When the 49ers drafted A.J. Jenkins in the first round and LaMichael James in the second round, all we heard was how the 49ers didn’t need those guys this season. The 49ers are so deep and talented, those two high draft picks could afford to “red shirt” their rookie seasons, just lift weights and learn the system.
Forget all of that. The 49ers need Jenkins and James right now.
James especially. The 49ers lost Kendall Hunter for the season, and now they lack a running back with outside speed. Decent defenses can shut down Frank Gore and Brandon Jacobs by playing them to run between the tackles. That’s what the Rams did on Sunday.
The 49ers best outside runner is currently their quarterback – Colin Kaepernick. That’s not enough.
LaMichael James is fast. He needs to replace Hunter’s production immediately, or the 49ers are in trouble.
Also, Mario Manningham left the Rams game in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury and did not return. If he can’t play against the Dolphins next week, A.J. Jenkins needs to step up.
Without Manningam, the 49ers have one good wide receiver – Michael Crabtree. Randy Moss is a shell of his former self, and Ted Ginn Jr. is one of the worst wide receivers in the NFL. In fact, it’s a stretch to even call him a wide receiver. He’s a return specialist.
A.J. Jenkins should be better than Moss and Ginn right now. If Jenkins is not, the 49ers have more trouble.
You cannot afford to draft a redshirt class in today’s NFL, no matter how deep you think your team is. Injuries always happen, and you need rookies who can step in and contribute.
If Jenkins and James are not ready to contribute, Trent Baalke did the 49ers a disservice by drafting them. There were plenty of wide receivers he could have drafted who could help the 49ers win the Super Bowl this season – Chris Givens, Rueben Randle, Mohamed Sanu, T.Y Hilton, etc.
There were also running backs available who are producing right now – Doug Martin, David Wilson, Alfred Morris, Daryl Richardson, etc.
James and Jenkins need to contribute.
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Agreed. I realized yesterday how much it hurts not having Hunter. Jacobs spells Gore and you know its going to be an off guard power run for 3 yards. I was having Jimmy Raye flashbacks. They need more speed and AJ/LaMike should both help.
Well, if we are stuck again with only MC and VD, it will be just like AS in the title game.
But MC is a lot better right now. So that will help him (CK).
All of Jenkins and LMJ’s “problems” will go away with a little playing time. Harbaugh like most HC’s in the NFL is very conservative by nature and playing rookies over vets is against their nature. especially with a vetran laden team that is already experiencing success.
So conservative that he benched Alex Smith for Colin Kaepernick.
In the last quarter of his @nd year. CK is no rookie and the differece is huge.
Harbaugh plays the best players. If James and Jenkins are ready and good enough, Harbaugh will play them because he needs them.
So you disagree?
Old Coach,
there is NO substitute for live bullets. A player can sit on a bench for five years. His first year facing a live defense is almost the equivalent of a rookie year.
It wasn’t a conservative move, that’s not really in doubt. It was an aggressive and bold move. The juries still out on whether it was the right move.
I want to see LaMichael in the backfield! He can take Jacobs’ snaps, who has shown me absolutely nothing.
This I agree with. Our coaching staff isn’t timid, though their play selection is sometimes a head scratcher.
For whatever reason, it appears attention to detail is lacking this year noticeably, compared to last year and that is really killing the niners,
As far as the play calling goes they need to leave those college plays back in college. This is the NFL the option really only has limited potential in the pros.
Hello Grant, I wish you didn’t say that the NINERS would destroy the LAMS it seems that every time you say that they lose how about a kick in your shin? Next time you say the NINERS will win?
Last year Aldon Smith, Hunter, Culliver and Bruce Miller, all rookies, got substantial playing time…
Yes they played last year because we needed them. We needed a pass rusher, RB to spell Gore, 3rd CB and a FB
We need to see what James has. He may be small and need to get stronger, but that shouldn’t stop the staff from giving him 6-8 snaps a game. I mean, he’s still a football player.
I’d like to see him go in motion and line up in the slot, and I’d like to see a couple of screen packages.
Maybe a couple of sweeps.
If we can not run wide, Frank Goreand Jacobs are in trouble. It will make us very predictable in that area.
[Making notation on calendar] “Agreed with something that bayareafanatic wrote today.”
I agreed with what Bay said back on the 19th of Nov. I quote, “Regardless whether CK lights it up, or wets the bed, the starting job is AS’s.”
Ditto, Claude
I didnt understand why LMJ wasnt playing yesterday, Jacobs is here to take the load off of Gore. He is not going to replace KH neither will Dixon. I am a huge LMJ fan but I am not sure if he is stout enough to play in the NFL at this moment. If he plays like he did in college it might be the end of KH job. I am sure KW and KH are very worried about their jobs as they know there jobs are up in the air and this losing your job to a injury doesnt work on this team. You get injured you can lose your job.
Not sure if Jenkins or LMJ can add much to a team that has lots of issues on it right now, and I am not speaking of the QB issues.
I don’t see LMJ threatening KH. Hunter was getting 40% of the carries and James wasn’t even dressing out. When Hunter is in the lineup he threatens the edge but is a credible threat running inside, and can pass block and be a receiver. James apparently is still working on his routes and hasn’t shown much effectiveness running inside or blocking.
“TB threw JH a bone when drafting CK over AD”. It seems likely the same is true with AJJ and LMJ. Doesn’t it?
Umm… AD was gone before they drafted CK… The one common denominator on AJ and LMJ is their speed! He said they drafted them for their explosive play potential.
Jewel Hampton?
He probably needs to get in shape first. Been on injured list all year.
As to not being able to “red shirt” draft picks. That kind of short term approach is why the eagles are where they are and the kind of long term approach the 9ers are taking is why New England might not win the super bowl every year but they are consistently close. The instant gratification approach i imagine is very popular with those who were raised in the technology age
That’s a false dichotomy. Most teams draft at least one player who contributes their rookie season, and they’re not taking a short term approach. Red shirting an entire draft class during a Super Bowl window is playing with fire.
they have’nt needed untill now. It will take them a week or 2 of reps with the starters to get them ready. running the scout team for 14 weeks is not game preperation
They were needed yesterday. Do you expect them to get those reps this week and going forward?
@ Grant:
The team can only dress 46 players on game day. Prior to Hunter’s and Williams’ injuries, whom would you have sat to put LMJ and Jenkins on the roster?
Grant (also, a question for Harbaugh at the bottom)
If I understand him correctly, Old Coach says the Patriots’ Superbowl window never closes because of their approach, which he likens to the Niners’.
Still, they MUST put Jenkins on the field, and should, but won’t, cut Ginn.
The officials lost that game for us. Akers has lost us two games now. And if Harbaugh was going to apologize for that bad pitch play call, he should start apologizing for playing Singletary style ball with a 10, then an 8 point lead.
Crabtree a few years ago had a great quote about offensive football, said something like, “when you score, you don’t stop scoring, you keep your foot down and score til you can’t score no more.”
Grant, why don’t you ask Harbaugh why his play calling is so inconsistent. Why pull back so much when he has a nuclear threat playing QB?
Claude
You can start by sitting Ginn, who has provided absolutely nothing electric since Game 1 f 2011. I know his averages are high, but he has no other utility, and without the game breakers that people seem to want to associate with him, he is a non-impact player. Terrible waste of a spot.
I agree regarding Ginn. This guy is affraid of contact. How else can one explain his lackadaisical effort on that pitch option play? He could have either dove on the ball or slapped it out of bounds. But, his lack of desire for contact allowed Jenkins to recover the ball for a TD.
Ginn needs to sit or be cut. That will open a spot for AJ Jenkins on the active roster.
@bay there are 2 successful schools of thought. one is get them in the game right away IE manning\luck\RG3 etc. the other is break them in slowly giving them a chance to succeed in limited situations IE Joe Montana Steve Young and Aaron Rogers. they both work i think it depends on the individual player and their readyness
Rookie salary levels also play a part. The last 15 years or so have seen a dramatic increase in high draft pick’s salaries. There’s pressure from the owners and fans to see their money at work. With the new salary structure, those pressures are not likely to be as strong.
@Angu….Excellent point
In this case its neither both scenario’s
He already missed out on the get him in there right away and he currently is not getting a slow no pressure opportunity to play.
Poor kid. He has to win a SB NOW or bust.
I still don’t get why JH chose this path but some questions I would luv answers to:
Would JH had benched manning (I believe Alex had a better record)?
Why not wait till the kid goes through a full offseason?
What he thinks about the offense regressing last couple of games?
When they don’t play, it gives me concern that they are not up to speed. Next season I expect, Randy Moss and Tedd Ginn gone, that being said James needs to play right now with Manningham possibly out.
I’d like to see both LMJ and Jenkins play this year. What’s the downside to playing them 5-10 snaps per game?
How do we go from “The niners will blow out the Rams” to “The niners are in trouble” in the space of 24 hours (or thereabouts?).
Knee jerk much?
You think we still have a chance of making it to the NFC champ game?
Maybe, I really haven’t the foggiest.
I do think if it happens, the niners D will have to carry the team.
The blogs have been full of jerks with knees the past 24 hours. It’s astounding.
+100000
I’m not sure if it is TB, JH, or both, but their shark tooth plans have been thin. Last year it was at WR using practice squad players in the playoffs. This year it seems to be at RB. Let’s hope the outstanding warrior FG can get through the season healthy. Injuries may curb our success in the playoffs yet again.
*their success*
FG already looks beat up. Maybe Jacobs could get some of his inside carries and Gore can work outside the tackles some more.
They weren’t counting on KH going down to injury. LMJ was their backup plan, but perhaps hasn’t shown enough in practice to warrant playing time.
I agree 100%. With all the injuries piling up the 9ers need contributions from those guys. If they’re not ready then they were bad picks. I’m sure that they can contribute at least as much as Jacobs and Ginn did yesterday(which was next to nothing).
PLAY THE ROOKIES HARBAUGH!!
excellent piece, Grant. while i think you’re a wee bit harsh on Moss & Ginn, i was wondering when folks in the Bay Area were going to question this “redshirt draft class” nonsense. It IS nonsense – you dont draft a WR and RB with high picks and then plan to sit them, the reason they’re sitting is because they havent been good enough to warrant playing time. In other cities, they’d be calling these guys “busts” and putting the onus on the team to prove otherwise. SF fans are too nice, of course (when we arent ripping each others’ throats out over Alex vs Kaep), but someone has to call out Baalke for spending the draft on picks that arent helping. Baalke has generally been spectacular as far as i can tell, but you have to point out the good and the bad. well done.
Thanks, fesnyc.
Fes
After last years playoffs we desperately needed receivers thats why we went with AJJ in the first round. On top of that we added MM and RM and KW had a bigger role on the team. At the time we had 1 hole to fill RG (and boone was penciled in) we had a surplus of CB and OLB and a need at WR. If AJJ was on the roster last year he would have been a 3 behind MC and KW but he wasnt able to beat out RM who everybody was raving about in the offseason. We barely use 3 wr sets thats why AJJ can be the 4th WR on the team and never see the field. When we throw 25 times a game mostly out of base package there is not a ton of opportunity to get on the field.
The LMJ pick makes less sense but I assume he was planning for the future.
What position would you have preferred the 9ers drafted with their top 3 picks?
Bos, KW is not a first string quality WR. AJJ or a first rounder should easily be able to supplant him. Otherwise its a bad pick. You don’t sit pat with mediocre talent, you upgrade. Especially with your first 2,3 picks.
The position picks, were fine. But they need to be upgrades and therefor given the opportunity to contribute. Unless they were bad picks. Which is it?
It won’t get easier. Fisher and the Rams have set up a nice template for every team now facing Kaepernick: Take away the deep stuff and see if the quarterback has the patience and the touch to win a close game.
U mean dink and dunk to win? Oh boy the faithfull won’t like that plan
Grant you asked wether i expected AJ and LMJ to get reps going foreward. Yes I do Expect to see that but predicting What you think Jim Harbaugh will do is no easy task. He is a strange cat and sometimes i ca’nt figure out why he does what he does. I just Know he knows alot more about football than i do and he knows whats going on with his team a hell of alot better than i do.
Grant after saturdays prediction any more thoughts about opening a tout sit called http://www.picktheoppositeofgrant.com I think you could make millions.
Especially when the word blow-out appears in the prediction.
Let’s not forget that some thought the blowout would be so enormous that AS would come in to “mop up”! smh
What stand outs in my mind (above the mistakes and play calling) is how the 49ers O-line got dominated. I don’t see Jenkins making that big a difference with so little time to throw. I agree James could have ran outside the tackles, but his presence on the field could also telegraph an outside run to a defense that seemed to know exactly was the 49ers were going to do.
Why the apparent red shirting?
I think the 49ers wanted to put another 5-8 lbs on Jenkins. They doubt he can step in and play injury free this light. They want a year of building his body up.
My gut feeling is that they want LaMichael James to get all the little things down (like blitz pickup, receiving routes) before putting him on the field.
One thing is certain… the 49ers need the two rookies right now, ready or not.
Question: Which is a better situation for an NFL team.
1. Being up 3 with the opponent having 50 Seconds and no timeouts
or
2. Being up 7 with the opponent having 1 Min 45 seconds and 2 timeouts.
These were the two choices facing Harbaugh and Roman after Kaepernick’s big run at the end of regulation yesterday. My point is that the throw to Walker should not have been made in the first place. It would have been better to run three times, make the Rams burn their timeouts, kick the FG and give them the ball at the 20 with just 50 seconds and no timeouts. They would have been more or less limited to sideline throws and the game would be pretty much over.
However, if we were going to throw on first down, then we should have tried to score a TD on the second and third downs as well. Once Walker dropped the ball, there was no upside in running twice and kicking a FG. Even if CK had remembered to stay in bounds on third down, it would have cost the Rams a TO but they still would have had about 1:45 left. They could have completed a couple of passes down the middle and still had time to run up and spike the ball.
I am curious to see what everybody thinks including Grant.
Well thought out. The niners went for the kill on first down, got penalized by Delanie on 2nd down and went totally conservative after that.
Delanie pretty much throttled that series of downs all by himself.
They ran on second down (bad after passing on first down) and Walker cost us 10 yards and stopped the clock. Still, if Harbaugh had stuck with going for 7 on second down, Walker would have been out in a pattern, hopefully. His penalty was probably caused by anger at missing the ball in the end zone.
Thanks for writing my rant for me, and doing it better than I would have. What they did was not think through the whole situation, so they wound up being muddled and doing neither.
Rick
I would normally say option 1. But when legatron is on the other side im not as sure of that theory. I know we had it last year but how awesome is it going in to a down EXPECTING your kicker to hit a 50 yds+ FG
tonights game puts the the second seed in serious jeapordy going forward…need to root for washington….
whereas, there are wins over gb and chicago…giants have the advantage the other way…. maybe that tie is looking like a win for the time being….
yesterdays game was interesting from the perspective coaches were protecting CK as much as many said AS was being protected….goes to demonstrate my general feeling was correct….JH is a power centric coach and calls the game that way….
with about 2 minutes left in regulation after CK has his 50 yd run JH went outside his comfort zone by calling a pass play which if incomplete stops the clock (DW TD drop) and then it is followed by CK running out of bounds….this is committing two egregious errors …not bringing the game clock down to 30 or less seconds with a defense in the waiting that was a stone wall for the rams offense……after that it really got conservative the same environment so many suggested was strictly because AS existed…well can pretty much put that theory to rest….JH/roman is what he was at stanford…
rams tried to contain the outside and pressure up the middle to get to CK and it worked except the outside containment was very effective and when it was it ended in sacks because the rams played zone…. the early CK defense book is being developed….
it is unfortunate this is all happening late in the season when december should be statement month as it typically is in the nfl…..
…outside containment was NOT very effective….
The good thing about the seeding as far as the Giants go is that they still have to play both Atlanta and Baltimore on the road, but I definately will be rooting for the ‘skins to make it harder for them.
Atlanta may not care that much and Baltimore seems to be having problems.
If LaMichael James and AJ Jenkins are not ready, the 49ers have a serious depth problem on offense. The unseen elephant in the room is still lack of depth at outside linebacker. The season hinges more on Aldon Smith’s health then any other player.
GRANT! You are right on with this post.
I hope you ask Harbaugh why James wasn’t active yesterday. It seemed like the linebackers were so far in that sweeps would have been a huge benefit to the team. None of the RBs who were active are quick enough to get around the corner- but James would have been perfect.
Also ask Harbaugh why the team was not willing to call any screens- with all the blitzing it seemed like the rams were BEGGING for it.
I also agree from watchig Jenkins in the pre-season- the guy was a better playmaker than ginn, moss, and williams- it is insane that he isnt playing- seems like harbaugh was taking a seniority approach with the WRs and RBs
Also- Jacobs sucks- He was overrated with the giants and he will do nothing for the niners- the guy is just too slow.
Grant, what about Brent Celek? I remember being slightly impressed w/ him in pre-season at WR. He gets in every once in awhile, but he’s ahead of AJ as far as readiness.
James can be used like a Sproles. He has speed to the outside and could play a huge role in the short passing game.
Sproles is a good blocker. James might get the QB killed.
Grant, I agree with your assessment regarding both rookies – they need to play. But, there must be something the coaching staff is seeing with these two that is keeping them off the field in favor of Ginn (wtf) and Jacobs (ugh), respectively.
I seem to recall you writing that LMJ lacks muscle and I’m assuming he’s not a great pass blocker. Is this right? And, what’s keeping Jenkins behind Ginn on the depth chart to date? Seeing Ginn out there “catching” passes frightens the hell out of me.
Hey, Ginn made a great one handed grab on that swing pass that was a yard or two behind him. If only he was 8 feet tall he might of made a play for the pitchout.
lol Rib – I saw that swing pass, too and had to rewind it twice to convince myself it was Teddy who made it! I couldn’t believe he made that left-handed(!) catch behind his body like that. It’s too bad that play only went for 1 yard, though, because he made a hell of an effort to snag and bring it in.
As for the pitch, yeah, Kaep screwed the pooch on that one, but Teddy should’ve at least tried to fall on it instead of picking it up and trying to run on it like it was a muffed punt.
Moss could still be a diamond-who knows since they never throw him the ball? The point of CK was that with Moss and Davis the 49ers could stretch the field…then Roman goes conservative. Might as well stuck with Smith who does that best.
Am I RIGHT?
The 49ers were out couched by Fisher and his staff.49ers didn’t make any ajustments at half.The Rams had 8 in the box every snap rushing 5 to 7 players nearly every snap, if it was a run it was stoped if a pass it was 6/7 on five.very poor couching on our part, I guess Fish thought his DB’s & SS could cover our WO, he was right Kap had no time for progressions. Defense held there own until Bradford was pressed to perform..then we had NO pressure on him rushing 3/4 against 6/7 Rams keeping there backs in to block for Bradford they tie the game in less than 4.5 min…Aker should be fired. Kap made 10 point error, he needs to be a better ball handler. In all the niners need to step back and regroup, the couching staff of the 9ers get most of the CREDIT for this loss. Fire Jacob to he is a cancer in the locker room. Bring on the rookies they will help the loss of Hunter and williams. NO more gimic plays, let the Rams play that game, the 9ers are to good they don’t need gimic to win, actually it bit them in the ASS trying it. I don’t agree with the safty that rule needs to be changed, Kap was in no way under a defessive presure th warant a safty he threw the ball away, like one yard short of the line..come on he could have ran out of the endzone.
One question? Moving ahead, and say CK plays decent…is the writing on the wall? Do the 49ers cut Alex before April 1st to avoid paying the guaranteed money?
Assuming Alex does want to stay with the team and I really don’t know why he would at this point considering after what has happened…but assuming he does want to stay, do the think the 49er’s simply waive him or will it go down more like what happens to a CEO, who is actually fired, but the CEO releases a statement saying it was his decision all along to move on? ….because really they give him a bonus to leave and keep quiet? I really don’t see the Niners keeping Smith even if he wants to continue his career here. Last thing…how much interest would there be for Smith next season? From other teams?
They’re not gonna pay him 7.5 mil. He’ll either stay and get paid backup money or he’ll go and get low price starter money.