. What would make sense is to add a running back that not only has potential…but that can provide us with a REAL one-two punch. Marshawn Lynch comes to mind with me.
I would try to keep Brooks, there’s no guaranty of finding a replacement through the draft. It’s very unlikely for the Niners go after Mario Williams. They have other priorities.
Losing Rogers may be tough. Trent laid an egg last year by only giving him a one year deal. If we lose Rogers, I’d also try to keep Reggie Smith along with Goldson.
What about WR and CB? These could be areas we build through the draft. I’ll have breakdown of the top CBs in this years draft shortly :)
‘guarantee’
Laid an egg? Really???? What the hell are you talking about? We got Rogers on the cheap because NOBODY else wanted him. Sure, we could have given him a longer contract, but we didn’t know he’d perform like this this year. You should trust Baalke, he worked the lockout to perfection, almost, and gave us long-term flexibility by avoiding stupid contracts.
In JH and TB I trust.
At least a zillion times more than I do anybody here in regards to football personnel.
There is a reason why we are fans, and they have the jobs that only 32 other people in the whole world have. And judging by last years results, we may just have the two best in the league (HC and GM).
@Señor Ding Dong
Trent did a solid job last year. My comment was regarding CR and giving him only a 1 year deal. In that regard, he laid an egg.
What makes you think Rogers would have accepted more than on year at the price he was willing to take for one year. His objective was to get back into free agency after spending a year building his reputation to a higher level. Evidently he is smart as well as talented.
Man, $30 million doesn’t go as far as it used to. Mario Williams is intriguing. The defense would go from great to ’85 Bears.
Really need a FA wide receiver though. Rookie receivers rarely contribute so it would be nice to get a veteran like V-Jax. It doesn’t matter how good the defense is if the offense can’t score. I’d rather not see another record year from Akers.
@MS
I respectfully disagree. Rookie WRs can be productive. Here are last year’s top WR performers: A.J. Green CIN, Greg Little CLE, Julio Jones ATL, Doug Baldwin SEA, and Torrey Smith BAL.
http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?archive=false&conference=null&statisticCategory=RECEIVING&season=2011&seasonType=REG&experience=0&tabSeq=0&qualified=true&Submit=Go
Man if only the Niners had drafted Baldwin in a late round. Unbelievable year for an undrafted rookie. Oh well in Harbaugh we trust.
@Nick I agree rookie WRs can be productive but they usually aren’t. Five out of 80 rookie WRs had decent seasons this year and that was an unusually high number.
In 2010 only one rookie WR was decent. That is more the norm. And we really need more than decent at the WR position.
Look at Champ Bailey and until this year, Charles Woodson. Unless CR has had any major injuries while he was with the Redskins, CB’s can still play in the NFL at age 35 or above.
And I don’t know why the Niners would want to push Culliver into the starting role to replace Rodgers. Culliver was the usually the 3rd CB, and didn’t cover the teams best WR. If he were to replace CR, then that is a big jump from being able to cover the 3rd WR to the 1st WR. That is asking a lot from a guy who didn’t play CB all his college career to go up against LF (still pray the Niners somehow get him).
Besides, all the top teams who we play are deep in WR. Culliver is the guy who made our secondary so deep in talent this year. Who/what do we do if we lose CR when we play the teams with at least 3 good WR’s? Remember now, those are the ones who in all likelihood we will be competing in the playoffs against. So, that is what we have to prepare for.
I’d keep CR over any other FA defender. Brooks is nice, but how many teams play a 3-4 where he is best suited anyway? And, does he really want to go there? Pittsburg got some bad LB play this year, so they may go after him.
DG was in the gutter for me when the year began. He certainly climbed a long way up. But, he took too many bad risks this season. That AZ game in AZ, I place largely on DG for letting so many big plays happen. Then he knocked away 2 INT’s in the title game which surely would have been momentum changers had he not interfered. And in the process, he took out the Niner who I felt improve the most from last year, T. Brown, out of the game! It is no wonder EM looked that way after he was injured to get that last TD of theirs. Brown had dominated all afternoon, so I don’t think EM would have the nerve to throw it in there with him out there.
If there was 1 moment where I freaked out in the game, it was when TB was knocked out with a whole quarter left to play. So, I know DG did not do it on purpose, but it did happen. Just like I know KW did not fumble on purpose, but it happened.
If DG wants top 5 money, I would let him walk.
Wow, I don’t where to begin…..
You dont give a 31 year old CB the kind of money Rogers wants. Just not smart, IMO. If Rogers wanted to take a 3 year deal, I’d be all for bringing him back. But he’s stated he wants 4-5 years. Not going to happen. You mentioned Bailey and Woodson, guys who were ELITE athletes in their primes and could afford to lose a step as they got older and still be effective. Rogers isn’t in that same class of athlete. So him at 32 isnt the same as those guys at 32.
The main thing we lose if Rogers walks is our stoutness in our nickel because Rogers was over the slot in nickel situations. Cully and Brown were both on the outside and Rogers was over the slot. Rogers did a very good job in the slot. So if Rogers walks, you either have to bring in a CB who can man the slot or have that guy already on the roster. I actually think we’ll be in the market for 2 CBs. A possible starter and a guy we bring in for depth. I think we already have a guy on the roster who can man the slot in Brock. Now before ppl start harping on the Manningham TD in the NFCCG, know that wasn’t his fault, that was Reggie Smith’s fault for being late over the top. Brock had pretty good coverage and you could tell he was expecting help from the FS, the way he let Manningham come off the line. He was using the trail technique as he was mirroring Manningham but Smith, as he has done pretty much all year, blew the coverage and that left Brock out of position to make a play on the ball. And it was really a good throw by Eli, to the right spot. Plays like that are one of the reasons R. Smith was told he could seek a deal with another team.
But Brock has ability. Alot of ppl don’t remember but it was Brock who won the nickelback role after TC and preseason. It was noted that Brock was the most physical of all the CBs and that he fit well inside, over the slot. If he had not broken his hand and missed 5 weeks, he might have kept the nickleback role and Cully might still be the 4th CB. So if Roger does leave, I think we have a guy capable of playing the slot. And if Baalke wants insurance through free agency, I would look at a guy like Jason Allen to be brought in for that role. Big, fast, and athletic. And would be relatively cheap.
You have to look at the market and ask yourself, if I lose this player, who can I bring in that can give similar play, with a similar skillset. When I look at the market at FS and OLB/DE, I see a bunch of stiffs who aren’t going to give us the kind play we saw from both this year. At OLB, you have Mario Williams, who really isnt a OLB and a guy who will demand a HUGE contract. Then you have a bunch off second level guys likeAnthony Spencer, who won’t provide you half of what Brooks does on a game to game basis. Like I said in the other thread, Brooks is unique in that he isnt great in one area but he does alot of things very well and that is what makes him a vaulable commodity to this scheme. And the thing is, he isn’t a double digit sack guy, so his price tag wont be crazy expensive.
Looking at the market at FS, if you want to even call it a market, its really Goldson and that’s it. I really like Jim Leonhard, but he’s older and coming off a serious knee injury and may not be ready to go when TC rolls around. So your left with second tier guys again like Abram Elam and Brodney Pool. Sorry, but Im taking Goldson in a heartbeat over those guys. Its not much debate honestly. So I think they both should and will be back. So who is the odd man out? For me, it has to be Rogers.
Good points Bee. I would like to see CR stay, and keep the defense in tact but that will be a tall order however you slice it.
Bee,
Brock got picked on whenever he was inserted into a game. He took a beat down in the preseason. Look what Manning did to him as soon as he came into the Championship game. He gave up a 17 yard touchdown on 3rd and 15. He couldn’t have done any worse a jon on that single play. I saw my season ending as soon as Brown couldn’t get up from that hit from Goldson. I knew the game was too big for Brock.
@23
Like I said, look at the play again. It was on Reggie Smith. Brock expected help, inside from the FS. Look at the way he lets Manningham just waltz off the line. And when MM went inside, he didnt even attempt to cut off the angle. My gut tells me that was a blown coverage by R. Smith.
Reggie’s middle name is “Blown Coverage” or Oops, Wrong Angle”…he’s gotta go.
CR has always been a great CB at covering the WR They ran him out of Washington because he had hands of stone and kept dropping Int’s. Sure handed ways to change momentum, and CR failed time after time. Year after year. His coverage skills were always top notch. Not Deion, but good enough to handle the teams #1 WR with the pass rush we generated.
Then, he came here and stopped dropping those Int’s. And became a Pro-Bowl CB. And you want to just let him go? There are plenty of other guys who are 35 years of age and still good players. The only position where that is not so I believe, is RB. And if a player has been good/great without any major injury (something I did consider), then 35 years of age for a guy who keeps himself in shape is fine. He may not be as good as he is at 31, but neither was Woodson or Bailey. You don’t mean to tell me that there are no good 35 year old secondary players around do you?
And Woodson and Bailey were only really great because they didn’t drop the Int’s. They both caught the ball. Hence they were great.
CR did not catch the ball till last year. Hence he was only good. Last year he caught the ball, thus he was great.
A change of scenery. A team that never had a losing record all last year. Often times that is what it takes for some guys to become really great. You are not going to find all that many great players in FA anyway. Teams will go and lock those guys up more than not, and never let them reach the market. What you will find are very good players, who with the right coaching and situation, become great for your team. My favorite Niner Justin Smith fits this category perfectly.
And, who on the Niners can cover LF? If you don’t have anybody on your team who can cover LF, then you have problems. AZ will be a lot better next year, and beat us with LF. The first step for every team is to win the division. To do that, you need to match up with your divisions best players. LF is one of them. Brock is not going to cover LF. And I don’t think Culliver can either. TB is our best shot, but he was so good at his current position, I don’t want to risk moving him. You go with a rookie to cover LF, and you sign your own death warrants.
CR wants to stay here. He will negotiate to stay here. DG never came out and said he wants to stay here to the degree CR did (who said it mid season).
Who, on the Niners, can cover Larry Fitzgerald? Answer: Shawntae Spencer. Too bad the coaching staff didn’t see what else he can do better than TBrown or TBrock. I can’t see Spencer coming back but believe he is better than many of the CB options out there in FA or the many unproven guys coming out of college. Besides his injury, I wonder what hampered him in Fangio’s eyes.
Quality CB’s are hard to come by…figure out a way to keep him here.
@open minded
I believe it was the other guy…Nate Clements, who went to Cinci whose assignment was LF.
The only reason I wanted him on the team was because he seemed to have LF’s number. But he couldn’t cover many others. Especially for what 7 million this year?
I liked Spencer a lot a 3 years ago. 2010 he really disappointed me. Then last year, he was passed over by a rookie in Culliver who had like 5 games of experience his whole life. Considering how well our coaches did with AS and TB among others this past season, I tend to trust their decisions over my or other peoples thoughts on who is really good. I remember everybody thought Jason Hill was soooo great. He jumped around a bit, and I think landed in purgatory (Jacksonville).
@DS: Shawntae Spencer was LF’s teammate at U of Pitt. He has covered him very well since LF got to the NFL. I’m pretty sure Spencer not Clements is the guy who can cover LF. But like I said, I think it’s moot. Teams will pick Spencer up once the Niners cut him if they can’t rework his contract. Why would he want to? He can make more money and start elsewhere. I like our CBs and think Nelms from The U will make the 53 man squad next year.
Grant…..Unless you already have a quality replacement for Brooks, you keep him if his salary demands aren’t unreasonable. They just got a very good 1st year as a starter out of him. He should be even better this year knowing the system. That being said, Haralson is not a quality OLB and is definitely the weak link in that front 7. Drafting a good pass rusher hasn’t been easy for the Niners even drafting early, now with 29 other teams drafting ahead of them…well.. I’m hoping most of these guys bite the bullet a little on the money because they know there’s something special starting here.
@niner61
“Haralson is not a quality OLB and is definitely the weak link in that front 7.”
He was way better in non-pass rush situations than Aldon Smith was last year. I think we totally over-paid the guy after his one good pass rush year, but he is a solid OLB. Nothing great, but he knows his assignments and usually a good tackler.
He’s certainly not irreplaceable, but he was not a weak link in my view.
Sorry, respectfully disagree. He RARELY makes big plays for an OLB. Really wish they’d have been able to keep Lawson(versatility) instead of Parys. He was a Singletary mistake as he thought Haralson would become a double digit sack guy and it’s not gonna happen. He doesn’t even show flashes.
@niner61& everybody
It isn’t necessary to say “respectfully disagree” with me.
Makes me wonder if all past and future disagrements where you don’t say that, were you disrespectful? lol
The tone of your post and history between us are all I need to know (we’re cool).
I take PH over Lawson. At least PH had 1 good sack year, and he does get some pressure. Lawson only got pressure against scrub quality OL, and he was really drafted as a pass rush guy. I feel a big reason why we had him in coverage so much is because if we sent him to the QB, he never got close, and you’ll just expose the secondary by doing so.
And I didn’t notice a dropoff in our LB coverage this year after losing Lawson. Our defens as a whole got better, so Lawsons loss did not expose us anywhere I feel.
Did you notice a marked drop-off?
they need to keep as many of their fa’s as possible the difference between a player in his second yr in a system and a player in his first year is huge
id say re sign rogers at the under market value like hes said and take the chance with brooks leaving and re structure some other contracts to gain enough room for desean he is a playmaker and a hundred times better reciever than ginn and just as good in the return game if not better and get a guy like Marvin McNutt from Iowa in the draft, who is tall quick and a good route runner not to mention another huge play guy… McNutt, Crabtree, Desean, and Vernon how could a team possibly guard them all? They couldnt and if they tried imagine the room to run gore and hunter would have
i would love to see a big fa wr but unless balke is willing to cut crabtree i dont think its going to happen. thats why i love fleener
Sign our own free agents and don’t sign any big name free agents. It is better to reward our own players that have produced in our system, than to spend a lot of money on a free agent that in the end may not be as effective outside of their current team.
+1
I see where you are coming from, but our WR core is in a clear NEED of an upgrade. Its a must
@Adam707
A WR need not be a big name guy to be good.
Remember CR was a 2nd tier CB supposedly. Nnamdi was the #1 CB. And, without question, CR outplayed NA last year.
The WR just needs to demand 2 teams once he is playing for us. That is what matters most.
@tod i agree
i agree with your thinking todd and id normally say no free agents but i think desean wont be as high priced as you would think with how terrible things were in philly last year so i think he could be quite discounted but if it becomes a bidding war we can find our own guy in the draft
Or they could use it to build a terminator cyborg who can catch passes and rush the passer and shoot down passes. But seriously, it will come down to how much money Rogers is offered on the market. What are the chances the 49ers actually sign Goldson to a contract?
CB’s are more important than safeties.
Can DG cover LF? Nicks? Welker? NO’s WR’s? 1 on 1?
If the answer is no, then we need to place a higher value on CR who actually has a chance to cover him over DG.
Totally disagree. FS is the hardest position to find young talent. You have to have range, ball skills, and have a impact against the run as well as the pass. Very difficult to find even a functionally guy, let alone a good one. We have one who is only 27 and still has his best years in front if him, barring injury. They’re good CBs all over the league. They’re not as scarce as FS. Look at the free agent list alone. Brandon Carr, Terrell Thomas, Tracy Porter, Courtland Finnergan. There are only a couple of CBs who have the ability to lock-up elite WRs one-on-one without help over the top. I count only two. Those two shouldn’t be lumped in with the guys who are considered good to very good. They are in class by themselves and only they can do what you referenced above.
@Bee: the mention of Courtland Finnegan on the Niners made me cringe. The guy has no class and is a “personal foul, unsportsmanlike conduct” magnet. I know you were just listing him as “available” but that is one name I trust Baalke to ignore on the list. Given the list of “available”, I’d like Goldson for 2 more years. I agree that Carlton Williamson type safety rookies don’t come out of college, every year, ready to roll in the NFL.
Remember that if we waive Spencer, we free up approx. $3M to spend. Based upon Maiocco figuring, I believe the $30M does not include this.
Wow, do you really toss out all the options in a short story, LOL. Personally, I think the defense is fragile and needs ALL the pieces working together to be as good as last year. That said, if we had to lose someone, I would opt to lose Brooks because the excellent DB play was letting the pass rush get there. Our sacks were not lightning quick sacks, they were guys working through to get there.
Regardless, WR is my top priority this year. It was the achilles heal of our offense and 3rd down conversions. Without a big WR threat, the defense smothered our receivers and could play the run tight. YES, I agree ASmith is reluctant to let it fly, but that has a lot to do with coaching emphasis and lack of faith in his receiving targets. Wouldn’t you have been reluctant to let it fly??
I agree with a previous poster, if our offense could have sustained some drives, we would have been dominant over Saints and Giants.
And as is the beauty of football, ALL THINGS are tied together. If we have better WR to sustain drives, our defense stays fresher, and the pass rush improves. The 49ers leaned heavily on the amazing energy and exercions of our defense front seven — without much rotation. I’m a bit concerned that the DL can keep that same level up another year without some better offense and/or better rotation relief.
@JRSD
Good points ,…Dobbs and Williams can handle part of the ‘rotation’, but we’re going to have to pick a Dlineman somewhere in the draft. Let’s see if Baalke can do some trades for a diamond. We do NEED a big FA WR. Stevie Johnson, pack your bags for SF!
No one has mentioned a very important need—an every down running back to bring along (for as long as Gore can produce). Hunter is a change of pace back, not a true replacement for a horse like Gore. Forget Dixon.
@louie
I actually posted awhile ago now that the Niners may go RB in the first round.
RB’s are not chosen or valued as much as QB, WR, CB, DE. So, they may have a better quality RB when they pick than they will have an equivalent quality WR, CB, DE.
More bang for your buck. Plus RB’s don’t get paid as much as those other positions either. Which will allow the Niners that much more flexibility in singing a FA who they covet and their own guys.
I see your logic, but there isn’t any “every-down-back” that will be available by the time we pick (at least one worthy of a first round). I agree with the rest of your logic and actually believe that we should trade out our late 1st for a 1st in 2013. We’ll need additional picks next year to move up and get the RB of the future for SF.
I think I heard that in the last several years, there have only been a few RB’s taken in the first round.
Now I don’t even pretent to pretend to know how to grade college players at the pro level, so you won’t see me picking players in a mock draft, only positions.
But maybe it is just the homer in me, but I want to draft a RB, and have him stay here like FG. And besides Garrison Hearst (who I love even though I may not have spelled his name correctly), every great RB we had, we drafted since the dynasty formed.
I’d be weary of FA RB’s. Their bodies are worn down. Though I wanted the Niners to go after Jackson on the Rams when he was available. Dreams of having him and FG together in a backfield…wow.
I never suggested a FA RB. All the available decent RB in this year’s draft are either 1) change of pace RB (like kendall hunter) or 2) thumper backs (like anthony dixon). Do you really want to spend a 1st round pick on a RB just for the sake of spending it on a RB? There are better more well rounded RB in the 2013 draft.
@ninerminer81
You didn’t. Sorry.
lol
To answer your question, “no”`.
My inclination is the Niners go heavy on offense this draft.
We won’t go QB or OT. I doubt we go center. Maybe guard? But it seems to me that whenever Snyder was not in there, Davis really had a hard time. So, if they wanted to replace Snyder, I’m thinking they do it with another vet, and not a rookie.
So, on offense that leaves WR, RB, TE. If they went QB, AS would not be happy, and you would destroy CK in the process.
The most pressing need is WR by far. But JH likes multiple TE sets, so he could go that route. Especially if DW is not resigned.
Of course, now I am more certain that TB will go defense since I wrote my post. Good ‘ol announcers (bloggers) curse will rear its ugly head at me.
You have some pretty good thoughts. Welcome to the blog!
I do believe that G is a point of weakness for us and that we need to start considering a replacement at C. I think we’ll keep Snyder because of his ability to play all along the line. J.Goodwin is 33 years old. He only has 2 years on his contract and struggled to stay healthy near the end of the season when it mattered most. If Peter Konz of Wisconsin is available at 30, I say we take him, but I doubt he’ll be available.
I think the reason we used so many TE sets was because of the mismatch that Delanie and Vernon had over the LBs, plus the TE position shortens the throwing radius for Alex. I certainly hope we do not go WR, unless he is a clear cut #1 receiver who is not a diva and willing to block in the running game. The ideal path is to trade away round 1 or draft Center or Guard if they are available.
i dont think the cap will be an issue with our fa’s there are creative ways of staying under the cap. it will just come down to do we want to pay them as much as another team
another thing to think about is if this filthy recession is really coming to an end the cap for 2013 could be quite a bit higher
Fleener is a name which will be discussed frequently(heatedly I imagine) as we approach the draft. It is an interesting idea considering the matchup problems he would pose coupled with VD, Delanie et al. …adding him and a WR say Joe Adams might liven up things up .So farI like Bruce Irvin as a possibility at OLB to bolster the troops,we’ll see!
Why draft a TE when there are pressing needs at WR, CD, and RB?
Although, this draft is somewhat weak on WR, but as mentioned here before, Mohamad Sanu of Rutgers will most likely be available late in the 1st round and may be a solid pick. He’s a big body, physical, explosive receiver with wide range. He’s the kind of receiver that can make a QB look good and we need that with Alex at the helm.
Which is precisely the line of argument which we will see as we get closer to the draft -actually I’m not indorsing Fleener at this juncture, ‘simply noting that he would present match up problems which this staff would use much like the Stanford team,perhaps using Delanie as a wr .Sanu certainly is a name to watch .
@NickRow: Take a look at Tommy Streeter (WR from The U). He made Jacory Harris look good at times and that is saying a lot. Streeter is not a brash Michael Irvin Cane, but rather a humble player, like Reggie Wayne or Andre Johnson. The best thing about Streeter is that he should be available in the middle rounds (he should have stayed for his Senior year at The U and gone in the first round in 2013). Another Cane on the wish list but out of our reach, is their versatile RB, Larry Miller. If Frank Gore has to swallow the jagged pill of getting replaced, it would be easier to swallow knowing it’s a Hurricane doing it.
@hightop
It will be an interesting offseason, that’s for sure. Let’s see how free agency and the combine shake out.
@OpenMinded
Wow, you’re right about Streeter. I didn’t watch much Cane football this year, but reading up on Streeter, the kid has good size at 6-5 and was quite productive in Miami last year. If he does well in the combine, his stock will certainly rise. The only drawback is that he signed with agent Drew Rosenhaus.
@OpenMinded
You mean Lamar Miller right? This kid is fast and is projected to go in the 2nd round, but all could change with showing at the combine. Another RB – of similar athletic tools – is David Wilson of Virginia Tech.
WR Streeter is another guy I like,Brian Quick warrants a look as well .Go Trent!
@NickRow: yup, Lamar not Larry. As the kids say these days: My Bad. Interesting how the Combine washes away entire college in-game career performance for some GMs. I guess the silver lining is that if some GMs stretch for a guy in earlier rounds based on how high the kid can jump in a test devoid of oncoming tacklers, then better game performers will drop for GMs that give a players’ situation-in-the-game performance more weight. There are sooo many variables and not every GM or Coach makes picks based on logic. Mike Nolan tested Alex on how he could do push ups while balancing on a football if I recall correctly!
With the decision basically being written in stone to make Alex Smith the future of the franchise, I would find a way to depart with Crabtree (There certainly is dissent between the two) through trade and release Gore. Start the new Harbaugh/Smith era..
Would love for a top flight WR to get signed, but ain’t gonna happen. Top receivers love their stats and the future contracts it gives them. Which one of them would want to come to the Niners with their QB? None of them, unless Baalke throws a ton of money at them, which doesn’t appear to be thing.
Agree with NinerGirl – a better FA pickup would be a Right Guard!
Grant, 2 questions if you have the time/inclination:
1. what was the total of Niner rookie contracts in 2011? that would help us estimate the impact of signing a slate of rookies; presumably with a first round pick in the 30s instead of the teens we will save some here, barring inflation.
2. is the “$30 mm in cap space” the amount the Niners have uncommitted, once you pay those who have contracts running thru 2012? Ie, the $30 mm is the Overall Cap – committed 2012 salaries (cap impact)?
one possibility you didnt mention: renegotiating a couple of our bigger salaries to make them more cap friendly in 2012 – dont know if that still works as it did back in the old days.
1) Total rookie cap space in 2011 was ~$5.6M (these are drafted rookies only) if you include undrafted, it will be ~$7 M.
2) The $30M is what’s leftover after paying all the players that are on contract through 2012 and also includes all the dead money from 2011. The $30M is the total amount of money left over for acquisitions that we don’t have on our team today.
3) The biggest contract that we can restructure is V.Davis due $8.1 M in 2012, J.Smith due $6.3M in 2012, and P.Willis due $6.3M in 2012. Remember V.Davis and P.Willis are coming off contract extensions so maybe the contracts are already optimized to make this year a cap-friendly. If we restructure J.Smith, he’s going to want an extension.
Ninerminer, thanks!!
I still think they can sign Rogers ,the Niner’s front four made Rogers a successful corner last year, he was not a hot free agent last year and the Niner sign him late. He might not get the deal he was looking for as a free agent, and maybe the Niner’s can resign him for perhaps a 2 year deal. Mario Williams will be too expensive, but they need a another running back, Gore has two years left tops, a veteran wide receiver free agent and a top receiver in the draft. We need Brooks back, we have the money to do serious damage, don’t think AS will be a problem signing, he was never about money and he has to thank JH for reviving his bad start and would not be highly popular as a free agent..
Nailed it. Only thing I’d add is, unless he’s clearly BPA, don’t reach for a receiver in the draft. I read somewhere that teams that have a lot of money tied up on receivers as opposed to other positions, don’t fare too well. I’d like another guard/centre. O-line can never be good enough! It’s the key to everything.
@neal i think they can get the the rb in the draft or a cheap fa. the day of the highly paid rb’s are coming to an end
Yea Old Coach your right, they need a another strong power house with speed, maybe in round 3 or 4. Also having someone like a Garrison Hearst and or Roger Craig that can catch a screen when AS get’s rushed.
Mario Williams would be awesome but they still would need a CB is Rodgers leaves and Rodgers has already said he’d take less money to stay.
I’d like to see them keep Rodgers but if he has to go to get Mario Williams, I’d live with it. I’d MUCH rather they go after Mario Williams than Peyton Manning, who will never play football again.
Sign Alex smith 8 or 9 mill are you crazy?! WTF smh
Deal with it! LOL
Smith is not worth a 69 Dodge Dart and a bald bias-ply tire. Let him leave. I really hope someone comes up with an overpay offer and he leaves.
My dreams could come true!!!
HAHAHAHAHHA!
A. Smith will go for no higher than 7 Mil, we just dont have the cap space. I’m sure Niners will try to work him down to 5-6 Mil. At the start of the 2011 season, I thought 5 million was overpaying. He still has to make up for the 30 million guaranteed he signed as the 1st overal pick.
i think mario williams would break the bank and speaking of injury prone hasnt he missed all or part of 2 seasons
the smith signing is as close to a done deal as you can get. like it or not learn to live with it.
May lose Crabtree and Gore to make way for priority free agents. Someone will be placed on waivers for another team to pick up.
That won’t happen, they can probably get a 3rd round draft pick for MC, they won’t trade or let go of Gore.
Neal
I agree
How about save that 8 or 9 mil for Alex scared to throw the ball smith an sign Mario williams and Carlos Rogers and go with kap for qb
8 or 9 million would not sign Williams and Rogers. Williams alone is going to get a bigger contract than Alex. Otherwise your suggestion was great.
Geez Grant, didnt you take note of what harbaugh said re wanting to keep the core guys (guys who played 16 games is the way he phrased it) together…they might not be able to do so, but i think that will be their plan of attack and goal
SF set’s a bad precedent if they don’t reward players who have performed in key positions. For my money, a top flight corner back who can cover a slot receiver is far more valuable than a safety. A complete, everydown 3-4 linebacker is for more valuable than a safety. Sign Brooks and Rogers. They are core players that you need to keep. Dashon Goldson had turnovers, true, and agressive plays. But, too many deep passes got behind him as a free safety. Not a elite coverage guy by no means. In many cases tight cornerback coverage allowed Goldson to roam freely. Look at the league and see how much an elite safety is worth compare to an elite cornerback or everydown 3-4 linebacker. Those two positions are a lot harder to find with quality players.
I understand your logic, the truth is that a hard hitting S who plays well in coverage is a premium in the league. Just think of all the S that went to the probowl and see if they are really at Goldson’s caliber. Also, look at the safeties in FA, no one jumps out at you. No safeties in the draft is worthy of a round 1 pick either. Also, think about the attitude that goldson brings to that secondary. SF would be crazy not to sign Goldson.
C.Rogers had a great season, but when he didn’t have safety help he struggled. He played underneathe coverage a lot and was how he got so many picks. I just don’t know that we can afford him and I do believe that there are guys in the NFL draft that can play the nickle with Fangio as the DC.
A.Brooks is probably the one person that is keeping SF up at night. He did everything: set the edge, pass rush, covered and did it all under the radar in a defense that started P.Willis, N.Bowman, and A.Smith. He absolutely deserves as much money as he is asking for, but we will not be able to pay for him unless we sign Alex to a deal close to $4M a year. SF will probably let him hit FA and ask Haralson to play OLB.
Huh? Name me one deep pass that got behind Goldson that he was responsible for? I can’t even recall a deep pass being completed on this defense all season. Only play I recall Goldson giving up is the Fitzgerald TD in the Cards game. And honestly, he was in perfect position to make the play, just misjudged the ball. He also was one of the culprits on the Sproles TD against the Saints, as he missed the intial tackle on Sproles. But whiffing against Sproles in the open field I can live with as he is one elusive s.o.b. Having good safety play is why guys liks Rogers and Brown can be aggressive and make plays on that ball. You can only do that if guys on the back-end are where they’re supposed to be. Hard to understand how Goldson’s value is under-valued by his own fanbase.
well said. I agree.
@Bee
What Cards game are you talking about? The one at home? CR I am pretty sure was the guy who didn’t get the Int as it flew threw his hands into LF’s for the Cards only TD that day.
The game in AZ, I felt displayed all the reasons why I didn’t care if DG came back last year or not. I counted 3 major plays in that game which the defense gave up. All 3, with better play by DG would not have been made, or kept to the minimal catch, tackle right there so not giving away any free YAC yards. YAC in that game killed us big time.
I remember one play where DG dove at a guy and failed to make any contact with him. If you dive, and come up empty, you have taken yourself out of the play. Had DG kept his feet, I felt that he could have at least directed the WR who scored a TD, back into the pursuit and no TD is scored.
Another play, I think it was LF who caught the ball and there were a ton of defenders near him about to tackle him. DG got lazy and tried to throw him to the ground. BAD move. All he did was throw him away from all the other defenders who were now in each others way (when they had perfect position before) and LF ran free for a ton of free yards. Can’t do that!
I forget the other play. But the point is that he has to play smarter. He also had a bad habit (though he stopped it in the playoffs) of going really low on guys and not having good tackling technique like say PW. CR said it best. If the DL don’t tackle well, they have the LB’s behind them. If the LB’s don’t tackle well, they have the secondary behind them. If the secondary does not tackle well, they have nobody behind them and they give up a score.
DG to me does not tackle consistently well all game long. Lott was a feared safety. But I don’t recall him missing a lot of tackles. Maybe I’m wrong.
But as a safety my order of requirements (in order) are:
1. Know where you are supposed to be at all times. If you are out of position 3 times a game, chances are really good that you give up at least 1 TD for no reason other than you didn’t know your assignment.
2. Take good angles. Can’t make tackles. Int’s, big plays if you take bad angles.
3. Tackle. As a safety you are the last line of defense. If a CB goes for an Int and comes up short, he needs to know that you have his back. If you can’t tackle the guy, that CB will get shy and not go for the Int and TO’s are THE reason why we won 13 games last year.
4. Make big plays.
Out of those 4, DG does only the last well on a consistent basis in my view. All the other 3 he needs a lot more work on. DW really helped him out a lot with the first item on my list. But the bad angles and tackling issues are still something that needs to be addressed.
Look at the draft. How may safties are taken high? Cornerback is the more valued position. Goldson had a career year interms of INT’s. But, that does not warrant value above what a cover corner. Too many times the Niners had deep balls go behind the secondary. That is the free safety’s responsibility. Too many times we saw yards after catch. That again ist he free safety’s area. Again, the advantage Goldson got this year was great one on one coverages by the corners allowing him to roam. When he had to defend the field, there were too many breakdowns. There is more to a safety value than INT’s. Goldson is not the complete package.
Mario Williams? Charlie Casserly is vindicated now in his decision to pass on Reggie Bush and draft Mario Williams. But, does Mario now have the injury bug? If healthy, yes he’s work a shot. But, don’t over pay for player injured on someone else’s team. Medically will he bounce back like a Demarcus Ware or Jason Allen? Or, will he be a Sean Merriman? Be scared, very scared if Houston does not make a strong attempt to resign Williams.
Shakes head at Grant trying to play GM…
You mean like everyone else in this thread? What else is there to do until August?
Oh ya, bitch about Alex.
I think there’s a mistake in your math. The 30M in cap room accounts for the current salaries of all the 49ers players. So you can’t just subtract 6.2M for Goldson from the 30M. You have to subtract the difference between 6.2M and what Goldson gets currently. Ditto for Smith, Rogers, et al.
Also please confirm if the salary cap figure of 30M that you cite is for 2011 or 2012 …
Thanks.
The $30M is what the niners have as of today. Right now, Goldson is not signed, niether is Alex.
Peyton Manning should be priority #1 amongst ALL free agents. The team needs a serious QB upgrade in the worst way, even with the way Alex improved from terrible to mediocre this season.
Read the Espn column today by Mike Lombardi today, he can’t throw the damn ball and has no velocity, PM will probably retire.
SF Cap Space $30M Cap Space Availability
What will happen:
resign Alex Smith to $21M for 3 years
resign Dashon Goldson to $25M for 5 years
resign Josh Morgan to $12M for 4 years
resign A.Snyder, B.Castonzo, T.Ginn Jr, CJ Spillman, T.Gooden, T. Brock, W. Takuafu for total of $6M (charged $5.75M to cap in 2011)
This takes up $21 in cap space with $9M leftover.
If we cut S.Spencer (S.Spencer is due $3.3M in 2012) & extend J. Smith’s contract (J. Smith is due $6.3M with contract due in 2013)
We can save an additional $5M in cap space giving us $14M to spend on Draft and FA.
That’s not enough money to resign C.Rogers, A.Brooks, or any of the top 4 WR’s that the fans are craving. We usually reserve $7M for NFL draft and have a $5M cushion for injury issues during the season.
Don’t expect a FA splash by the niners this year.
We’ll have more money next year. The only players we may need to resign is: I. Sopoaga, D. Walker, A. Lee, Ricky Jean Francois.
Was this a better article than Grant’s?
Great breakdown
No way Morgan gets 4 years. He may get 2, with a 2nd year option. Why would anyone give him 4 years after his injury…too much uncertainty. Thats a Carmen Policy type deal.
we can franchise Goldson for a year and deal with him next season
Great breakdown info. Seeing the list of contracts due next year, I’d say re sign Andy Lee NOW!
Relax Paarag’s got this
Yes, and Mr. Marathe actions will prove my predictions to be true and accurate.
tag Goldson – good.
Rogers – sign a 3 year deal if the price is right. otherwise, sign a FA, or draft in 1st or 2nd round.
Brooks – sign a 3 year deal if the price is right.
WR – #1 option would be Bowe or Colston (probably too expense)
WR – #2 option Meachem or Mario Manningham (both are like # WRs in their current respective teams) . they can start with the Niners.
QB – looks like Alex Smith is a lock to be resigned
LB – i like to keep Larry Grant, who stepped big when Willis was injured.
I do like the Mario Williams idea… he’s only 27 years old. I’d sign him a 5 to 6 year deal… Robert Mathis (turning 31 years old) can bring winning attitudes in. I would sign Mathis, if not Mario Williams, to a 2 to 3 year deal, if the price is right.
why waste money on another DE, when we have “The Cowboy” and Rey Mcdonald….you make no sense, especially when we need more depth on the o-line, a Cb, and more cb’s….not defensive lineman
Doubt they will go after MW… But it would be a nice thought. Gotta resign Ginn Dashon, and Carlos, and Smith unless this 10 mill a year story is true. If so get ready for CK or Josh Johnson.
@ninermd
10 million is not that much for a QB ninermd. The Niners signed AS for 5 million last year and most people thought he was bottom third. Kerry Collins got 4 million and got about a million per game he stank so bad in Indy.
Most people here have said that AS is a middle of the road QB now with an arrow up.
The top QB’s get about $20 million, so if AS is middle of the road, half of $20 million is $10 million. Those terms seem very reasonable to me. Especially considering his playoff numbers. 5 passing TD’s. 1 Rushing TD. 0 Interceptions. And AS kept his cool the whole time. I never felt that he lost it despite stretches of bad play.
Ds…… After more proof that this year wasnt his ceiling, Id have no problem with that. But lets remember Smith needs the 9ers more than they need him. 5-6 Mill a year sounds good to me. If he reaches incentives. Then pay him more. One pretty good year doesnt equal 10 mill a year IMO.
DS,
1-13 on 3rd down is a QB keeping his cool. Cool enough to do what? Wait on our defense to save us with another turnover and special teams with another field goal.
$10 mil a year for Smith is asinine. Thank god you are not a GM for our team, we’d be like the Raiders right now. If smith gets over $6 mil a year for this year, TB is not doing his job.
The money isn’t the issue as much as the term of the contract. The team wants a 2-3 year deal because they need to evaluate him further and make sure they are comfortable with him long term. If he plays well and makes significant improvement, the deal will be redone after a couple of seasons. If he doesn’t perform to their expectations and significantly improve, they will get rid of him after a couple of seasons. At this point his play and history don’t warrant a long term, big money deal. That being said, if he makes significant improvement with more talent around him over the course of the next two years I think the team would be happy to reward him with a handsome contract. They just want to see QB performance that is commensurate with a big time contract before they give him one.
I do honestly believe that 10 mil a year is way too much for Alex. I’m willing to give him 7 mil assuming he meets all his incentives. In my opinion he still needs to earn all the money that he took from us throughout the past 5 years (~47 million). This past year was the first year that he lived up to his contract. I thought Kerry Collins was an emergency band-aid for Indy and many people thought he was overpaid for a guy that did not know their system.
I see the logic for why 10 mil is a reasonable #, but if you have seen CK throw the ball (in nevada, training camp, and preseason) and think about how much he’s going to open up our offense when he becomes a starter, you’ll reconsider the 10 mil number. CK is getting paid 1.6 mil a year and is two times the athlete that AS will ever be. I’m not saying this to AS down. I’ve been a fan of AS since we drafted him and have defended the pick over Aaron Rodgers for the past 5 years.
“In my opinion he still needs to earn all the money that he took from us throughout the past 5 years (~47 million).”
AS did not take anybody’s money. That was what the Niners and his agent came to an agreement about. Since AS is a economics major (?) he knows his own worth.
And AS never held out like some baby Jamarcus Russell. So, I can’t say he took, stole, etc money away. Now, if you held out, and are not producing as expected (see MC), then I view it as you do.
@matt11111
Good stuff, other than the Mario Williams part (waaaay too expensive) and Larry Grant, who is a goner unless other 3-4 teams don’t have space either. I agree on your WR #1, but would rather take a shot at Stevie Johnson or Manningham at #2. Robert Mathis would be great in San Francisco.
Stevie Johnson is an absolute idiot.
Buffalo benched him for most of the last game of the year, after he got a stupid 15 yard technical for some silly goof-off, right after the coaches explicitly told him to lay off that crap.
The only way I’d accept him on this team is if Vernon and co. threaten to beat the crap out of him if his grade 11 antics continue.
2012 Top Cornerback Draft Prospects (according to CBS Sports) and my breakdown of a few of them:
1. Morris Claiborne, LSU 6-0 185
2. Dre Kirkpatrick, Alabama 6-2 192
3. Janoris Jenkins, North Alabama 5-10 191
4. Alfonzo Dennard, Nebraska 5-10 203
5. Stephon Gilmore, South Carolina 6-1 193
6. Leonard Johnson, Iowa State 5-10 198
7. Chase Minnifield, Virginia r 6-0 185
8. Brandon Boykin, Georgia 5-09 183
9. Trumaine Johnson, Montana 6-2 204
10. Jayron Hosley, Virginia Tech 5-10 172
Claiborne and Kirkpatrick will most likely be off the board when the Niners pick. Here’s a review of the rest of the CD prospects:
- Janoris Jenkins – fast, fluid athlete with good timing. Off field issues may drop his stock. Could be had late in the 1st round
- Alfonzo Dennard – physical, but vulnerable to double-moves and getting beat over the top.
- Stephon Gilmore – tall, average speed, aggressive player, not great in man coverage. Played QB in high school for whatever that’s worth
- Leonard Johnson – good speed, agile, and good ball skills. Lack of height may be a concern, nonetheless, solid tackler and good leader
- Chase Minnifield – competitive, good in run support, good in man coverage. Son of former Pro Bowl cornerback Frank Minnifield
Notable mentions (these guys played well at the Senior Bowl):
Oklahoma’s Jamell Fleming and Cal-Poly’s Asa Jackson
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/prospectrankings/TSX/2012_CB
My sleeper pick at CB is Omar Bolden of Arizona State. His stock has dropped due to a torn ACL. Nonetheless, Bolden has excellent quickness and speed, solid ball skills, good in run support, and reliable tackler, could be effective on special teams as a returner.
Minnifield looks pretty interesting!
O guwd another year with Alex the loser smith
looks like your the loser while alex is making millions in the NFL where you couldn’t even make your high school team
Hov,
Gotta suck it up bro. I hate it more than anyone on this blog. I’d we don’t get to the NFC championship game next year, we’ll have to hear the alexcuses again. Season can’t start fast enough. Looking forward to the combine.
Their are two types of fans, Niner fan’s and the unofficial AS Lovers club.
>>Their are two types of fans, Niner fan’s and the unofficial AS Lovers club.
You got that right.
Missed a little on your characterizations.
Niners fans. And blowhards who think they know more about who should be on the starting roster than the current head coach of the year.
@ribico
We know at least one of these blowhards refuses to write that he knows less about football, Niners and AS than JH does.
And he thinks he is a BigShot. And does not BS on the blog.
News for all: Everybody here is BS’ing. Nobody knows what is really happening. That is how it should be. That is how a properly run sports organization works.
Anybody who thinks that they are not spouting out a lot of BS is so full of it, they may explode. So, stay clear of them. It might take a few weeks to get the smell out when they finally do blow up.
I am guessing. You are guessing. Everybody here is guessing on everything of any real importance. Even Grant who actually gets to speak to the players is guessing. Because the players are told what/how to say things to the media, and nothing gets out that they don’t want to get out. Anything that a sports organization does not want to get out, fails to do so. At least if you running a tight ship, which Jed, Trent and John are.
“You think you know. But you don’t. And you never will.”
If you have a problem with this quote in regards to football and the Niners and their inner workings, you are a sadly delusional person. And Mr, BigShot thinks he does know. And fought and continues to fight about that quote while he is working in his non NFL HC/GM job and has never so much as touched the NFL practice field as a player.
The moment Harbaugh benches Alex all of these Smithers will know more than the “coach of the year.”
Just like the Smithers knew better than previous coaches when Smith was riding the pine and Hill was winning games. After all, the Smithers know WAY more about football than a Hall of Fame linebacker, right?
Coaches do stupid things just like players (see: Kyle Williams, punt returns). Harbaugh has decided to hitch his wagon to a QB that got two previous coaches fired. Hopefully it works better for Jim than it did in the past.
@msc
I have already stated that I liked Hill. If not for Hill, Coach Sing never gets hired beyond interim HC. Then for Sing to toss Hill out so quickly the next season…I just think that had an impact on all the players. And that was really the start of the mistrust between the players and Sing. And the reason why our team failed to live up to expectations was due to mistrust.
Contrast that to JH. Who had to convince AS to come back. You keep forgetting that. AS had he not been picked up by anybody else, would have been in Indy after Peyton got hurt. He would have played last year as a stating QB no matter what. He
Your whole logic is really messsed up. Why wouldn’t JH have CK start if you were right? I mean JH got as much a free pass as a HC will ever have with the lockout thing happening and how everybody said the Niners will really suffer because of it. Why not use this wasted year to get your guy (CK) in? That is the logical thing to do if you don’t believe in AS, and trust the guy you drafted. Afterall, a bunch of roookie QB’s started last year, and by and large most were quite impressive. So, why not give CK the chance? He gets his experience in a year that was down the drain anyway, and comes back next year with the experience and a full off-season.
Fact is, the haters would have preferred that over AS leading them to the NFC Championship. They would have liked to see the Niners lose more games with a different QB, than for them to win with AS. Hate, is quite appropriate to describe such feelings, as love is most certainly not in the equation if you feel that for the team you say you like.
And remember, AS and Hill like one another as well.
Jordan,
game 1-6 it went something like this…. It’s the O-lines fault. Alex doesn’t have time to throw. Game 7-14 it was the play calling in the red zone. Alex did it last year with Vernon, it’s Roman’s fault. Game 15- NFC Championship it was the receivers fault. We need all brand new receivers dammit. The can’t get open. They are never open.
Final excuse, Alex only had one year in this system. Get him all new weapons and you wait. Next year he’ll be good.
Jordan, remember when you were a Smither for a week?
You forgot the “Harbaugh’s system doesn’t put up big numbers” excuse.
Bay,
Being a Smither for a week was painful. I found myself coming up with Alexcuse after Alexcuse. I also found myself believing in Alex. 196 yards a game. Gave me a real tummy ache! That was really tramautic!!! Scared the crap out of me. Smithers finally let me go. Never saw so many Smith jerseys, except in target on sale. Lol.
Big P,
how could I have forgotten that one. That one was blended in for the first 12 games of the season…
You guys list a lot of really good, funny alexcuses there. I’m confused though……
We went 13-3 and were a play away from the superbowl. Smith played pretty well, and as a result he’s going to be chosen by the coach of the year and the exec. of the year to qb this team again next year.
So…..why do the “smithers” need to bring up these facts….er…..I mean “excuses” again? There’s nothing to excuse, except perhaps your incessant harping on this topic. If you want to cheer for a pass-happy team, go cheer for the Lions, suckers. I’ll stay here and cheer for a kick-ass team, with a gritty qb who does the little things it takes to win.
Well said Angus.
The attitude of the team and how it plays seems to be a direct affront to several people on this blog.
If you don’t like it, change your team, and be happy. Why stay unhappy watching a team? This is entertainment after all guys.
AngusinCanada,
You shouldn’t get upset, the excuses for the offenses performance are often very funny. Some people may genuinely dislike Smith, whatever. I have said I’m happy with his return. I just don’t put up with people ripping everybody else on the team in order to defend Smith. That’s what it really comes down to. People shouldn’t talk of the team when they throw every member of it under the bus in an effort to pump up one player. As far as calling people suckers, you know you are one if DS is agreeing with your post.
Why would the 49ers spend a ton of money on Mario Williams? You have to spend your cap room wisely. Our defense is stacked. Whose job would he take? We don’t need him and Aldon Smith. Spend that money on the offense or bringing back guys we already have.
well put. everybody wants a dream team that not even the yankees can afford.
And Mathis is D-end in a 4-3. We play a 3-4. He can’t play D-line in a 3-4 and trying to convert him to an outside linebacker at this point in his career seems silly, especially when we already have Aldon Smith, Haralson, and Brooks if we re-sign him.
Jerome
Aldon Smith was a DE before this season, Mathis would fit. I think that what was being said was that Harrelson would be gone.
“who would make the Niners’ already great defense the best defense of all time.”
- Man, you’re really embarrassing yourself, stop doing that, it’s getting bored.
If you dont think the addition of MW would make this a top 3 defense of ALL TIME………Your kidding yourself. Without this Defense this team would have easily been 5-11
MW would not be anything in a 3-4 scheme so you are wrong my friend…he is a 4-3 and you see what happened since they moved him………
Oh OK. Since you said it, it must be true. Yeah another beast of a pass rusher would do anything for this team. Im wondering if your thinking Albert Haynsworth. I hope so
Yeah lets spend money we don’t need too on a high priced DE that we don’t need if you want our defense to be even better its the secondary that needs help not the front seven
well the front seven is not deep….so if brooks and grant leaves then it is that much thinner……
so what you would sign MW and what put him on the bench behind rey and the cowboy, thats pointless we got dobbs who filled in fine when needed too at the DE position if we need depth anywhere on the d-line i would iagine it would be at DT, not to mention we also have jean fracios who is bad at his back up role either, and they are both young players still developing
“DE/OLB Mario Williams, who would make the Niners’ already great defense the best defense of all time.”
- this doesn’t sound, like the “top 3 defense of ALL TIME” like you’re saying, or you can’t read?
Fair weather fan, Cohn strikes again with his grand statements, like the 30-3 beating, we were supposed to give Baltimore. I though a journalist or blogger or whatever, should have more of a common knowledge or general understanding of the history of the game, no?
Lame stuff…
Mario Williams would be a dream, and Jackson from SD would also. This would be a tough decision. Probably wouldnt need a WR if we had MW. Your talking 85 Bears. Gotta keep the O-line sured up.
ABrooks is ok but not a necessity. LGrant is young enough at 26 to move to outside and could play AB’s spot with tutelage during the offseason. He tackles better than AB although he may be giving up pass rush ability but still unknown. I’d sign CRogers but within reason. Also DG within reason – possible franchise tag player for 2012. They could use the balance of the cap money on Bowe if he fits the team approach JH believes in. There is no need to make a rash decision with JMorg coming back from injury and won’t be target in FA plus they can find quality talent at WR in the draft. I’d sign AS for $6.5M 2012, $8M for 2013, and $9M for 2014 with performance incentives added for each year. They have a lot of options and TB will figure it out.
So wait. You would sign a QB for more money every year that needs to improve? I dont agree with that. Level his yearly pay and add incentives. Smith has improved, but we dont know if he’s reached his full potential? No way should they sign him for more money yearly. Until he has proven otherwise.
so I take you don’t expect to get a raise every year, you expect to stay at the same pay every year….if you do a good job and the nfc championship in my opinion and many others is pretty darn good to ask for a raise each year
Md,
This is a business. Smith has to respect the fact that JH saved his career. He has nowhere else to go and be confident that his career will improve. Niners dint have to give him a considerable raise. I say 5.5 ,6.5, 7.5 for the next 3 years with incentives and escapes for both.
Niners have the leverage. Use it like you would in any other negotiations. JH is clearly going with Smith. That’s the deal, it is a business.
MD, jeez do the math. lol! That is under $8m per year averaged but add a signing bonus, performance based incentives, etc. Not bad as the avg QB will make around $6-7M this year.
another interesting thought about grant taking brooks spot…….i have to admit i liked how brooks evolved as a player after his stint in cinn
I’d sign him for that Hofer, with only the first two years guaranteed.
Hofer I like the idea of an ascending scale for Smith. If he continues to improve he’d be properly compensated and if he pulls a Fitzpatrick the team won’t be stuck with a salary cap hit.
I don’t like the Bowe idea as much. I watched a lot of Chiefs games this year and Bowe just doesn’t seem like a Harbaugh guy. He’s not an enthusiastic blocker and he gives “alligator arms” a new meaning. He does have good hands when there is no danger of contact though.
I think Baalke will surprise us again in free agency. Who really heard of Carlos Rogers before last year? Due to a lot of teams signing rushed one-year contracts the FA market is going to be flooded.
The cap space does not work the way you think it does grant, if you signed for example alex smith to a three year contract worth say 20 million, 5 million a year, then you have the rest in bonuses…..only what he is expected to make that year comes out the cap space…so if they were to resign him for three years at 20 million, 5 a year, then only five would come out that 30 in cap space….But they could also make it back heavy instead of an evenly distrubited contract to where he would say make 3 illion this next season, 4 the one after that and then the rest in his final year…so there are many ways to work things out with rogers….Rogers and goldson will both be back……we have plenty of cap space to do what we need to…thats why there are gms to do the number crunching and come up with the best solution at resigning these guys….ONE PLAYER I DO NOT WANT BACK AND SHOULD NOT BE RESIGNED IS …….THAT’S RIGHT CHILO RACHEL I AM TALKING ABOUT YOUR LAZY BEHIND
I would say there is NOOO way Chilo will return, but this is the 49ers and if he is a great guy like, Alex dont count on him being gone. lol
NinerMD:
Even Sing said he wanted to “knock out” Chilo sometimes ,lol. But I guess if he was still the best option on the line because the team had not gone after any upgrades for years,then as long as he is a nice,character guy,he might still be starting,kinda like Alex’s situation.
you remind me of chilo rachel alot
Who’s that Rib?
49ers will find a way to sign Rogers because they are not in a mood of experimenting on other players. Eventhough 49ers lost this year due to special team’s blunder in 4th and 5th Quarter and Alex smith is not the greatest QB but they still have the chance to win a Super Bowl next year. I would rather see Rogers back in 49ers uniform with one good game changing WR and a lineman to replace Racahel. Mr JH must teach Alex to play fast and how to find his recievers. Every game was one by 49ers defense because they kept the team in the game otherwise we could be a 4-12 team.
True, true true true true. I agree with every single thing you said. Can I have my brain back now? lol
md … How long do you admit to the fact it’s been missing??? Been wondering. LOL
Maybe if the receivers could get open then Alex could do better but until crabtree learns how to play hard every down and we get a true number 1, put organ 2 and crabs in the slot……but the receivers have to get open, i rather to take a sack than to throw an interception if my receiver is not open
@Jons
I agree.
But of course, more importantly, JH would agree.
Been to every game this year. I know what I saw. Recievers arent the only problem. Smiths downfield vision is a problem also. The Excuses for Smith should be done. If you go back to earlier years and every excuse One would come to the conclusion that Smith has to have everything go perfect in order to succeed. That doesnt win Rings. Its funny. When he threw an uncharacteristic pass to VD he scored. Its funny that MC was open for nearly 1000 yards this year, but when the Giants game was over. It was the recievers fault. I bet if Smith works on his field vision and throws those passes this offense with the same recievers wont be 29th next year. If Smith learns to throw recievers open. This offense will be good enough to win it all. With NO problem.
MC needs to be with AS to make those practice throws. No more injured foot business.
And DS…. There is NO WAY JH is perfectly satisfied with Smiths play. They will bring up what needs improvment. And I know field vision and timing will be two of them. NO WAY Harbaugh is happy about a 29th ranked Passing attack
Keep it in perspective md.
Jerry Rice, the best NFL player of all time was never satisfied with his play either. What does that tell you?
No NFL player should ever be. Especially if they lost the game. The big issue that many people have with MC after that game was that he didn’t seem to put as much of the loss on himself as other players (who played better) did.
crabtree was never open to have a 1000 yard season and crabtree will never have one if he doesnt learn how to play on every down, crabtree has not even had a thosand yard career, a thousand yard season when he doesnt even get open 90% of the time….your a genius can i hire you as a head coach please, your the greatest and smartest football head i have ever mmeet, please come coach for me….crabtree will never have a 1000 yard season let alone a 800 yard season as long as he keeps playing the way he does, half azed. and if crabtree has another season like any of the ones he has in the past they need to send him packing to the arena league
Jons Niners,
Do you realize that Crabtree went over 800 yards this year? 874 yards in 15 games. You should at least learn to google the correct info if you don’t know it. It won’t make you smarter, but at least it will make you seem less dumb.
It was more like 874 yards in 13 games. He was hobbled weeks 1-3. If he had been 100% he had a for sure 1000 yard season. Maybe you should try actually watching Crabtree instead of talking out your A**. You can tell how hard a WR plays by the way he blocks, and I don’t think there was a harder blocking WR in the league than Crab last year.
MC had a very good season, and showed improvement from the year before. He is a very good receiver who we need to continue to grow. Biggest problem last year was we needed someone on the other side of the field to help take coverage away from him.
Adam707,
Well said. Despite his injury, he still had career highs in receptions and yards. I guess the “new system, new coach” excuses are only allowed for select players. If you are willing to make so many excuses for a QB that has had 7 seasons of up and down performances, you would think you would be able to see the potential in a WR that has gotten BETTER each season while faced with the same challenges as Smith.
4-12? That’s a bit rich. The 49er offence set some sort of record for fewest turnovers. That played a big role in our success. There’s 2 sides to the conservative offence coin.
Obviously, the D was the strength of the team, but you don’t need to make silly statements to convince anyone of that. Improved o-line play was the number 2 reason for the turnaround this season (removal of singletary et al. being #1).
yeah good thing the defense won the divisional round for us……..wait that was all Alex and the offense that one us that game, what about in Detroit i guess our defense won that for us too, what about the second time we played Seattle i guess that was the defense as well………yes the defense did win a lot of games but for Alex not to have a mini camp and off season with a new head coach and still took this team to the NFC championship game…give Alex time to develop into this offensive scheme with this off season , mini camps and i almost guarantee with JH the coach the sky is the limit for Alex if he could do what he did this last season. with no off season i wonder what he can do with the tutelage of JH during this off season……….I JUST WONDER WHAT ALEXS POTENTIAL IS
Alex potential is 1-13 on 3rd down in the biggest game of his life and scared to throw the ball unless his wr wide open.
@jons
I think it is fair to say that the defense kept the Niners in games. And, AS was “CLUTCH’ (quote from JH after the Detroit game) many times this year as evidenced by his 6 4th quarter comeback wins (4 on the road).
Also worthy of notice is that all year, people kept saying “Can AS and the Niners come back from 14 points down early in a game and win it?”
Well, that only happened one time. Down 20 points against Philly, in Philly. Against MV and Nnamdi. And, AS did come back and win the game. So, the only time this occurance ever happened, AS found a way to win the game. And in none of the losses were the Niners ever down big.
Why is it every one wants to blame Alex, because he is the qb…..answer me this then, how are you suppose to throw more and have better numbers if your receivers are not doing there job, by getting open? So is it the QBs responsibility to run there routes, get open, and catch the ball and not drop it? well if thats the case shouldn’t there only be one position in the NFL called QB since he is suppose to run everybodys play on offense? quit blaming alex and put some blame on our crappy receivers.
got ur giselle on
Hah!
The recievers were open at times. No looks their way. Its not Smiths fault only. But to say recievers werent doing their job is bogus. There is a reason MC was pissed alot this year. He wasnt looked at 5 times that I counted for Td’s. Smith MUST work on his field vision this offseason. He said it himself..”I will have to be honest with myself this offseason” And when he is asked what he must improve on later this year. You can bet that will be one of his answers.
first step to recovery….admitting the mistakes…
Crabtree only gets open when he wants too and when he does and alex throws to him all he does is drop the ball, crabtree is way over rated and is not very good, go ahead and post his career numbers so i can sit here and laugh, how many mini camps and pre seasons has crabtree participated in in his 3 year career? 0 thats right but i guess he is so good he doesnt need to show up for those right and when he doesnt perform we will just blame alex, what a great fan not to see the true problems of this team
@Jg……. So true. And I beleive he will work on his problems. Gotta crawl before you can walk.
I always felt that AS did admit to his mistakes the whole time. There has to be some reason as to why the whole team and it’s best players and leaders (VD, FG) have supported AS all this time.
If AS threw his teammates under the bus, either during interviews or in the locker room, AS would not be a Niner. And would not have come back even a 2nd time. Much less a 3rd time.
If you have ever had a job in your life where you feel like you are alone, and nobody is around to help you figure stuff out in a nice open environment, then you will look like AS. I assure you. Now that AS has JH (the sole reason really why AS came back) to actually help him out with these mistakes of his, I fully believe in my heart and mind that AS will.
If you have not had a job experience like this in your life, be glad.
DS Ive never questioned the mans character. He is and always has been a stand up guy. Thats why I like Tebow..”as a public figure” Its refreshing to see good character guys in sports now-a-days. Thats why I cant wait for my Puerto Rican brotherin Miguel Cotto to whoop Mayweathers a$$. Wheew. Boycotting the NBA this year and my A’s are pathetic. So any sports until TC is going to be well worth it.
@ninermd
His teammates success (desire to win, etc) and financial well being are tied to AS more than others since he is the QB.
Nice, good, guy, whatever. What other player, and I’ll let you go beyond the realm of football if you want, has ever gone thru 6 years like AS, and still have his teammates 100% support?
Especially FG, since his career winds down at 30 due to the nature of his position. It would seem logical to me anyway that he would be among the most anxious to have AS leave in favor of any other QB if he didn’t think AS had it. And don’t fool yourself. FG could gobehind closed doors and ask his HC’s/GM’s to get a new QB. As our best player and weapon for much of his career, his word would have caried that much weight where if FG says to drop AS, the Niners drop AS.
But logical thought would appear to fail here. Unless of course FG understands what AS has been thru better than anybody in the world almost (drafted the same year, in the same meetings, etc), and knows AS can take him to the promised land. FG watches and sees other QB’s all the time. Why does he not desire a new one if he does not support AS?
What does FG get out of this if he didn’t see something in Alex that we fans can’t ever have seen? Why stay here?
The only reasonable answer is that he knows what we do not. That is why he has always defended AS from anybody. FG is not a big media guy at all. Yet he speaks up in support of AS. A quiet guy would not do that for 7 years because AS is a nice guy (only reason). He only does that because he knows, and JH knows that AS can win him a Super Bowl.
You, me, everybody, not in that locker room…we don’t know. Therefore, the quote many of us have written (you included if I am not mistaken) “In JH/TB I trust.”
That is the essence of my defense for AS. Not numbers or stats. But the suport of his teammates.
When you hear Alex Smith say that we left some plays out there on the field today, what do you guys thinks that means?? He certainly us not talking about not taking advantage of opportunities or making some bad throws? No way, couldn’t be. He is the QB. Deliver the football. Well blame the wideouts when they drop them.
Crabtree was in the upper half of starting receivers for targets this year. He needs to shut up and play better.
Jons,
How many games did you go to this year? Alex Smith averaged 195 yards passing this year. That’s over 18 games. Do you believe that for 18 games, the receivers couldn’t get open. So when Vernon has bad games with few catches does that mean he didn’t get open either.
I went to 6-7 games this year and I’ve seen every game the Niners have played since Smith got drafted. Why have you not been listening to local radio and reading articles lately. Alex missed open receivers in the Giant game. He’s been missing open receivers his entire career. He always says he left some plays on the field. Do you not believe him? Remember missing walker deep in the raven game?
Go to a game and watch the receivers. Alex was Tebowish in that giant game. I guess the read option plays that we ran during it made him feel that way.
Willis cap number is 17.7m. We gotta restructure that. Also Spencer will be cut and that saves us 3.2m. So I believe we can keep everyone, if the price is right. I would make the younger guys the priority. Goldson/Brooks, if we lose Rogers I can live with that.
PS Alex had 6 years of bust and 1 year of game manager with a few moments of greatness. Please dont overpay the guy we gave 60m already. 2011 was the only year he earned his paycheck. I’m afraid that might be true when his career is over….
true david alex is done
so AS had his contract restructured after year 4 and he took a pay cut
your a moron, alex needs help…glad your not our qb who would throw to a covered receiver who doesnt play hard at all, i bet you are crabtrees number one fan, tell me this what has crabtree ever done for alex? nothing not a darn thing you know why because he doesnt play hard every play….but i bet you would pay crabtree as much as he would want….and he is a top ten pick….crabtree will be and is the biggest bust than alex will ever be
Jons,
So now that you’ve called crabtree a slacker, support it with some proof. Otherwise, you’re just running your big mouth! What proof do you have that Crabs does not play hard? Who do you think blocks downfield for gore and KH on those long runs they got this year? Support your assertions with proof. Name one play genius? Didn’t think you could.
“your a moron” is my absolute, all time favorite internet phrase.
Jons: Way to call childish names instead of making an adult point in an adult conversation ! But when you are losing a debate the last resort of someone without an arguement to make is to call names of the one beating you in the debate.
msclemons, you’d likely have to explain why to a large proportion of the posters.
msclemons67 says:
February 9, 2012 at 8:40 pm
“your a moron” is my absolute, all time favorite internet phrase.
*************************************************
“you’re” not kidding. I like it too.
FA WR almost never work out. I could create a long laundry list of receivers that haven’t had the impact on their new team as thought. I’d like to see us look for a number of reliable, cheaper WRs who are diamonds in the rough and ensure the defense is bolstered. The 49ers didn’t make it to the Super Bowl because they had a sure-handed depth problem at WR. The only way to survive the injury war of attrition is through depth.
1-13 on 3rd down 2 comp 1st half enough said about alex smith aka tim tebow jr
ok well i am glad you are happy with our receivers performance, Alex did what he could do with a bunch of slot receivers, but i dont see you mentioning, crabtree, ginn, edwards ( although he was cut ) swain, and i e am forgetting so one and not morgan as he was good up until he got injured and he is not even a number one option….
At sum point you gotta stop with the excuses wr this o line that at sum point you gotta say its him that is the problem.
NFC Championship game is hardly an excuse.
Compiling a 13-3 record is not an excuse.
Coming back in the 4th quarter twice to beat the Saints is not an excuse.
5TD’s passing, 1 TD running, 0Ints in the playoffs is not an excuse.
The only ones making excuses are you. AS needs some WR help. If you don’t agree with that, then nobody can interact with you at a reasonable level.
Tebow would of made more first downs because her runs like Jim Brown, not that I ever seen Jim brown play but it sounded good.
BLAE THE RECEIVERS WHOS JOB IS TO RUN ROUTE, CREATE SPACE AND GET OPEN SO THERE QB CAN THROW THEM THE BALL, OUR RECEIVERS DO NOT GET OPEN, SO LETS BLAME THE QB….I AM GLAD YORK, BALKE AND JH KNOW WHAT THERE DOING AND NOT THESE GUYS JUST SPEWING THINGS ONTO THERE COMPUTER SCREENS AND HITTIN A SEND BUTTON….SO GLAD WE GOT THAT FRONT OFFICE INSTED OF HALF OF THESE GUYS ON THIS WEBSITE WHO SOUND LIKE THE EDIA AND BLAME EVERYTHING ON ONE GUY INSTEAD OF POINTING THE FINGERS AT THE REAL PROBLEMS, WELL IF YOUR NOT ON BOARD WITH ALEX, EITHER GET ON OR GO BE A FAN OF ANOTHER TEAM BECAUSE HE WILL BE OUR QB FOR AT LEAST 2 OR 3 MAYBE EVEN 5 MORE SEASONS
@jons niners blah blah blah wr didnt do this no alex was afraid to throw the ball and make a mistake watch the coaches tape!!! I HAVE
lets throw to a covered receiver and throw an interception instead of throwing taking a sack and thats why they fired you from your pee wee league team, how do you get fired from being a pee wee coach HOV? I thought that was like a volunteer job, so how did you get fire, you told your qb dont worry if he isnt open just throw it up and hope they dont pick it off……your so smart…i am out because us true 49er faithfull see the real promblems as other people just create what they beleive is a problem but in reality is not, and thats how they get fired from being a pee wee coach
Sorry bro. Cant get on board with a 29th ranked passing attack. Im onboard to giving him a shot to improve some more, but if last year and 10 million a year is what we are going to see. ADIOS Smith. Same for Gore. If he looks like he did this year. He’s gotta take a seat for a younger horse. Hurts to say, but its about winning. SO TAKE IT EASY! lol
Watch the coaches tape of the nfc champ game and ull see he was afraid to throw the ball when wrs where open!!!
already went through a couple of sequences cossel identified…..
thats funny because they werent open, you must be in crabtrees pocket book
No,.there were several time the WR’s were WIDE open and Alex held the ball or just flat out missed the pass. At least 3 times I thought it was going to be an easy TD pass ! JH will need to work on this with alex a lot before next season !Alex will get better ,I belioeve,but how much better is the question…he needs to be MUCH better in several of his poor areas of performance,that’s for sure ! Hopefully he will !
I just don’t think the 49ers will go all in on any free agent. What I can envision is the team trading down on draft day for more picks. The market is funny, there are a few instances where someone like a David Baas will cash in, but they are the exception rather than the rule. If a free agent does not get picked in the first days the price goes down dramatically. I believe if the teams lets both Brooks and Rogers walk they will probably go for some big name. I think they both stay and the team fills it’s needs through the draft and make a Braylon Edwards type deal with someone that is overlooked.
I was thinking the same as you in regards to David Baas. Everyone wanted him back and made a big deal of him showing up to “Camp Alex” and getting a playbook. Then, wham! He bolts for the highest bidder with longest number of years and Niners have to look for a Center. I can see this happening with Dashon Goldson and Larry Grant and maybe Ahmad Brooks. I’m sure Baalke has contingencies for all our FAs taking the highest bidder’s deal. He learned from the Baas deal last summer.
I seriously doubt Baalke lets Goldson get away.
@Grant: Fear Drew Rosenhaus. This is not the same situation as Drew representing Frank Gore last summer. Baalke can’t control yahoo thinkers like Dan Snyder giving Haynesworth $100M.
But if they can’t agree on a long-term deal, the Niners can franchise tag Goldson.
Good point, Grant. Just like Sopoaga stepped up for Aubrayo Franklin when he left after being Franchised the year before; someone can step up in 2013 if Dashon leaves after being Franchised in 2012.
If DG plays like AF did when he was franchised, then the Nines will not win the Super Bowl with DG as a major contributing member of this team.
AF really stank. And, I didn’t hear his name mentioned at all during the NO game. DG had no problem leaving the Niners last year. I just don’t know if he bleeds red and gold as much as I would like.
@jons niners lmao im trying to be honest with you and you got 3rd grade jokes lmao really to funny
I have went to the dark side ninermd,jordan there right all alone smith cant do it.
Hey now. I didnt say Smith cant do it after this year. He still has some improvment to get at. I dont fully trust he will be great, but for the first time he showed some grit so Ill give him another shot. I trust Harbaugh enough to make Smith a very solid and dangerous QB. Time will tell. I just refuse to hear its all the wr’s fault. Smith is at fault also. Ive seen Wr’s running open tons of times. Lets see if he’s good enough next year to make the most out of those situations. I dont hate Alex. I hate oneniner. That guy is a joke!
MD, agree but who said it is *all* on the WR’s? I’ve said AS missed some but also that the WR’s can’t consistently get open. MC has upside but needs a tude adjustment. He can’t expect the QB (any QB) to always throw him open – he’s not talented or big enough to win those battles.
Try reading some of the others comments. Throwing MC under the bus while having their hand on the “hater” coffee mug they are sipping on. A elite WR would help out big time, but so will Smith stretching that field and taking those shots more often. Im sure JH will bring up this isuue and they will work on it.
MD, agree. A full offseason will help both MC and AS. Add another receiver and the return of JMorg, all arrows are UP big time!
Hofer,
NO wide receiver can consistently get open. Just wondering if you saw my questions earlier today?? The key is to to throw the ball to the receiver when he is open.
How many games have you ever seen where only 1 wide receiver on the entire team caught 1 pass for 3
yards in an entire game?I’ve never seen that before in my entire life. Receivers were open in that Giant game. They just didn’t get tge ball thrown to them. They weren’t open every play. But to say they were never open???? Cmon Hofer, Cosell is a co- conspirator with my agenda as well I guess.
Jordo, KW and a broken down BE was on the other side of MC after JMorg went down. Not a top 22 pair by any means. Add some talent at WR then we’ll talk.
BTW, did you see my response to your questions? I said I didn’t disagree with them although not all. AS has improved and JH had 51/2 months now he gets a full offseason to do so.
Also, if MC doesn’t quit looking for excuses for his play, he won’t be with SF long. He has major upside but needs a class on how to act like a team player.
was…meant *were* on the other side…
Hofer,
Crabtree is right. Braylon has the same explanation. You can’t make plays if you’re not thrown the ball. Plain and simple. Michael Crabtree got drafted when he did because he had the biggest catch radius of any player in the draft when he came out.
Youve seen that radius on some of his catches. Why do you think smith throws the ball so high to him. He snares balls. Throw him the damn ball. It’s not like he does not fight for it. He got a 1st round bye because of that catch radius and his good blocking. Throw him the damn ball!!
Jordo, MC was over-drafted and if you disagree, search his name with over-drafted! He’s very limited running routes, getting separation, and his quickness/speed. If he were a great route runner it would make up for his speed and quickness limitations (ask JR). You’ll see just like I said last and previous year AS will be better with an offense-minded HC. MC needs to work on his skills or he won’t be around long.
You asked me about AS weaknesses, what are MC’s weaknesses? You are acting like he is CJ or LF!
Hofer,
Crabtree lacks speed, no doubt. He’s not been the most reliable receiver. I’m surprised at the drops this early in his career.
His route running is excellent. I’ve heard you mention that on several occasions but I bet you can’t fund that link for me. On the other hand, Dwight Clark has said on several occasions this year that crabtree is a great route runner.
4th year coming up. Think about how many times Smith missed Crabtree for touchdowns. At least 3 or more Hofer. That would frustrate the hell out of me as well. Flat out overthrew the man. You could get separation Hofer. The key is that the ball has to be thrown to a spot and thrown on time. Most times, it’s not thrown at all. The tipped balls( 4 a game) are killing me too bro.
Agree fully Ninermd !
There’s only 3 or 4 of you, you must be right.
??
…lol..@ninermd….funny moron……..Like I tell you dude…never argue with a fool. People might not know the difference.
Crickets………………….. Thanks for reading though.
oneniner<—————— This guy HA HA HAAAAAAAAAA
Grant you bring up several great points! I thought about the free agency and you might be right about Rogers and even Dashon! I would rather use that money and go after Mario Williams and a very good reciever in the free agency. Most likely Texans will not let Mario walk however can you imagine having Mario and Smith line up to rush the passer as two solid book ends! with Justin smith and soap pushing from the middle!!! We can get a pretty good safety from the draft in the second round or third! Its so exciting to think about the possibilites but if we can land Mario over Brooks i will be so happy!
Chi9er, MW earned $18M last year not an option really.
hov you are not being real, if you are blaming alex first your wrong, so if gore has a bad season rushing its alexs fault………..thats how you sound when you come to the defense of the shottiest part of our team, the receivers so yeah if you guys cant realize that we need receivers before another qb, then no qb will ever survive as a 49er player, if you want our qb to do well then you want your qb to have good options to go to instead of some one who goes out and does there job half azed like crabtree does….as long as we got receivers like this no qb should ever be talked about badly in san fran
@Jones niners Ok at one point we said alex needs a oline (drafted 2 1st round online) at one point he needs a wr(drafted 1st round crab and vd) at one point its the coach (sing to jh)at what point do we say alex isnt that good ask your self that?!!!!
Hov, at what point do you come to the realization AS is the QB for this year and the long term? Sour grapes? If he doesn’t continue to improve (you can root against him) JH and TB will make a change.
VD made the pro bowl with AS throwing to him.
We just drafted some OL 2 years ago. They both improved and magically, AS did as well. Coincidence?
And we need a WR who can consistently catch the throws a WR should catch. Nobody on the Niners last year falls into that category yet. And a WR who at least demanded 2 teams would really help out the whole offensive approach as well.
Just a guess here. But what % of the time did RC have to run with 8 men in the box? What % of the time does FG have to run with 8 men in the box? The difference? Great WR’s on the edges for the Niners when RC played. You put 8 in the box all day long, and JR and JT would have murdered you.
My eyes got huge n I drooled thinking about Mario on our D. I know we need WR, but who’s to say another 1 yr for 1M contract isn’t waiting for Braylon. I think it’s worth another shot. He’s got talent and something to prove. If he would have stayed healthy I think it would have been a way better ending to our year. And remember, he was only let go to make roomon roster because of health. He may still be on FO’s radar. Opinions?
San,
He was not let go because of health problems. He was bad mouthing Smith bro. He wasn’t getting the ball when he was open. He wasn’t getting accurate balls when he was open. His body language and his mouth made it clear after every throw. JH got wind of it and cut him. It he wasn’t healthy and that was the problem, he would have been put on IR. Just like Josh Morgan. The Niners wanted Braylon gone.
But you watch Braylon have a good year next year. I’ll put my lunch on it.
Jordo, link please! Dreaming that it happened doesn’t make it a fact.
Hofer,
Why didn’t they IR Braylon Edwards?? Why did they cut him instead??? No thread. I’ve heard it on KNBR. I’ve seen it on Tv. Watch the games that Edwards played. After every wild throw from Smith that Braylon didnt catch. Look at the 2 backshoulder fades to Edwards from smith. Watch Braylon mumble after the throw with the camera on him.
Jordo, I asked the question where is the link? Please?
From Edwards’ official site:
http://www.braylonedwards.com/media/candid-talk-on-life-in-the-nfl
“Men’s Health: You’re a free agent in April. Give me your best pitch for why I should pay you money to come play for my team, knowing that you’ve had health problems and legal troubles in the past.
Braylon Edwards: In terms of the health issues, by the time April rolls around [when NFL free agency begins], I will have been in Miami for several months working with one of the nation’s best rehab specialists and knee surgeons. The health will be there.”
So why the rehab specialists and surgeons?
Hofer: Jordan has a valid point this time. Even Grant (in this thread) admits that it is a valid senario for why Edwards was cut . Edwards was on the receiving end of many bad passes from Alex (as were all the receivers), and if you just watch the games as Jordan suggests,you would see BE grumbling to himself quite often after another bad pass from Alex . That reminded me of T.O. with Garcia. JH went to great lengths to build up Alex’s fragile ego and he would simply not put up with any of the receivers griping or having bad body language when Alex screwed up.Crabs learned his lesson and stopped sniping at Alex in the media and Edwards simply didn’t learn,although I am pretty certain he was probably warned to be a team player. Edwards instead kept it up and even seemed to be so depressed by his situation (what situation you ask? The situation that had him being a free agent in 2012 and not having a QB who could get him the ball ,so he could get good numbers and make teams want him in 2012 on the free agent market,not to mentio he would never be able to reach any incentives in his contract. ),BE even seemed to stop giving 100% much of the time and was just going through the motions. He was obviously very upset and depressed about something !!!
Of couse we don’t KNOW it was ALL about alex, but it is a plausable explanation for what those of us who paid attention saw from Edwards on the field and sidelines,especially after BE was wide open and Alex threw the ball wide,AGAIN. JH saw it too and took action. I would have done the same as JH did,protect my starting QB and get rid of a potential cancer in the locker room .
AlbertS!
I didnt say the man didn’t have a knee injury. I said he has issues with Alex Smith.
Answer this genius. Why did the Niners cut him instead of putting him on IR? A coach that preaches team and working hard, loyalty. Why would JH cut Braylon? It was because of his attitude dude.
Grant mentions that he definitely was not happy on the sidelines, his attitude toward the coaches? What did they do? Smith wasn’t getting him the ball. Not even close to getting him the ball.
@Tim
“Edwards was on the receiving end of many bad passes from Alex”
I remember a few instances of this. In one game they Niners went to BE 3 times in a row in the redzone. All 3 passes fell incomplete.
The first down pass was perfectly thrown. BE just didn’t seem to know it was coming. Had he caught the nice pass, it would have been a sure TD, and the other 2 passes never happen.
Another pass was initially blamed on AS by the announcers. But then they watched the film, and noticed that BE did not come out of his break with any kind of burst and seemed to really be favoring his injury. So, AS threw the ball to the spot BE was supposed to be at, and at the right time. BE just wasn’t there.
The other pass was a misfire by AS.
So, 2/3 passes should have been caught and for TD’s no less. And if BE catches the first one, we are talking about how great AS looked in scoring a TD on that drive instead of the 3 incompletions in the redzone resulting in yet another short FG.
thnx albert for the BE tweet….this is the closest clue to what may have occured coming from the horses mouth vs perceived body language…..
perception is reality ….. but not necessarily truth……too many hang their hats on hearsay ….
@jg
Didn’t like how some people would resort to rumors just to push their agenda. They tried to put Harbaugh in a bad light too for favoritism? Because to most, BE was clearly not 100%.
@23jordan
Why not put BE on IR? Seriously you’re asking?
BE signed for 1 year, put him on IR made no sense if they don’t intend to resign him. Unlike J.Morgan, they want to keep him on the team.
Why did BE cleared waivers if he’s healthy and he’s able to get open? He might have attitude issues, but
they cut him due to injury.
I’d like to see the link to the reason why BE was cut too. Until I do, I would be going on what Jordo believes and that’s not a place I want to go.
JH brought BE in with all sorts of family and university ties. JH gave BE a chance. Cutting him with one game left gave BE a chance to be picked up by any playoff team. Putting him on IR would have taken that away from BE.
JH actually did what was best for BE by cutting him from a team where BE was not producing. Someday we will read about the whole story. I suspect it was a combination of things. Some BE’s fault (route running, knowing a play, injuries, attitude) and some Alex’s fault.
I hope BE does sign with someone and has a great year with them (and that includes the Niners if both parties see the benefit). BE still has talent and can make great catches WHEN HEALTHY. I love the fact that BE made $1M and donated $1M last year to those 8th graders in Cleveland. I don’t wish him ill just because 2011 didn’t work out for him on the Niners.
braylon’s attitude soured, and mentally he kinda checked out after he was faced with the injuries. Whether he had a problem with Smith (I’m pretty sure smith wasn’t too concerned) doesn’t matter. Harbaugh clearly had a problem with Braylon.
You’re really stretching credulity to think that he was cut so Alex wouldn’t get his ‘feelings’ hurt.
And I like Braylon, he’s done a lot of good outside the game, but he deserved to get cut.
…no link?????…..
He was cut because of his attitude, it was a message to the team. Did anybody stop to think that the Niners would have received a compensatory pick in the draft had they kept him on the roster for the last week of the season and he signed a FA deal elsewhere? No. He was becoming negative in the locker room. They simply didn’t need someone bitching about catches when the other receivers were busting their butts blocking and doing what was asked of them by the coaching staff.
He was not let go because of health problems. He was bad mouthing Smith bro. He wasn’t getting the ball when he was open. He wasn’t getting accurate balls when he was open. His body language and his mouth made it clear after every throw. JH got wind of it and cut him. It he wasn’t healthy and that was the problem, he would have been put on IR. Just like Josh Morgan. The Niners wanted Braylon gone.
**************************************************
Jordan posting stuff like this like it’s a fact and not your opinion is really poor taste bud.
You completely fabricated every word you wrote in this paragraph. There has been nothing said anywhere about problems between Smith and Edwards yet you are posting like it’s old news.
First off, the guy wasn’t right since the second game of the season. He was hobbling around on one leg out there and couldn’t practice most of the time. There was no way he and Smith were going to get anything going and I’m sure the whole situation frustrated him, but to make it seem like the whole reason he was released and was out of sorts was due to the passes he was thrown by Smith is nothing but bias on your part.
You can speculate on why they didn’t put him on IR all you want, but the only thing we KNOW FOR SURE is that he was injured in game two, never was able to come back from it 100% and was cut. He has said nothing to the contrary and has repeatedly stated he needs to rehab the knee and get healthy.
You sound like the National Enquirer sometimes.
JH is a master manipulator. He’s got Alex Smith, a man who’s confidence was in the toilet at the end of 2010, caddying for him at the AT& T. Flying to new York to pick up coach of the year trophies. Boosting him up every game with the shoulder pad pops. Giving him major props in the media every chance he get. I said JH was a freaking genius. He is. He’s actually got Smith thinking he is an above average QB. All that is left now is for Smith to prove that he can do it consistently. One thing JH can’t do for Smith. Pull the TRIGGER!!! The one Smith pulled in the Saints game that he wouldn’t pull in the Giant game.
I agree. JH is frickin Yoda with his confidence mind tricks. Confidence can go a looong way for a player.
After the beat down the previous talentless HC’s gave to AS, anyone would need a confidence boost!
@Jordan pressure busts pipes cant be scared to make a mistake
Jordo, one game – both ways. With a better up tempo offense with more talent they will all play better. Remember they only had 5 1/2 months under the JH/GR offense. Takes time… All arrows are up!
Everyone had the same window of time Hofer. Pull the trigger. Can you admit that to boy needs to pull the trigger!!
Yes he needs to pull the trigger but I saw EManning missing plays but the difference are his *very* talented receivers. JH believes so all of your point regarding AS doesn’t matter. JH and the 9er org believe in AS. If he doesn’t work out JH will make a change. ok?
Hofer,
EM is not our QB. I don’t care what he does. I’m talking about Alex. Does JH believe or does JH have a better option??? I just hope they bring in some competition or really open up the job. If he wins it so be it.
Jordo, don’t be shocked that they add weapons on offense and AS is the long term QB. Just saying…
Hofer
Have to have success to last long term Hofer. Don’t be surprised if they add different weapons and get the same results from Smith. I wouldnt be. Then we’ll be moving in a different direction Hofer.
Alex has never had that safety net receiver, not a check down running back, but someone he has an intuitive connection with. Someone like Flenner would fit. I’m sure Coach will fix it. The question will be then can Alex play on that level.
@Andrew
Arnez Battle was a good safety valve WR for AS. JMorgan I felt was going to be that guy until he got injured.
pulled the trigger and threw KW open … but missed
DS, you’re right there was a connection with Battle but the weak coaching staff never developed it fully. Morgan seemed as if he was starting to get separation before he was injured and could be the guy.
I keep hearing that but the reality is that Morgan was averaging 3 catches 44 ypg when he got injured. I think on this blog people are so quick to say ” oh look, Morgan is Alex’s favorite receiver. They have good chemistry ” . Reality is, Alex has chemistry with Vernon cause that is who he looks for the most. Everyone else is a distant third.
the JM body of work was too small and too early in the season to really make any kind of judgement what the extrapolation could have been…..but there were some marginal WOW plays between AS and JM….
I gave JM an Incomplete this year.
He may not have had big numbers. But before he got hurt, I think he pretty much was the #1 WR. AS looked for him, and found him more than not for the important plays.
Besides, the Niners passing attack was anemic, especially to start the year. No WR is going to have great numbers if you only pass for 150-180 yards a game. So stats matter even less than normal in this instance. I am sure that Morgan would have had more catches/yards as a result of the passing game coming out its shell from early in the season.
YUP!
Smith is caddying for Harbaugh at Pebble? HAH!
Yeah
AS setup JH for a birdie shot, and JH missed it.
It seems that in some things, JH needs AS more than AS needs JH. lol
That is why this is going to work out wonderfully
The team has a lot of work to do. Until the 49er FA situations is clarified, I’m not sure who they should be going after in draft or free agency.
UNSIGNED FAs
LB Ahmad Brooks
LB Blake Costanzo
WR Ted Ginn
S Dashon Goldson
LB Tavares Gooden
WR Joshua Morgan
TE Justin Peelle
RG Chilo Rachal
CB Carlos Rogers
FB Moran Norris
QB Alex Smith
S Reggie Smith
OL Adam Snyder
S Madieu Williams
CB Tramaine Brock (Exclusive)
DT Will Tukuafu (Exclusive)
LB Larry Grant (Restricted)
DB C.J. Spillman (Restricted)
WR Brett Swain (Restricted)
One thing is already clear… we must sign Chilo Rachal at all costs! He’s already getting offers for his post snap stillness capabilities, including Ikea (they want to use him as a dining table) and Egypt (they are hoping to deploy him as a backup Sphinx during heavy tourist season).
LMAO B2W. That was harsh but funny as heck.
Brodie,
funny stuff man. Before the door hits Chilo in the arse, hope Norris and Madieu go with em…
That was funny!
Lol……Chilo reminds me of that Myth Busters episode where they proved that you actually could polish a turd.
Good read by MSando regarding the comparisons of SBradford and AS. I mentioned last year that SB will go through the same handicapped growth AS dealt with by changing of OC’s every year. Now add a new HC. Hmmm.
asW would be a great addition, but most likely at the cost of CR and a free agent WR. Maybe even DG. The salary cap would go higher if the restructure the contracts of MC and PH, extend JS and RJF, and release SS. This would also allow key free agents to be resigned, a free agent WR to be signed, and leave enough room to sign the draft picks after April.
That should be MW. Bad typo.
I think Grant snuck in and made a ninja edit when we weren’t looking. I’m pretty sure the title said $30 Million earlier…
$33.8 million is the more accurate figure.
Yep, good catch MSC!!
Grant is one sneaky dude!! lol
I’m half Jewish, half Ninja.
[img]http://static.fjcdn.com/comments/Good+job+my+brother+_90bfe3c909111546b5090e5b0c138913.jpg[/img]
boo… html fail.
You’re right Msclemon67.
vincent jackson,robert meachem,mario manningham,daywane bowe,deshawn jackson, gotta get one of these guys.!!
Grant, what is the potential fallout from RM’s arrest? Off topic I know, but I’m curious.
He was arrested over a technicality – the officers said he didn’t go to his first offender class, but he says he did, so it may have been a clerical error, and he may get off.
Rumor has it that VJ won’t be tagged by the Chargers and will be allowed to test free agency.
@midwest
Chargerfan didn’t seem to care at all.
That might tell you a lot more than his stat line.
Just read the details of the new TV deals ( http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2011/12/14/the-nfl-signs-tv-deals-worth-26-billion/ ) and the Salary Cap is going to skyrocket in 2014. A 60% increase across the board in the TV deals and the players are guaranteed 55% of that in the new CBA.
I know it isn’t Baalke’s style but if the 49ers DO decide to go for a bang in free agency they can make the room easily. Just get tricky with prorated bonuses to free up cap space and let the 2014 increase absorb the impact.
The Steelers have already started converting 2012 salaries to bonuses because they were 25 million over the cap. Sounds like the old Carmen Policy days – is he working in Pittsburgh now?
Good to hear. Hopefully he doesn’t get into trouble in the future.
Remember, Harbaugh got a DUI in 2005.
Did not know that Grant, the Tony Larussa DUI was all over you tube.
I am wondering what kind of market will greet DJ. He could very well have a freefall like Edwards did last year.
Crazy. DJ will get paid. Most dangerous receiver in football. Philly was stupid not to negotiate early with this guy. They over paid Vick and underpaid DJ. They spoiled the chemistry on the team and it lasted the full year.
Vick was overpaid but I think bringing in all those outsiders and paying them WAY more than DeSean really hurt their locker room. Vick at least earned his big pay day (it causes me physical pain to type that).
I’m probably the only one but I didn’t fault D-Jax one bit for making a “business decision” and giving minimum effort last year. The Eagles were paying him minimum wage after tossing millions to outsiders.
MidWest I agree, I don’t think teams will shell out big bucks for DJ.
Every time I look at this damn NFC championship game, I get pissed at the fact that we stopped killing them with the run. All those weak pass plays and batted balls. We should have kept the damn ball on the ground.
That seemed obvious early in the game. It was working.
But Jordan,if he kept killing the Giants on the ground and didn’t let his best buddie Alex TRY to pass some,JH might have had an uncooperative caddie this week . Can’t have your caddie mad at you,he might tell you the wrong yardage or something. :) (that :) means I am pulling your chain,so don’t hate on me,unless you can’t help hating,like RealFan and one or two other haters ).
I was really hoping that GR would of gotten the Penn State job, although he was a step up from JR, some of his calls were horrendous, even the NO games was pretty bad play calling in the second and third quarter. Unless GR calls a excellent play calling game, AS will flunk because he is just a game mger and can look elite QB for a a couple of play’s a game, then back to old AS who can’t improvise.
Agreed. This was a bit of an issue throughout the second half of the season. It often seemed as though the offense lost it’s identity and ended up outsmarting itself.
The strength early on during the winning streak was strong running and play action off of that. Got away from it in 2nd half of season and it really came to roost in the championship game.
Other then the 91 NFC Champion ship game against the Giants, This game against the Giants was the most painful game I ever watched, I kept thinking one play Alex one Play and we go to the Super Bowl , and even then if Kyle does not touch the ball on the first muff, we are probably in it anyway. I am deppressed thinking aobut it. Oh well.
Painful, true. However, Roger Staubach in 1972 eliminating the “never been to the Super Bowl, yet, Niners” was 100 times more painful. Especially to an eleven year old living in New Jersey with no Internet blogs to commiserate and vent with other Niner fans.
Pen Minded: I was born in 69 so the game you speak of was told by my grandfather on several occasions, It was so painful for him that he did not believe they would be superbowl champs until after they finally won it. Most of ghe games, He tapped them and watched them latter if they won, funn what sports does t ous , even if is just for Fun?!!!?
Grant did you ever hear directly or indirectly that BE was complaining about AS and that is one of the reasons he was released?
I never heard that, but it seems plausible. He had poor body language often on the sidelines.
Thinking it was one thing(they all probably had those thought at one time or another,like Crabs did and does),BUT saying it and acting out ,like T.O. used to do,will get you a ticket out of town fast !
The smart receivers know Alex is the QB and they better accept it and get along with him and never complain . Alex is such a likable guy that it shouldn’t be too hard to be his buddy ,even if he can’t help you reach your contract incentives etc.
How can you cover the entire cap space expenditures without once bringing up WR?
Yeah but he’s be one of the better options. DB at times acts like the game isn’t important. I still see his half-hearted attempt at catching the ball on the Chief’s last offensive play against the Steelers. DJ and SJ need to grow up. MC and TM may be products of the Saints offense only, SS seems more like a #2 WR at best, RW is 33, and MM is inconsistent. VJ may cost more, but overall he is the better option.
could u post closer to the post u are commenting on by using the reply….
Tough with mobile device.
gjot it
Grant,
rumor has it that you created the DS character to create controversy on the blog. True?
Get outta here.
LMAO!
Grant
Can you please put to rest the notion that prime, oneniner and myself are the same person?
Thanks.
It’s true, you three are separate people.
Sorry,
just wanted to use a little humor and show that I could post something that wasn’t Alex Smith related.
You’re versatile.
I don’t expect any big blockbuster moves. Think it will be very similar to last year. Initial focus on re-signing our players and then going after the under the radar free agents that provide great value.
For our free agents I would go:
LB Ahmad Brooks – try to keep him with a low base and heavy incentives
LB Blake Costanzo – special teams ace we need to keep
WR Ted Ginn – very valuable for s.t., but maybe replaced by better receiver
S Dashon Goldson – franchise tag
LB Tavares Gooden – can be replaced by draft pick or late FA pickup
WR Joshua Morgan – re-sign. May be speed guy we are looking for.
TE Justin Peelle – depends on Bynhams condition & Reulands development
RG Chilo – see ya
CB Carlos Rogers – key piece to secondary, do everything possible to keep.
FB Moran Norris – see ya
QB Alex Smith – 3 year contract, heavy incentives
S Reggie Smith – already has said wants to look elsewhere. See ya
OL Adam Snyder – valuable due to his versatility. A must have.
S Madieu Williams – see ya
CB Tramaine Brock (Exclusive) – depends on what happens with CR
DT Will Tukuafu (Exclusive) – heavy at this position, can afford to cut loose
LB Larry Grant (Restricted) -keep, did excellent in place of PW.
DB C.J. Spillman (Restricted) – keep, special teams guy
WR Brett Swain (Restricted) – see ya
I think there will be a good 2nd tier FA receiver ala Steve Smith from Eagles/Giants who will be brought in to add receiver depth. The versatility of VD and DW reduces the stress on the WR need some.
Largely agree -would love to see more in the WR ‘s stable.
I’m all in on Spillman.
Grant, can you give us a top 5 list of who you think the Niners might go after in free agency, from most likely to least likely?
Today, I think they’re going to lose Rogers and Brooks in free agency. I think they’re probably going to replace Brooks with their first round pick – say, Whitney Mercilus or Andre Branch, who will be a third down pass rusher behind Haralson in 2012, and Aldon Smith will play all downs.
They’ll draft their big, developmental wide receiver in the second round – say, Brian Quick, who they’ll use as a situational red zone receiver his rookie season.
And the free agent wild card for the Niners will be DeSean Jackson. He could open up the middle of the field for Crabtree and Davis, and he could be signed at a relative discount.
And a great replacement for Ginn as well in the return game. Really like the thought of him coming here, just doesn’t seem to fit the Harbaugh mold. Keeping fingers crossed that you are right on this one!
Grant,
man you disappoint me. No way in hell DeSean plays with Alex. DeSean loves the deep ball, and Alex can’t throw it accurately.
It doesn’t happen for two reasons. First DeSean would not come here. 2nd, DeSean is not a team first guy which Harbaugh would require. Too many suitors for this guy.
Bay,
Your disappointment hurts my heart. The Niners are a Super Bowl contender, their locker room is beyond solld and Jackson would start. I believe Baalke would want him. And I believe Harbaugh believes he could get Jackson to be a team guy. Yes, Alex Smith would probably be a sticking point for Jackson, but the Niners would still have a good shot to sign him.
DJ might be willing to sign at a relative discount, but only because he will be rehabbing his image. If he signs a one year deal he will probably do so with a team with a more wide open offensive system. It would provide a better opportunity for him to show case his strengths.
I think the Niners would want him for more than one season.
I agree, I just don’t see him signing a multiple year contract at a discounted rate. I think he would rather build up his market value and try again next year.
I see what you’re saying. I still think Baalke could convince him to come play in his home state for a Super Bowl contender, even if Alex Smith is the current QB. Kaepernick can throw as deep as anyone.
Grant, Are you basing this on anything you have unofficially heard or is it just a gut call?
Gut call.
Why sign DJax when Pierre Garcon is much more if a complete WR and can give you eveything DJax can in bigger, stronger frame? A frame that won’t get bullied off his line in press coverage like DJax does with his slight build. May not have the value of DJax in the return game but as strictly a WR, Garcon is equal to DJax in my humble opinion.
I never thought of that. Doesn’t Garcon drop a lot of passes?
Makes lot of sense, Very good views on your part Grant. I really enjoy your blog, At times I differ from you and your father but this seems like one big dysfunctional family , so count me in and hope we all have great family moments with our loved ones and hope April draft is fun. What is funny is I did not like their draft or FA agent when it happened but it all turned out will so I am excited to see what Shockers they do as it will probalby be the right move. What is the statisticts and breakdown of Quick?
mario would be great but our d is really gd gd enought to win games we need a gd wr like maybe bowe..if our O gets better we win alittle easier
Good point. A good dose of Gore and Hunter might have changed the outcome, especially with the short supply of WRs the Niners had.
Cut Harrelson and sign Brooks for sure !
@23jordon
“He was not let go because of health problems. He was bad mouthing Smith bro. He wasn’t getting the ball when he was open. He wasn’t getting accurate balls when he was open. His body language and his mouth made it clear after every throw. JH got wind of it and cut him. It he wasn’t healthy and that was the problem, he would have been put on IR. Just like Josh Morgan. The Niners wanted Braylon gone. “
Your BS is shot down, see your original post and replies. LOL
AlbertS, I’m really hurt. Clown.
R you and Neal brothers? You seem to share an affinity of clowns.
I would sign Mr. Brooks at a fair price. He would he would do the deal if the team meant more than the possible extra chi ching. I’d hate to lose him. Mario Williams? Not sure he would sign for a reasonable amount so no. Mr. Goldson would either sign a deal like Mr. Brooks or be Franchised. Colin Jones might bloom this fall. Mr. Rogers 7.5 million with incentives and it would be a 3 year deal. I honestly believe that Mr. Fangios’ confidence in Mr. Culliver and Mr. Brock and Mr. Brown make that deal remote IMHO. Mr. Ginn is a must sign I feel, and he’s cheap. Plus he’s the dude in the lockeroom. In the first round of the draft I have my eye on Cordy Glenn. Guard from Georgia. The WR position needs help. I would not reach in the draft for one. Mr. Baalke has my trust as well as Mr. Harbaugh. When the dust settles I expect this team to be poised for greatness. CAN’T WAIT!!
Cordy would be solid -and possibly there at 30th pick-would they go OL in the 1st again….???
33 days until free agency… ugh. I’m going to have to pretend to like basketball or something.
Isn’t that the truth. At least the outlets exist to provide us our football fix during the offseason. I remember buying the SF Examiner and Chronicle every day when I was younger hoping there would be some football talk.
I do too!
The only real dead time is after the draft and before training camp.
Yeah, that is a rough patch.
Thank you for writing them anyways. Lol.
Grant, who is carrying the bag for JH tomorrow? Heard earlier today it would be Staley tomorrow and Fangio on Saturday.
Show of hands: who thinks Lowell is messing with Grant? I’d do it to my son.
Of course, I’m evil.
The ip address says it’s that ‘A. Smith the Beast’ guy from after the Saints game. But maybe my dad is really in Rancho Cordova instead of Pebble Beach.
My theory was way more fun.
True.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/sports/SD-Its-Clear-49ers-Will-Re-Sign-Alex-Smith-139047184.html
Please learn to get the ball to the receivers. They might be open.
Jordan, you are more Over The Top than Sylvester Stallone. Give AS a break for 24 hours. Share your knowledge of the rest of the team. It will do you good.
Jack,
No thanks!! I’m good. Trust me, the rest of the knowledge is there.
I am sure it is J. You are just kind of becoming the anti-Smith version of DS, (shhhh, we don’t want to wake it).
BTW, I agree with most of your assessment of Smith. Not that it probably matters to you.
Jack,
The difference is, I’m stable! Lol. All in fun though,all in fun!!
It is ok Jack, 23 Jordan reminds of the fan in Major league, I can’t think of the name of the actor but always thought Wild thing would blow it when it counted and was never a fan until he final won the big game, I kinda feel the same thing with Alex works very hard smart but when the pressure cooker is on , I feel like he will Steve Deberg us!
I am very spoiled after having the Montanna and the young years. I am a huge fan of Harbaugh and Harbaugh seems to be a huge fan of Smith so what do we really know, Going to be a fun ride hope I and 23 Jordan are wrong about Smith and he gets to hold up a Super Bowl Trophy someday.
@rebelscum
“Jordan reminds of the fan in Major league,”
Randy Quaid.
And 23J stated a few days ago that he is not a fan. Only a Niner fan could ever think that Bradshaw fumbled the ball. He said he didn’t think Bradshaw did. So, that tells us what many here know.
23J is not a fan. Just like Randy Quaid wasn’t.
Great pull Rebel. We should start referring to jordan as 23johnny.
On the other side of the coin we can refer to DS as Gil Renard, the Deniro character in The Fan who is obsessed with his favorite player.
Jordan is one of those bellweather fans. Whenever he offers a pronouncement, there’s a excellent chance the opposite will come true.
It’s cool, every board needs one.
Alex Smith already got his $50M contract from the Niners. Now he wants Fitzpatrick money? Um, NO! N-O! NO WAY!!!
–
Let Alex go test the market. See if he really wants to leave Harbaugh for any price. I say he doesn’t, and I say he doesn’t deserve another non-incentive based contract until he has proven that he can WIN games. Yeah, Jordy Jordy, whatever your name is, I have his back against morons like you, but I’m objective. Why give him a Fitzpatrick deal? The Bills regretted that thing two weeks after the ink dried. It was a horrible contract, and there’s no reason in HELL the Niners should allow Alex to strong-arm them into sometthing like it. If they do, I will finally, after 7 years of hoping otherwise, accept that Alex has the Jedi mind control thing going on and can make the FO do WHATEVER he demands of them. If he asks for too much, then you go into next season with CK7 battling Tolzien & Josh Johnson for the starting job.
–
Alex’s base salary should be what it was this year. Or maybe it should be a million more. Then, for the percentage QB rating he has over this year’s 90%, he will get a correllating percentage bump on his salary. That way, if he can match Rodgers’ 122 Rating, He can get close to the money he is looking for.
I don’t think the Niners will allow Alex to strong arm them. If his agent is truely demanding Fitzpatrick money he will be told to go ahead and test the waters.
Baalke knows that Alex is not in high demand around the league and there isn’t a team out there that will pay him that much. He’ll go test the waters, and will return to the Niners later in FA to sign a more scaled down contract.
My guess is it will be in the 4 to 5 year range between 6m and 8m per season but will have performance based clauses that will let them negate the contract within one to two years.
Life is good in Ninerland when the biggest issue is how to upgrade from the top with $35M to spend. I think Harbaugh proved he could let MeFirst guys walk and make the team better. Who wants out? Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
I don’t think there is a quick fix at WR. FA’s don’t work out all that often. David Boston, Javon Walker, Alvin Harper are some bust examples, can anyone provide examples of signings that worked? Also rookie WR’s don’t frequently make an immediate impact. I hope Crabtree gets a full off season with AS and can improve. Maybe draft 2 WR’s- one early like Sanu or Alshon Jeffery, and one in the middle rounds like Joe Adams or T.Y. Hilton.
One FA I think we should look at is Carl Nicks. Add him and we should have one of the best offensive lines for years to come. Ben Grubbs is another guy to consider. The OL improved as the season progressed, but I am a little worried about the RG position.
I agree wholeheartedly about Nicks, total stud, and he plays RG!!!
Nicks will demand Tackle money even though he’s a guard.
If the Niners sign Mario Williams, they would have the best front 7 ever. I would love to see that. I would also rather have Rogers over Brooks.
For all the Crabs haters out there, I myself am not a great fan, but who replaces him if we trade him? Josh Morgan is not a upgrade, equal at best… not quite though I think. K Williams, no. Swain, no. Hastings, no.
So, we get rid of Crabs, sign a FA WR who then draws the double teams and we end up right back where we started. He’ll be a good #2 if we can get a legit #1 and can also learn from that #1 and get better.
Also, who’s going to trade for him with his contract? Nobody.
Sorry Mario, didn’t mean to post under your statement.
“So, we get rid of Crabs, sign a FA WR who then draws the double teams and we end up right back where we started.”
No, that would be a huge upgrade. Crabs does not get 2 teamed. The Giants game was all the proof one needed. VD got 2 teamed, leaving MC 1 on 1. VD still scored twice. The first time, the Giants left him 1 on 1 and they paid dearly. We need a WR who will do the same.
If we had a WR who always got 2 teamed (LF dreaming) then that completely changes how defenses come at us. Can’t so easily stack the box against the run. Especially if we have VD split out wide. Then it becomes a game of who do you 2 team?
If you cover both with 2, how many defenses could adequately stop the power run game we employ? The majority of the time when our run game did not work was because teams stacked the box. With only 7 defenders in the box, our OL kicked butt.
If you don’t double cover both, you’ll be asking for it big time. If VD plays like he did in the playoffs, there is no way anybody is stopping him 1 on 1. That was the guy we drafted.
If you don’t double cover the new WR (LF as example), you are stupid beyond measure.
And if you double both, you can’t stop our run game. Try to blitz us? With VD and the new WR (LF) how many times can a team succeed before giving up a big play TD? All it takes is 3 mistakes. 3 TD’s a(21 points) nd the Niners will win just about any game.
Our offense in one big move goes from ho-hum to hum diddly and everybody will fear us.
Yes, overall it would be an upgrade. I whole-heartedly agree that we need to get a legit #1.
However, w/o a legitimate #2 like Crabs would be, it still limits the impact of a #1. Especially, against the better defenses in league. Can they stop VD with one guy? No. But they help to limit him with a check from a lineman and a zone LB, then man with a safety? Absolutely. I realize that’s three guys, but the lineman/LB checks are quick if done properly. Then they are safe to double cover our WR. That’s why I’m saying Crabs needs to be our #2 next year. I don’t feel confident enough in Morgan as a threat to opposing D’s to stop that scenario from happening.
Stop using LF as an example, never going to happen. Of the ones available, Bowe is my 1st choice, then VJax. Both are tall, physical targets who can make things happen. We need tall, physical WRs since Smith’s passes tend to sail on him. Smith’s deep passes this year were pretty awful. I don’t think he has the arm to get it accurately >20yds to a DJax. We need to tailor our WRs to his strengths. Unless of course, we’re planning on going to transition to CK sooner rather than later… don’t see that happening though.
“Stop using LF as an example, never going to happen.”
It’s a dream. It’s the offseason. After 9 years of stinky football, the offseaason has often been the only time for fans to be really excited.
So, let me have this one, ok?
Come regular season, I will be hating LF beyond measure and hoping that DG/Whitner take his head off if he’s playing for the Cards, as he likely will be doing. Then I will have to feel a bit ashamed as he stands around an injured Niner player and pats them on the back when they get up. Freaking jerk. Can’t even hate the guy in between plays.
@Madman49ers
I know that I’m going to catch the devil for this, but I keep seeing all of this “MC isn’t a #1, but a high #2″ and is being paid as a #1. I would agree except that I don’t see him as a strong #2, but a weak #2 to a strong #3. He needs two bigger, stronger, more disciplined WR’s ahead of him to make him effective. With VD and Walker, at TE or Morgan and a big fast counterpart at WR, it will take the pressure off of MC to where he can use crossing routes to accent his great hands, and possibly get some YAC over the middle. Who’s gonna’ trade for him?….MAKE THE DEAL….it doesn’t have to be a good one….
Well, if we’re going to dream a little dream… I’m going bigger, faster, stronger… give me Calvin Johnson. Buuuut, with the opportunity to not have to face LF twice a year, I would do a little jig. A jig sir! That dude is a beast.
That’s cool.
But I still take LF.
He beat us in AZ. Calvin Johnson did nothing to us in Detroit in what was the biggest game of his life So, we know CR and company can keep Calvin Johnson under control. They had more trouble with LF. Even in our win at home, AZ’s only points came off a a 5 star rating TD catch by LF with perfect coverage. Want to help out our D while improving our offense at the same time, take the guy who you can’t cover.
Plus, I am banking on LF big in the playoffs. That guy nearly single handedly won AZ a Super Bowl, breaking JR’s post season records while doing so. When the pressure is on, so is LF. We need a WR who comes up big. CJ was pretty good in NO’s. But he did not lead his team to victory. And by the end of the game it was a blowout. I know it is not on CJ, but he needed to step it up for his team even more so in the 2nd half and match what the NO’s WR were doing. JR did many times. LF did in that amazing Super Bowl run.
Culliver gets most of the credit for holding Calvin Johnson in check, I believe. The Lions ran three-wide formations a lot with Rogers covering Burleson in the slot and Culliver covering CJ.
You’re right about that Grant.
I had forgotten that. Thanks.
But, I felt Cullivers play was declining towards the end of the season. That Detroit game was his best game. That last Rams game, he made that stupid penalty (unnecessary roughness I believe) that really started off the Rams rally. I was thinking I was going to see CK in there for mop up duty. But never did.
Maybe it was the rookies wall. Or maybe (I hope not) offenses had started to find out how to get open with Culliver on the guy. If he were to replace CR, his job would get a lot tougher, not easier.
I love our D! But if you guys think 7 rec for 113 yds is shutting down Calvin Johnson… we’re in trouble. Haha.
@Madman49ers
And what impact plays did CJ have in that game again?
Those are a lot more important than yardage totals. At least to me anyway.
To give you an example, if MC was somehow able to turn around and get the first down on that 3rd down catch, and get in for a TD in the Giants game, that 1 catch would have been huge for me. Just like that 1pass to DW to win the game in Detroit was for AS. Even though he had a horrible game up to that point stats wise, he got the job done. Had MC done that, I would be worshiping the guy on this blog right now. That pass was not the best from AS, but MC still could have achieved greatness if he had scored there. Just like AS acheived with that pass to DW. Do that and all the other bad play is just wiped out.
CJ did nothing of note in that game. The announcers even said it during the game.
Stats are numbers. But you better know how to read them in what context they were obtained for them to hold any real meaning for me.
should have read:
“…and in what context…” in the last paragraph.
I get what you’re saying, but you can’t say that just because we kept him out of the end zone we shut him down.
So, if VD has 7 recs for 113 yds against the Seahawks and doesn’t score any tds, they shut him down? C’mon now. That just isn’t right.
And on the flip side, if he has two catches for 2 yds and 2 tds he had a great game. Look at Crabs in the NO game, he had a td grab, but are we going to say he had a good game? Nuh-uh.
Did we limit CJ? Absolutely. Shut him down? No. That’s all I’m saying.
If VD does not come up with the important catches, or drops several passes, then that 113 performance to me means nothing, if the team loses.
If VD was shut out all day, and in the final seconds, manages to score the winning TD, he is a bigtime player in my eyes. Most especially if he can make that impact game on a regular basis when needed and on a consistent basis, then he is HOF to me.
The rest of the yards, catches look good. But it does not matter if you look good. It mattes if you make impact plays and win games. Of course I was slammed a lot for saying I don’t care what the final score is in our games. As long as the Niners win, I’m cool. Look at the Giants. They didn’t blow people away. But they won, and are now champs.
The teams who were blowing people out earlier; Pats, NO, GB all came up short. Winning the game is all that matters in pro sports. And more than not the team that wins makes more impact plays (TD, TO, key conversion for a 1st down) at critical times wins the game.
Look at the Philly game. On paper, our defense was horrible, being ripped limb from limb. But, when you actually watch the game, we were awesome! The announcers notice it to, so it isn’t just the Niner fan in me concluding that. It was real.
An issue with stats is that they don’t really keep track of impact plays in a game. A 40 yard run is usually called a big time play. But what if it was the last play of the half and the D was playing prevent defense and the offense was 80 yards from scoring? A 1 yard run is usually frowned on. But what if that 1 yard converted the 3/4th down to seal the game? The stats don’t keep track of those things. Only that you had a run of over 20 yards which must mean you are good at running the ball for chunks of yardage.
You can’t get impact plays that from a stat line. Only by watching the games. Which makes comparisons of numbers really just a coffee shop discussion. Impact plays = wins. Yards = Talkradio and ESPN
I think people are underestimating how valuable carlos rogers was to the team this year — he was arguably the niners’ best cornerback since deion in 1994. Culliver will be a downgrade. I think the Niners should franchise or re-sign Rogers, replace Goldson with a cheaper option (there are so many free agent safeties this year), let Brooks walk, and sign a dangerous wide receiver. To me, Rogers is a higher priority than Goldson or Brooks. He will be the hardest guy to replace.
Goldson was a Beast!!..Would you rather have a Beast of a corner or Safety? I would pick a safety. Just my opinion, No disrespect towards yours only view it as questionable!..Go 9′ers!!
The money goes in the direction of the corners.
Resign Goldson,Alex,Ginn,Morgan,Grant,Spillman,Costanzo Brooks and maybe Synder.Draft either Dre Kirkpatrick or Janoris Jenkins,and PLEASE sign Vincent Jackson…then add some more depth
And Rogers got torched by Cruz who had like what,100 yards in the 1st half of that game?Sure he had 6 ints and a pretty good year,but the dude is like 30 or 31 and Baalke isnt gonna give him a huge contract like he wants,he was good for us but struggled with quick wr’s it seemed,get another pass rusher and anybody could play corner behind that front 7.T.Brown might not have had as many picks,but in my opinion was as good as,if not better than Rogers
But no TD’s, and the Giants with all those yards only came out with 10 points. A few of those passes, were just great throws/catches. Especially that one where Nicks grew a foot and his arms extended like he was rubber man and caught a pass where CR had pretty good coverage.
And in the 2nd half, Nicks and the other WR’s were pretty much shut down.
Well said. I think our D is in trouble if we don’t resign CR. But if we replace him with Grimes or Carr, I could live with that. It would be expensive though.
Just what AS wants.
Another Carr on the team. lol
But, in all seriousness, I don’t know those players you mentioned beyond name recognition. I don’t even know which teams they play on.
But, I didn’t know who CR was before we got him either. So, I keep true to the quote “In TB I trust.” Besides, how many of us here wanted Kolb and NA last off season instead of AS and CR? Thank God we are not actual GM’s. Our team would suck!
If it comes down to picking between one highly priced FA CB, and CR, then I would go with CR all the way. Why not let the guy get better? He had to learn a new scheme as well coming on over here. If we got Carr or Grimes, then they would have be up against a learning curve at a time where we know we are Super Bowl contenders. If either of those players are even slightly below CR, and we go into the playoffs and lose largely because of that, then that little bit of money we saved is worthless.
Besides. I am sure TB and CR’s agent could work something out near the end of his contract. The guy played well for us. He wants to stay here. JH at every opportunity has said the first priority is to keep our guys here, and I think we will keep more of our guys than people think.
Every DB in the league struggled against Cruz this year. It would be like releasing a LT because they had a horrible game against Justin Smith.
lol.
That was for mentioning my guy Justin Smith.
The league will figure Cruz out. During the Championship game if a defender was within 5 yards of him he flopped. Punish him, I don’t believe he holds up. Welker is another matter, small guy, tough as nails. Came back after a serious injury and fights for every yard.
Mario Williams wont happen for two reasons. 1) Aldon Smith and 2) Mario Williams. Smith would be a 1st year OLB starter and has questionable ability dropping into coverage at this point. Williams, has only 1 injury plagued year at OLB and is questionable in coverage as well. No way the 49ers put two guys with questionable coverage skills on the same field and you do not pay Williams (or Smith) to be situational pass rushers. They will not resign Brooks in my opinion. I do think they will move Harralson over and draft a pass rusher on third downs (and there will be a few good one’s at the end of the 1st round). A strong pass rush negates a lot of problems on the back end (see Giant and Niners). Part of Rogers going to Pro Bowl is the fact that our team constantly produced pressure. Don’t be surprised if we go after Dwayne Bowe or Desean (ex-Bear) in FA and pass rusher in round 1, CB in round 2, OL in round 3, and another wr, rb somewhere in draft.
I thought Culliver was the guy who got beat on several plays last year? Is he really ready to be a starter?
They all get beat.
Only question is how often and do they wilt under the pressure of playing against the best WR’s.
If Culliver can’t cover our main opponents #1 WR’s like LF, Nicks and NO’s WR’s, GB’s array of WR’s (Jennings more than likely), then we will be in a whole lot of trouble.
That is asking an awful lot form a 2nd year CB who played virtually no CB before his rookie season.
Culliver could be something special. If Rogers walks management may have that mindset.
I hope he is special Andrew.
I can’t think of a single team in NFL history who will have had 3 such wonderful CB’s on the same team.
And, for the time being, only CR would cost them a lot of money. Take the trio as a whole, and I don’t think the best CB’s in the NFL would cost the Niners the most money. That is what I call a bargain.
No team could compete with us if Culliver is special. No team has 4WR’s who would be better than our top 4 CB’s. Our front 7 is the God of stopping the run. What are teams going to do against us? Throw up a lot of prayers and hope to get PI called?
The Nines get an all world WR like LF, and I’m sorry. The only team who could stop the Niners would be themselves. And, the Niners were within an inch of getting to the Super Bowl this year because they don’t beat themselves. So, they don’t have to take a huge step forward in this manner.
they need to sign rogers and draft a cb project in the 3rd or 4th round you can never have to many cb’s
Crabtree,Ginn,Morgan,and DWalker hurt for the most of all last yr. Dont touch the D only sign Rogers maybe. Only sign a special teams return wideout but then again after that learning experience that Kyle received, he can only go from BETTER to BUST!!!..Which leaves ALEX,ALEX,ALEX!!!..Hmm! The Question is are we sold on our PROVEN mediocre AT BEST QB?..
Better or Bust..
Only a 9′er fan since the age of 12. 40 in a couple weeks. Loved playing kill the peel as a kid on the streets of East Palo Alto. Hate to Bash a Man at his profesion who may know more about the sport than I ever will!..Even with the half azz knowledge I posses I may lean toward a QB to at least put a little more PSI on #11..
Nice! The 49ers are demolishing “Mt. Pain” at headquarters. Lol, I had wondered if anybody still used it. The stink of Singletary is officially gone.
can we trade up for Blackman…that guy looks amazing….
he could catch Smith throws that are 3 feet short or 3 feet high and wide…
the guy is going to dominate
Blackmon is Crabtree 2.0. 6’1″, 215 lbs and run around a 4.55 40 yard dash. Hell of a player, but not the complimentary piece to Crabtree that we need.
the problem with keeping crabtree and trying to sign a #1 wr fa is crabtree is getting #1 money when he is only a good #2. theres not enough money for both
sign our own fa’s draft fleener keep crabtree and morgan and try to add a solid #3
trade crabtree for draft picks
let goldson walk bring reggie smith up. let brooks walk move haralson up. draft a wr high in the 1st. resign everyone else. nab a 2nd tier wr in fa (colston, welker)
You can probably trade Crabtree to Dallas, Jerry Jones loves Texas player’s. I am guessing for a third round pick.
man are you trying to kill my team?..Parys up??..Lets not forget that he got his ass kicked by Vernon Davis (A Tight End) in practice a few years ago!..Youtube it!..
Hmmmm.
Trade Crabtree for a 3rd round pick…. Replace Goldson with the guy he beat out for the job……move Harlason up even though he already starts……they pick at the end of the first round…….and Colston and Welker are not second tier WR’s. There is nothing about this that makes any sense.
I would not trade Crabtree unless we can find someone better, and it is not Josh Morgan.
i dont think you can trade crabtree he is a solid player but he is getting # 1 money out of the old rookie contract he is to expensive for a #2
cutting crabtree might clear the cap room to sign a #1
I guess you’re saying there’s no possibility of a Matt Flynn coming to the 49ers. Hate to say it because Alex Smith performed admirably this season, but he is far from elite, and let’s look at the QBs who have gone to Superbowls in the last 10 years. I have put an E by each one I think is elite. 20% of the QB appearances in the past 10 years have been made by non-elite QBs. That’s a major trend in an era of rules that reward great QBs, and to keep Alex Smith, we are betting against this trend. It would be a miracle if he goes to one SB, and this is a team, that with an elite QB could be a perrennial contender. Please consider this Trent Baalke and Jim Harbaugh. We all love Alex, but let’s not bet this generation of potential 49er greatness on him. We’ve all seen that greatness is fleeting, and this is the 49ers long-awaited chance.
Eli Manning E
Tom Brady E
Aaron Rodgers E
Ben Roethlisberger E
Drew Brees E
Peyton Manning E
Ben Roethlisberger E
Kurt Warner E
Eli Manning E (you could argue he wasn’t then, but in big games, he is)
Tom Brady E
Peyton Manning E
Rex Grossman NOT
Ben Roethlisberger E
Matt Hasselbeck Not, but he was better than Alex
Tom Brady E
Donovan McNabb E (close call, debatable)
Jake Delhomme Not
Tom Brady E
Rich Gannon E
Brad Johnson Not
Speaking as an outsider (fan of an east coast team), I think the 49ers have an excellent team. They’ve got a very stingy defense that generates a lot of turnovers and are difficult to score against. They are lacking a great quarterback. I’ve seen Alex Smith play a few times, including this year’s post-season. He tends to “manage” games well but that is rarely good enough to get the job done (win Superbowls). The 49ers had a very good season and won a lot of games. Smith played very admirably and did have a very good game against the Saints in the playoffs. He just doesn’t seem like the guy to consistently get the job done in big games. With a better (more “elite”) quarterback, the 49ers could be contenders nearly every year.
Anyone notice that all of those FA WR’s have baggage? If for the sake of argument the decision was between Mario Wililams and one of those prima-donnas, give me the former #1 pick of the draft. Josh Morgan was a huge loss.
Here’s how the draft will go down: WR, CB, OLB, FS, DE, C/G, WR
Yeah. I have most definitely.
Hence my dream of getting LF via trade.
Perfect hands. Best locker room presence one can have. NEVER complains about a bad situation. Tries hard all the time. Works his butt off. And after dealing with AZ’s QB’s the last few years, AS would seem like a mix of JM, SY, John Elway, insert whomever.
a miracle? if our pr had moved his knee 1 inch we would have been there this yr and that wouldnt have been a miracle
That Plus inacurate fundamentle Ball handling skills on a cold Jan Frisco night!..
In the Draft, ask yourself’s what failed our passed situation? Dont pick on what worked!..Because at the end of the Day, Our offense Did not advantage the opportunity’s that our Defense presented!..Bottom Line!!
Oh, and btw, of the past 10 Superbowls, exactly 1 has been won by a non-elite QB. Grant, can you please write an article about the QBs that are a possibility if the 49ers should change course and look into them. The Pros and Cons of Flynn, Manning, and whoever else (slim pickins, I know).
Please? Thanks!
Grant
How about instead you write an article about what “elite” really means.
And, by the way, EM was not elite before winning his. Neither was Brady, Rodgers, Big Ben, Drew Brees. So, please stop with all the BS about needing an elite QB to win.
Somewhere in the definition of elite needs to be something about winning it all at least once.
Brady, Rogers, Brees are not elite QB’s? I don’t know what is. All of them a lot better then your man crush, and it is pretty certain that Brady and Brees will be in the Hall of Fame. EM and AR have more work to do but have a great chance, AS won’t even make the 49er hall of fame.
Neal,
all great points. And you are right on about all of them. Don’t get caught up in trying to prove a point to DS. DS will attempt to dispute the indisputable, just to dispute something.
DS is like Spock only she works off of her own logic that isn’t logical to anyone else human or vulcan…
@ bayareafanatic
Yes I know, she is not a Niner fan, she is a AS fan, the unofficial AS fan club right here.
Elite can mean a lot of things. It’s interesting that the two SB QB’s were on teams with the 27th and 31st ranked defenses. Eli Manning lead the league in 4th quarter comebacks this year. He also broke the NFL record for 4th quarter TD’s. Nobody mentioned it because the Giants were 9-7 in the regular season with the #27 ranked defense.
@ BIG P,
Then you have the Niners, 29th in the league in offense and best elite defense in the league.
In my opinion looking at where this offense ranked overall is pointless for a few reasons.
First and foremost, they benefitted from good field position quite often due to TO’s and good return yardage from Ginn which leads to fewer yards needed to score. There was a breakdown on scoring efficiency at some point during the season and the Niners excelled in that category which is far more important than total yards.
Secondly, after losing Morgan and Edwards getting injured, there were few options in the passing game for this team. You aren’t going to have great passing numbers with no weapons to throw to. As it was Davis and Crabs had pretty good seasons and it’s no coincidence they were really the only two options in the passing game.
Lastly, for some reason we seem to keep forgetting the fact this team learned a new complex offense with no offseason and still hadn’t cracked half the playbook according to Roman well into the season. You can’t overstate this. There is no way an offense is going to function at a high efficiency with little practice time in a system. It rarely happens. You can point to Cincy and Carolina and what you’d find is in Cincy there numbers weren’t that great either and relied on good defensive play as much as we did and in Carolina they let Cam Newton use every aspect of his talent to move the ball. That is a luxury not every team has or can rely on when the team is learning a new offense.
Lets give these guys at least a second year before determining the final verdict on whether they are lousy or if maybe they need more time to gel.
Neal,
You are absolutely right. The teams record doesn’t always reflect the QB’s perfomance. Some here call Smith a 13-3 QB, which is misleading when you look at the big picture. The defense was great and the offense stunk. Meanwhile, Eli and the Giants just won the SB with the #27 ranked defense. That’s why nobody refers to him as a 9-7 QB.
Rocket,
You are right, they definitely need a second year in the system in order to provide a fair assessment. I have said that many times. I believe that is why the team wants a 2-3 year deal with Smith. They need to evaluate him in the offense with more time under his belt and hopefully more weapons around him. If he performs well and improves, it’s a win-win and Smith will get a long term contract. If he doesn’t, they will find someone that can.
@Neal
Seriously.
You need to learn to read. Look at paragraph 2 and 3 again. And this time don’t skim it.
Hello…all these QB’s became elite by winning the Super Bowl. They were not elite before winning it. That was my point. To be called elite, you need to be at the top of the list. I don’t consider anybody elite if they never managed to win a Super Bowl. How was TB elite the first game he played in? Or anybody else for that matter?
People use hindsight way too much on this blog. Consider how you came to call them elite in the first place. And I bet winning at least 1 title appears pretty close to the top of the list, if not numero uno.
@ DS,
You are a laughable buffoon, you say “To be called elite, you need to be at the top of the list. I don’t consider anybody elite if they never managed to win a Super Bowl” So are you saying player’s such as Dan Marino and Dan Fouts, who never won a Super Bowl but are in the Hall of Fame are not elite. Both of these guy’s are top 10 QB’s of all time. Your love for Alex Smith has really affected your logic and reasoning.
Neal
That is why the only conversations you ever have are ones where you are fighting.
And, no I don’t really consider those two QB’s to be elite. When it mattered most, they stank it up.
How does my opinion on the matter enrage you so? You say you don’t care, but you clearly do put a lot of importance in what I have to say. If you did not, then you would not get so riled up over a simple opinion. Explain how that works to me. How you get upset about what somebody who you care not an inkling for, can say that in order for a QB to be elite, you need to win a Super Bowl into your barrage?
I liked you a lot more when you were a newbie. If you disagree. Just say that. No need to act like a baby bully on a schoolyard. Adults don’t behave like that. At least the ones I hang around with. If the adults you hang with act/talk like that, you need to find yourself a new job, friends, etc.
DS,
Your football knowledge is about as big as a pea, anybody who does not think that Dan Marino and Dan Fouts are not elite QB’s are a few fries short of a happy meal. Really look at some film.
BS coming from DS … wow, Marino and Fouts are not elite QBs according to lady DS. Her judgment is clouded by the fumes coming from Alex’s butt. In fact Alex came out with a new song. It’s called:
“DS, tell me how my ass tastes”
NickRow, that was pretty funny. DS, time to leave the public library, you only can have the computer for 30 minutes at a time.
Glad to see the grown up Neal and friends come together and share some laughs.
>>Grant, can you please write an article about the QBs that are a possibility if the 49ers should change course and look into them.
Why in the world should he write a non-starter article as Harbaugh has essentially guaranteed that AS is back as the starter next year.
I agree, plus they drafted Kaepernick.
Alan Marks,
You can find anything you need to know on all the QB’s who will be FA’s at numerous Sites.
The reality is the QB’s that were on the team this year will most likely stay the same going into next year.
The only chance that isn’t the case is if Smiths reps demand too much money or the Niners decide they want to take a run at Manning. Other than that, there is little chance of any big change at QB.
like him or not and i’m in the middle. smiths coming back end of story. jh loves him and i guess how i feel about it is any friend of jh is a friend of mine even if its by default
Mario williams is a real talent. Are we going to bs able to afford 4 great lb’s? Get real people.
I see where Butcher Boy-who posts here and on Lowell on occasion,entered THEGAMES be a host contest. Poor guy-that will get him banned from D.Bruce/1050/KNBR. KNBR is well known for that. Blacklisted by station that wont hire black.
who is brooks
Who is D. Bruce?
They are KNBR radio hosts, Brooks and Fitz are horrific and Damion Bruce is not bad.
Sign our guys while keeping on eye in free agency in case there’s an upgrade.
@bigniner sounds about right
My priorities would be:
Goldson
Brooks
Rogers
Everybody Else.
I didn’t include Smith because it’s a foregone conclusion he’ll be resigned. With that amount of money available I think they can resign all of the people they want to, especially knowing that the cap will be higher starting next year. You can push some money back if you need to but I’m not even sure that will be necessary. If they want to sign a FA WR that may come into play but to resign their own key players I don’t think it will.
The draft class won’t be cost prohibitive with the slotting system and the fact they are drafting at the end of every round. The role players won’t command big dollars. In other words, this sets up quite well for the Niners to sign everyone they want to sign. That doesn’t mean they will, but they’ll be in position to.
@rocket
I’d add a very key memeber of our best unit in there as well. CJ Spillman. He made a ton of great tackles for minimal punt return yardage after Andy Lee bombed 60 yarders.
Had CJ not been playing for us, many of those punts would have netted a lot fewer yards of starting field position because the returner would be able to get a good 10+ yards off such a long kick.
Also, CJ Spillman may be the best open field tackler on the team. Maybe in the whole NFL. The guy was outstanding. If he can learn the intricacies of the defense, WOW!
I think Costanzo fits that same mold as CJ on ST. They’ll both be back and leading the ST, f’sho. Three year contracts for both to keep blowing up returners for us.
+1 For sure
DS, I know we don’t see eye to eye on many topics here, but I agree with your assessment of CJ Spillmen. He, and Costanzo are ‘money’ on Special Teams. Spillmen is most definitely one of the best tacklers on the team. Both are fearless competitors and a ‘must’ to keep around.
AES
Did you happen to notice the last play of the NO game? The WR caught the ball, and there was no other defender in the vicinity. Spillman was it. And he took the WR down lickity split. He didn’t even go up-field a yard. No chance of breaking the tackle, throwing the ball or anything for that guy. GAME OVER.
I am nearly 100% sure that had Spillman missed the tackle, the Niners still find a way to stop any NO player from scoring on the last play. But, there is always that possibility. And Spillman closed that door in a hurry.
And if you’re cool with me AES, I’ll be cool with you.
: – )
DS,
Please go away for a while. Spillman is a better open field tackler than bowman, than Willis? Please throw your computer out of the window, now!
@23 Jordan,
DS, does not have a computer he goes to Fry’s and the library every day.
Like last year, the 49ers will not go after any high-priced free agents. Instead, Balke likes to re-sign his own players first, scout well and draft solid, young players to fill his teams needs. Brooks will be let go – he’s too expensive, and only seems to play to his potential when there’s money on the line. Rodgers will most likely be signed to a long term deal, but Goldson will either be franchised or let go. In the first round of April’s draft, the 49ers will target Vinny Curry, who has the size-speed-wingspan combination Balke likes and looks a lot like Aldon Smith on film. Then they will look at receivers: Dwight Jones is a possibility, as is Jordan White in the third or fourth round. But the wideout the 49ers are really after is Marvin McNutt, from University of Iowa. Balke spent some quality time scouting in Iowa in late 2011, and I doubt he failed to notice that McNutt somehow managed 16.27 yards-per-catch, pulling in 78 catches for 1269 yards and 12 touchdowns, in a very conservative passing offense run by a quarterback nobody’s ever heard of – even in Iowa City. The only cornerback able to handle McNutt this year was Alfonzo Dennard, and Dennard is a first round prospect. On film, McNutt looks a bit like Terrell Owens, but without the “Look at me! Look at me!” billboard glued to his jersey.
You may be right. Hopefully we drop some cash on a WR, but maybe not. If we’re going after 2nd tier guys, I’d like to see us go after Terrell Thomas. Pretty good player coming back from torn ACL and could pay huge dividends on a low risk 2/3 year deal.
I’d rather see the Niners consider WRs Tommy Streeter (Miami) or Joe Adams (Arkansas) in the mid rounds. However, if they choose to go after a WR in the 1st rounds, Mohamed Sanu (Rutgers) is the best option (that’s if the stay put and not move up).
We are going to need some additional pieces through the draft to stay competitive in a salary capped league. Our draft picks should take the future into consideration for the older players. How many more years does J smith have?
We need a replacement for Gore. A big bruiser type.
I’d say draft Fleener and a quick Wr type in the middle rounds. Find a replacement for Dixon and Chilo. Trade bowman for a high pick while his value is up, even for a pick next year if necessary. We can’t afford 3 highly paid lbs on one team. Keep Larry grant next to Willis. Franchise goldson and sign Rodgers.
Larry Grant can make serious money, as he did a great job when PW went down, can’t see him being on the team next season,. I hope I am wrong.
I believe Grant is a RFA which means the Niners can tender him at whatever draft level they choose. If say they tender him at a 2nd round level, anybody who signed him would have to give the Niners a second round pick. Good chance Grant is playing in SF next year.
Yes Rocket he is, good news for the Niners.
how does that work, rocket…..tendering at various round levels….how does that translate to cold hard money
@jgwindsor,
There are dollar amounts assigned to the various positions for RFA. Not sure what they are at this point in time, but they are based on percentages for the positions as a whole instead of the top 5 at each position like the franchise designation is. The amount is obviously greater the higher a team decides to tender the player, but in return they pretty much guarantee the player will be back because teams would have to give up a high draft pick for signing the guy away.
If I had to guess, I’d think the Niners give Grant a 2nd or 3rd round tender which will come in under 2 mill and he’ll be a Niner next year.
It is pretty ironic that the 3 QB;s we talk about the most, the Niner’s could of gotten each one. Tom Brady was available in the draft, Drew Brees when in San Diego, their was a lot of discussion that we could of traded for him but we signed sir Alex instead and of course Aaron Rodgers who got the last laugh.
Speaking of Rodgers getting the last laugh, Did you see Rodgers on the Honors Award show thank the Niners for drafting him and that he was a HUGE Niner fan growing up. They flashed to Young\Rice and they both had that humorous OMG look on their face.
It was pretty funny, it surprised me that he woud say that.
No I didnot see it, maybe I can see it on you tube
Both DE’s that you mentioned have been clear cut 4-3 guys their entire career so I’m very surprised that you would mention either one.
Why all this talk about spending money on the defensive side of the ball, why continue to stack the chips where you already have a pile? Offense is where the money needs to be spent;
My wish list begins with a true X receiver, someone that will take the top off defenses and allow Morgan and Davis to have more room to work underneath and in the middle. If we can sign one AND keep Crabtree then that would be even sweeter. Would also be nice to finally have a true ‘go to’ receiver down in the goal line. First choice right now would be either Laurent Robinson or Vincent Jackson.
Second choice for free agent money would be to get better depth at the offensive line. I’m not sure how long Goodwin is ‘good’ for and we still have uncertainty at Right Guard. If there was a no brainer starting RG available in free agency I wouldn’t be bothered if we threw some coins their way. But ultimately a very good swing guard who can play center as well would be perfect.
Robinson? One hit wonder? C’mon!
Dwayne Bowe for President! VJax for VP. Steve Johnson for Speaker of the House. DeSean Jackson for President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
Football and a US Gov’t lesson. Who knew?!
A no brainer starting RG- Carl Nicks. Arguably the best in the game. Not sure if he will reach free agency or not, but would love to see him in a 9er uniform. We would have one of the best young OL’s in the league.
I never really trust FA wideouts, but my choice would be Bowe. He does everything well, including blocking which JH loves. Second would be Steve Johnson. He is very talented, reminds me of a young Ochocinco. Could give us a Ochocinco-T.J Whosyourmomma type dynamic paired with Crabs. I like what VJax brings with his size, speed, and leaping ability, but something tells me he is a product of having PR at the helm and Turner calling plays. Plus, he has put money ahead of team, and that rubs me the wrong way. Just got a feeling he would not work well here. DeSean is a one-trick-pony, and that trick is not really the 9ers style. I say try and get a reasonably priced FA (don’t get in a bidding war) and double dip in this pretty deep draft class.
“if you’re cool with me AES, I’ll be cool with you.”
C’mon DS, not looking for a ‘lovefest’ (lol), just a little r.e.s.p.e.c.t.
Hey i’m cool. But I can’t make any promises either especially if provoked.
@AES
“just a little r.e.s.p.e.c.t.”
Would I have to include the original singer, Aretha Franklin in the arrangement as well?
: – )
Can’t go wrong with the Queen of Soul!
Sorry to get into the conversion a bit late.
1.If you don’t think Marino or Fouts are elite QB’s you either don’t know football or have a different definition of elite than the NFL, hence the entry of those two players to the hall of fame.
2. I don’t understand the issue with the lentgh of the contract for Rogers, or A.Smith. NFL contracts are rarely guaranteed so the lentgh is not generally very important. There can be a dead money issue based on the bonus, but thats about it.
3. Rogers is an excellent Corner, and they don’t grow on trees. If he wants a five year deal, give him one, with a $10M signing bonus and an average yearly payout of arond $8M, with the contract being somewhat back loaded. If he is still playing well in 3 years then honor the contract with the understanding the salary cap will go up (maybe a great deal as the TV contracts are coming up), if not then he would be cut and there will be about $2M of dead money for two years on the cap.
4. Alex is going to get arond $8-10M a year is my bet. Kolb got about $10M and the Niners will pay him in that area is my bet.
I do have a different view of the HOF requirements than the NFL.
I would have had Roger Craig in there immediately. I would have said screw the 5 year wait period for Jerry Rice. And I would address the issue of having so many older football players who came before the HOF existed be included and placed into the Hall before they are all dead.
I like the idea of Ceaddereman I believe of having the older NFL players have a vote. I would actually have them be the sole or majority of the HOF voting public. Maybe all the living HOF member vote for who can get in. Something like that.
So. Yes. I have a different from the NFL regarding the HOF in general and who should go in.
Marino only went to the big game once. In his rookie year. Never again. And he lost it, throwing 2 int’s. Marino was 8-10 in the playoffs, with 2 of those wins in his rookie season. So the rest of his career he went 6-10. Not impressing me here either. I didn’t follow the Dolphins at all, so I don’t know if their division stank or not. The Jets were pretty bad though for much of Marino’s career.
Fouts never got there.
You might have an interesting point here.
Look at your list. I have already written about all these things and am in agreement with you before you wrote your post.
So, I see 3 possibilities here:
1. I don’t know football, just like you don’t know football.
2. You know football, just 1/4 better than I do.
3. I do know football. You know football. We just view things differently.
I being an optimistic person, say we settle on #3.
I see lot of posts here about FA WRs like V Jackson, D Bowe, D Jackson etc. has anyone thought about R Wayne? I think the guy can still do it. he doesnt drop balls, runs every route in the tree and each route looks the same. He definately wont drop balls like Crabass.
Reggie Wayne looked pretty average without Manning throwing the ball. It seems Peyton made him look better – once he had a mediocre QB he dropped off. Not a good fit for the 49ers.
I say sign Rogers. You don’t want to mess with a team that meshed as well as they did last year. Any change can change the their mofo. Go after Williams if they have a shot to help, but they need more help on offense. Spend the money there.
Forget all this wishing for Peyton Manning, they should break the bank and go after Drew Brees. 49ers would instantly be Super Bowl favorites.
I can’t believe you went there Jack. Alex is way better than Brees. Brees is only good because he has an O-Line, great receivers and he’s been in the same system for 3 years. If Brees didn’t have Colston he’d be a total pile of crap. If Alex had all of those advantages he would be way better than Brees. Obviously you’re just a hater.
Wow.. being a Smither made my IQ drop 20 points.
More seriously, if the Saints can’t work out a deal with Brees before March 13th they’ll drop the franchise tag on him. Which will free up Nicks for the 49ers to steal.
That was funny MS, we had a chance of getting Drew Brees in 2005 when San Diego wanted to trade him because they have Philip Rivers, we just drafted AS and the Niner’s decline, DB Super Bowl winner and going into the Hall of Fame. Sad what we ended up with. AS will be known for nothing more except being JH caddy at Peble Beach.
Msc, you’re an idiot! LOL…I realize there is about a snowballs chance on the Mexican Riviera that he will leave the Saints. With all of the over the top desires I am surprised no one has mentioned his name sooner.
As for Nicks, why would they pay him so much if they can resign Snyder for less? I really like his versatility, and they still are developing some young o linemen that they drafted last year who could be decent stop gap backups.
Nicks is an Iupati-type mauler and a fantastic pass protector. You have a point about the money. The 49ers already have a ton of cap tied up on the O-Line.
My screed against Brees was facetious.
As was me calling you an idiot Msc. You are one of the few on this board that can both rip and appreciate without being labeled.
Buahhahahahah. MSC that was very funny….
This free agent period is going to be fun.
Based on 2011 Baalke will sign at least two guys that make us all say “who?” and they’ll turn out to be solid.
I say dont re-sign and put Kaepernick who has more talent than rookie qb’s who started last season and has a year under Harbaugh his wings( tutoring ,correcting and gettign prepared) and with the money we dont have to invest in average Smith we get us a very good WR in Vincent Jackson or Desean Jackson and re-sign a guy like Brooks and Rogers who are more importantly to our team cuz they got our defense top.
Love the idea but it looks like JH and AS are bond at the hip, at least for a while,I hope Kapernick becomes the QB that AS will never be. CK has a great tutor and certainley has more of a upside then AS will ever have.
Of course he has more upside than AS. We haven’t seen him play more than 15 plays against real bullets so we have no idea what his downside might be.
Yea I know it is not saying much that CK has more upside then AS, duh on my part.
No he doesn’t. He was a lousy college QB against even average college defenses and padded his resume by running-it-up against really bad Div 1 and Div 2 teams. When he played good college teams, he’s was mediocre.
Here’s his highlights from his last year:
16 TDs with just 2 INTs vs. losing record/D-II teams, but 5 TDs with 6 INTs in 5 games against D-1 teams with a winning record.
69.1% passer against the lesser opponents, with a 10% drop-off to 58.6% against D-1 teams with a winning record.
A TD pass for every 13.4 Pass Attempts against lesser opponents, a TD pass for every 29.0 passes against the D-1 winning record teams.
The number one predictor of NFL success by a college QB is how well he played against Division 1 teams with winning records. Kaepernick was an absolute bust against good Division 1 teams. This puts him in the same performance class as:
Rex Grossman, JaMarcus Russell, Colt Brennen, John Skelton, Derek Anderson, Troy Smith, Tim Tebow and Chad Henne.
And Kaepernick was worse than all of them.
Do you see a good QB on that list? You won’t find Peyton Manning there. You won’t find Aaron Rodgers there. You won’t find any good NFL QB on that list of “CHOKED AGAINST DIV 1 WINNING TEAMS QBs.” And while not all QBs who played well against top Div-1 teams have been highly successful, the worst has been Byron Leftwich and he was at least a decent QB who kind of got derailed because of his slow release.
Heck, even Ryan Leaf was a better college QB than Kaepernick. Finding a worse college QB, against good D-1 opponents, who was drafted in the past ten years is an extremely difficult task. I think Jake Locker was worse. But that might be it…
So you are saying that Joe Flacco is lousy too?
Phill Simms won a Super Bowl too.
So much information, did Balke and Harbaugh know this.haha Yea I am sure they did. It alway’s a risk in choosing a QB, AS had great number’s and stats and look where that got us.
Haha! Must suck to take all that time to put that thesis together and have it disproven in about 2 minutes.
@ Jack,
LOl , you are occasionally funny.
Wow MSD. Sounds like Baalke and Harbaugh should have treated CK like the plague rather then making a move to get CK with the 2nd pick.
On the flip side of your stats, Alex had a decent to great college career but his career was hanging on a string before Harbaughs entrance.
Point: Evidently Harbaugh seen a diamon in the rough in CK in the same way he viewed Smith.
There was a general consensus when the Org hired Harbaugh that he was the ‘QB Whisperer’ who could possibly resurrect Alex’ career, and he has. I’m not by any stretch advocating that CK is ready to move Alex out of the starting lineup, but I can’t say that because of his college past he will not find success either. Let’s give Harbaugh his time to work his magic and than make an opinion based on what we see on the field.
Dont re-sign Alex Smith i mean
No reason to sign Brooks: First, Brooks is over-rated as a pass rusher and Aldon Smith will be starting in Parys Haralson’s spot next year. This allows Haralson to flip sides. Haralson and Brooks were about the same in effectiveness, the biggest difference is Brooks got more pass-rush snaps because he wasn’t sharing his time with the best per-snap pass rusher in the NFL like Haralson did…
Rogers, as you noted will probably want too much money for a corner his age. Depending on length and guarantees sought, he could be somewhere else next year. I’d like to keep him, for the right price.
Smith is the best FA QB out there. Kaepernick will have a hard time keeping the #2 spot away from Tolzien who is a better NFL prospect. I look to Tolzien, far more than Kaepernick, to be Smith’s successor.
We need two new WRs. I’d suggest one of the two NO FAs who have proven they can succeed in a short-passing game AND make plays in a short passing game. They also, unlike Crabtree, can catch the ball… I’d also resign Josh Morgan because he was playing like a real NFL WR before he got hurt. That would allow Crabtree to not hold the passing game back so much.
There are better safeties out there than Goldson who spent the entire season blowing coverages as he tried to pad his stats for this year’s FA after everybody saw how crappy last year. Note to NFL: He’s still as crappy and came as close to ‘single handedly’ as player can be attributed in losing a football game as can be attributed. His blown coverages lead to three TDs in that one game — two direct TDs, one TD on a follow-up play from inside the 5.
What game are you talking about Moses?
The Cards game in AZ? Then, yes I agree. He did cost the Niners that game.
Goldson cost that game no more than AS did by being unable to convert on multiple red zone opportunities. Maybe they should pass on re-signing him too.
JH is a great coach and I am happy that he is coaching the Niner’s, that being said, is anybody concern that this relationship is becoming way more friendly then it should be. We know that Bill Walsh didnot have that relationship with Joe Montana, the same with Brady and Bellichek, although AS will be nothing more then JH caddy at Pebble beach.
You don’t know anything Neal. You have opinions. Live with it.
Maybe that is what worked with BW and JM.
But JH and AS are different people. What does BW and JM relationship have anything to do with the 2012 Niners? People are different. The same formula for success will not work in every instance.
You are just desperate to find anything negative. You love JH, but hate AS. I’ve said it before. JH sees himself in AS. What each of them went thru, just to similar. JH is the perfect coach for AS. AS is the perfect QB for JH. You don’t think JH could have stayed at Stanford another year if he wanted to, and leave Stanford at the same time AL did, and go into the office of whichever team was drafting first and say, “I’m here, I want the job.” And not get it? He could have had AL forever. JH sees something in AS that he can work with. Thank the heavens that you are not the HC.
And neither one of them are looking to replace the other anytime before midnight. So live with it, or leave.
@ DS,
I don’t know anything, your football knowledge is a freaking joke. Anybody who know’s something about football, would put Dan Marino and Dan Fouts as elite QB’s. You don’t because they have not won a Super Bowl. You remind me of that Donnie Osmond song go away little girl……
Insult. Don’t bother answering any of my questions.
Yep. It’ s Neal alright. No double poster here.
Of course, who would want to double post as you?
Relax DS, it was a question not an opinion. It doesn’t bother me but it does seem out of the ordinary. Maybe it is a part of Harbaugh’s magic formula.
@DS,
Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus, where the hell are you from. Uranus !!
Neal, while on the topic of planets, you better hurry up, the Icarus is about to leave to take you back to yours.
Putting aside whatever everybody thinks of Alex Smith’s potential, has anyone been paying close attention to MATT FLYNN, and if you have, how do you assess his ceiling as a QB?
How do you compare his physical tools with Alex’s?
I’m predicting here that keeping Alex Smith is going to set this organization back and ruin our chances at a Superbowl. The NFC is too good, with Rodgers, Brees, Manning, Stafford, and QBs like Romo, Vick, Bradford, Newton, Ryan, and Cutler that are much more talented than Alex.
Of the starting NFC QBs, I RANK ALEX 11th. Please tell me what QBs I have him behind that you would place him in front of:
1. Aaron Rodgers
2. Drew Brees
3. Eli Manning
4. Matt Stafford
5. Cam Newton
6. Tony Romo
7. Michael Vick
8. Matt Ryan
9. Jay Cutler
10. Sam Bradford
11. Alex Smith
12. Josh Freeman
13. Christian Ponder
14. Tavares Jackson
15. Rex Grossman
Please wake up and realize you aren’t winning a Superbowl in this NFL with the 11th best QB in the NFC. Elite QBs have won 9 out of the past 10 Superbowls. Elite QBs matter even more than elite defenses!
Baalke, please get Matt Flynn if he’s got an elite ceiling. PLEASE!!!
We almost got to the Super Bowl despite all of AS flaws, because of our defense, he might be ranked 11th but during crunch time he is pretty bad, other then the one hit wonder game, I would put him in the bottom ten. Never pass for a 300 yard game, average 198 passing yards, bad in the red zone. If we truly had the 11th best QB we would of gone all of the way and as Jordy has said he can’t pull the trigger.
He would be above Ryan, Cutler and Bradford. So that puts him at 8th. How you put Ryan (0-3 in playoffs, more ints than TD’s) and Bradford above him is pretty stupid. Bradford is capable of being alot better than Smith but has yet to show it. Cutler can throw for a lot of yards but turns the ball over among the most in the league.
Trent Dilfer who is a good friend of AS, did a very comprehensive column on the ranking of QB’s on ESPN , and he had him at 19, so he improved from 30th to 19th.
Rodgers, Brees, Eli Manning, Newton, Stafford, Romo, Vick, Brady, Roethlisburger, Shaub, Rivers, Cassel, Peyton Manning (if healthy), and possibly Dalton. Those would be the only QB’s that could/should be ranked higher than Alex, in my opinion. I believe he is a better QB than Dalton and Cassel so that would put him around 13th in the league.
Alan,
We get it. You don’t like Smith. Unfortunately for you, he’s liked by his HC so he’ll be back. They aren’t going after Matt Flynn nor should they. Smith is a middle of the pack QB with the chance to move up imo. We’ll see next season.
“When Namath was told after Super Bowl III that he now was “king of the hill,” he disagreed.
“No, we’re king of the hill,” he said, meaning all the Jets’ players and coaches.”
“As essential as a quality quarterback is, he doesn’t “win” a Super Bowl; he’s merely on a team that wins a Super Bowl. His success depends on how well his linemen block, how well his receivers get open and how well they catch his passes. It depends on how well his defensive and special teams units do their job. Quarterbacks are not golfers or sprinters or skiers. They’re not out there alone.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/sports/football/new-yorks-best-quarterback-its-not-a-snap-decision.html
Well said by Dave Anderson.
Use a better example. Namath sucked as a QB. Worse than Smith even. Look at Namath’s career numbers. They are pathetic.
The 49ers denied defensive backs coach Ed Donatell the opportunity to interview for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defensive coordinator job. The Niner’s have the right to deny this interview but kind of upsetting if you want to move up in your career, but they give GR the right to interview for the Penn State head coach position, kind of strange. Dictatorship in 49er land.
Whether you are an Alex “lover” or “hater” cant we all agree our poor offensive output falls both on the QB and WR’s shoulders. Yes Alex Smith is hesitant to let the ball fly, especially since he was on such a short leash this year, he was one bad game from being demoted. Regardless there were times in nearly every game where he did not throw a deep ball even though it was open. You would be lying if you said he didn’t. Also the WR core did not help Smith play any better. As a team I’m sure we were among the top in drops. And a lot of times there was NO ONE open, that falls on the hands of the route runners, since no receiver has shown they are capable of winning a one on one jump ball why should Alex throw it? No matter what any of you claim the blame does not fall on one positions hands. Both Smith and the receivers have a lot of room for improvement.
Adam707, what would be the fun in that?
You are true. If everyone used common sense and thought rationally this would be a boring site.
“Both Smith and the receivers have a lot of room for improvement.”
And the OL and the playcalling and the lack of time the players and coaches really got to know one another are all very important factors.
I was just naming the two main argument topics. Everything always has room for improvement.
@Mozes Tolzien isnt better than Kaepernick if you watched him in college he has the potential of a backup thats all, Kaepernick on the other hand is a playmaker who has the arm and legs to produce something out of nowhere.
Without a username i would put Smith even at 12 behind Freeman and maybe next year behind Ponder also.
those guys have either a better arm,better natural leadership,better intangibles, upside.
And again some teams where sloppy in the shortened offseason and we where fully going at it dont think next season we can do the same or we have to open the offense and pass more balanced but with Smith in than i have big concerns.
So Kaepernick i hope he has a full grasp of the offense and works like a maniac to unseet Smith in TC this is the best thing for our team that can happen cuz IMO Kaepernick doesnt need to rot on the bench for a average QB in front of him.
” This season, Parys Haralson played first and second down at that spot and Aldon Smith came in for him on third down. The Niners didn’t draft Smith with the No. 7 overall pick to be a situational pass rusher for his whole career. They were breaking him in slowly in 2011, but in 2012 he’ll probably play almost every single defensive snap. ”
But you said, ” Brooks played almost all the downs for the Niners elite defense last season. He can “set the edge” in the run game, rush the passer (seven sacks) and even drop back in coverage. He’s a complete 3-4 outside linebacker who can play all three downs. Players like Brooks are rare and valuable.”
So why would the 49ers :
” So, the Niners could move Haralson over to left outside linebacker, Ahmad Brooks’ spot, and draft a situational pass rusher to play third downs and compliment Haralson.”
Makes no since! You stated that Haralson isn’t an every down player, so why would you not re-sign brooks to be the starter opposite Aldon! That means that the 49ers could have the best starting LB corps in the league and if you think teams couldn’t run the ball this year, just imagine!
I think LGrant could play the outside and when given the opportunity would do well enough on the edge rushing the passer. He tackles well and his pass rushing skills could be improved or another option is he could play 1st and 2nd down while the 9ers draft a specialist (V Curry) to play 3rd down passing downs. LGrant was an outside LB in college and did well rushing the passer. MM and I disagree with his assertion that LG could only now play inside. Hmmm.
Urgh if people who have no faith in their teams decisions to keep their QB and all they do is talk trash about AS….Still calls themselves a Niners Fan? I would never call myself a Niner fan then. All these comment about him not throwing to open WR during the Giants game is crap. People expect him to be perfect or something? Even someone close to “perfection” like Tom Brady threw awful throws and made awful decisions during the Superbowl. It wasn’t like the 49ers lost to the Giants by a lot. In fact I bet if the 49ers won that game by one field goal( which has nothing to do with AS) and made it to the Superbowl, people wouldn’t have this conversation right now about AS. Now if Alex Smith threw a lot more during the Giants game, ends up throwing a interception and that leads to the Giants scoring, that would look a lot worst then not throwing that much and losing by a field goal. People take it way too seriously, Alex Smith isn’t even worrying about this much as you guys are. Plus he admit he would take the paycut to stay for cheap. Bringing in someone like Peyton Manning would destroy the chemistry that the 49er had built with JH. Jim believes in Alex Smith as much as he did at the beginning of the season when everyone thought he was crazy to even keep AS, why can’t we have a little more hope in Alex for 2012? There isn’t much you can do about Alex Smith, might as well hope the best for him since you are a fan of the 49ers right? And relax people, let’s not all try to become lawyers here.
A perfect post T!