49ers cut QB Josh Johnson, promote TE Asante Cleveland

The 49ers just announced they have cut third-string quarterback Josh Johnson and promoted tight end Asante Cleveland from the practice squad to the 53-man roster.

Do you think Cleveland will play against the Cardinals on Sunday? Do you think Vernon Davis will sit?

This article has 45 Comments

    1. It could be the same reason the Bears brought up 2 WRs before playing the 49ers. They aren’t sure if Davis or McDonald will be able to go, so they need a backup plan.

  1. Josh, we hardly knew you. See you again next training camp.

    I guess Kaep’s back is less concern than Vernon’s foot.

  2. I think that was a huge mistake letting Josh go, they should of cut Gabbert, and take the
    lost in money, for he isn’t any good. I am beginning to think that Harbaugh isn’t very
    good at finding real good QB’S, all though he has made this team better, but it seems
    like they can’t get any better, and maybe this is as far as he how to go. I f he would get rid
    Roman, that would solve a lot of problems, I just don’t understand why he keeps him.

    1. There is a history of coaches who were like that. They took teams to from poor to good but could’t take them all the Way Don Nelson was like that. So was the A’s Martin. Usually it is some sort of flaw or blind spot that keeps them from making that next step. It might be that he still has to adjust to the differences between the College and Pro game. He should have not brought too many of the College coaches with him. TB is also a rookie GM so who can keep him from making mistakes based on ignorance. Having a 53 man roster limit / / cuts/ waivers, is something he has never had to deal with before. To me that seems to be a problem he has. Once you make a decision it is hard to correct because those players are gone. I think the QB whisperer is mostly hype. Both he and TB often act make rash snap judgements on players along with often acting on impulse rather than reason. They are both too much alike. He needed an experienced GM or TB needed an experienced coach.

      1. Roman worked years in the NFL, so did Fangio and Ed Donatell. Rathman played in the NFL for many years as well and has coached in it as well. What are you talking about?

        1. What about Brad Seely, long time NFL special teams coach. Eric Mangini? Jim Tomsula and Mike Solari? All long time NFL coaches.
          This staff is one of the best in the NFL. Players need to perform than they did last Sunday. That loss was on them, not the coaches.

          1. Granted the players need to execute better, but the number of penalties along with certain other aspects of the game is on the coaches. The team has had problems for years reflective of a lack of proper preparation. It seems like they need most of the season to get to the level they should have been at for the first game. How many years did it take them to work out the delay of penalty issue. We blamed it on the QB/players but it turns out it was the staffs fault all along.

            1. The team has had problems for years with lack of preparation? How so Will? They have had a winning record now for over 3 years since Harbaugh and staff have been in SF. Sure they have been predictable but lack of preparation Id like to know what that means?

              1. I don’t want to take anything away from what Harbaugh has done the last three years, but he did inherit one of the deepest rosters in football. His success is more of a testament to the ineptitude of Mike Singletary than it is a demonstration of Harbaugh’s ability to coach.

                I think Harbaugh did a magnificent job year 1. It’s fallen off each year since. Just as I am sure the next HC that comes in will have success based on his coordinators, I think Harbaugh’s decline has been that the NFL is adjusting to the coordinators he employs.

                I don’t particularly want to see Harbaugh extended.

              2. What last weeks shows is that all our starters needed to play more in preseason. All the mistakes and penalties are related to no working together and shaking the rust off. The improvement in the run game from wk 1 to wk 2 was one small example of why they needed those games. Its not the coaching, its a bad decision to not play those guys. You could probably say the same thing about last years first three games. Also the injuries to A Davis , I Williams and Iupati are huge factors. Those guys don’t seem to be fully recovered. Losing Aldon and Dorsey also have great impact as well as Brooks not playing well or being in shape contributes as well. Lets see if they improve.

          2. @Prime Time and FDM

            Excellent posts…my conclusion is that the coaching staff is better than the head coach

        2. Obviously I didn’t know what I was talking about. I based that on what someone told me. Teach me to take peoples word for things without checking it out. Question. Did Roman come with him from Stanford? Just because coaches worked in NFL does not make them competent. As for being top coaches, some are but others I have serious questions about.

          1. FDM- One coach that he brought with him that I was referring to was Roman. I believe he wasn’t the only one either. I could have been more specific but I was referring to coaches he had on his college staff at Stanford which he brought with him to the Niner’s. Harbaugh’s relationship with them was at the college level so he didn’t really know how effective they were in the NFL. So I return to standing by my original statement. I did know what I was talking about. Notice I took your word for it until I checked about the coaches again.

            1. Willtalk: JH hired away three coaches from his former Stanford staff to join him — Greg Roman offensive coordinator, Vic Fangio defensive coordinator and Tim Drevno offensive line coach.

          2. You seem to know very little about the team that you come on almost daily to discuss. Calling Baalke a rookie GM when he won the PFWA Executive of the Year for the 2011 season? Not knowing when Roman came aboard? Even the most casual fan should know those kind of things. Makes it very difficult to take you seriously on this blog.

            1. What year was his first year as GM. Was it 2011. My statement was in respect to having both a inexperienced coach and GM coming in at the same time. Harbaugh did pretty well as a rookie coach as well. That still does not negate the problems they experienced in the following years. They just didn’t run into issues that reflected their inexperience their first year. Being a rookie is not necessarily bad. It can be a problem when issues arise that require experience that a vet might have. That was the context of my post.

              I try to add a different perspective to these discussions. You seem to have a difficult time understanding the perspective I bring. Your fault or mine ? I’ll leave it up to conjecture. I have to consider if I am beating a dead horse. If you don’t like my posts just ignore them. If you have questions I’ll try to answer them. If you think I am wrong give me details and call me out on my mistakes. But be specific and don’t deal in general statements like your last post. Winning the PFWA is not exclusive of rookies. Depends if you think of rookie as an insult or just as a measure of how experience at the top.

              1. Baalke became GM in 2011 and hired Harbaugh the same year.

                Quote by you in your earlier statement: ” TB is also a rookie GM so who can keep him from making mistakes based on ignorance.” I would take the “is” as stating that this is Baalke’s first year as GM.

                I doubt I’ll ever ask you a question because I expect answers to be based on fact, not just what comes off the top of your head.

      1. MWNiner- They could have pulled that off if they had kept Gray last year. He was also a QB in college.

  3. Hey Crab15! You out there?
    I just ran into a guy in Healdsburg from Coachella Valley Brewing. He was up tasting beers and wines. He’d been to Carneros Brewing, Bear Republic, Russian River & Lagunitas, and we met him and his wife at J Winery. He’s got me looking for his stuff at Whole Foods.
    Cheers!
    …and now to drift ever so slightly back towards topic…Go Niners!

  4. For the edification of some.

    Gregory P. Roman (born August 19, 1972) is the current offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers. He was hired by the 49ers on January 15, 2011.[1] He had previously been a coach under Jim Harbaugh’s staff at Stanford from 2009 to 2010. Upon the conclusion of the 2012 season, he is the first offensive coordinator to complete consecutive seasons as the 49ers offensive coordinator since Greg Knapp in 2002 and 2003.

    Roman has previously been a coach with the Carolina Panthers (1995–2001), Houston Texans (2002–2005), Baltimore Ravens (2006–2007) and the Holy Spirit High School Spartans (2008).

    Roman is on record that he makes use of all of his offensive staff in building game plans – including the head coach.

  5. Further edification.

    George Seifert before Walsh.

    George Seifert attended the University of Utah, playing guard and linebacker for the Utes. He served as graduate assistant for a year before being hired as head coach of Westminster College in Salt Lake City at age 25,[4] where he led the Parsons to a 3-3 record.

    After working as an assistant at the University of Iowa, the University of Oregon and Stanford University,[5] Seifert was hired as head coach at Cornell University. He was fired after going 3-15 in two seasons.[6] He then returned to Stanford in 1977, where he met Walsh.

    Note:From his early record it’s clear that he would wind up being a major contributor to five Superbowl wins as defensive backfield coach, defensive coordinator and head coach. The guy had “winner” written all over him.

  6. Beasley for Clemson looks good as a pass rusher, knows how to use his hands, unlike Lemonier. Striker from Oklahoma looks pretty good too…..

    1. Based on what you’ve seen so far this year, you think pass rusher will be an off season priority, razor? If so, what do you think is more important, a pass rushing DL or OLB?

  7. DE/OLB Beasley would be a nice pick, because you can’t count on Aldon staying out of trouble. Not much pressure without him. Lynch is promising, but you need insurance because he is mentally tricky too……

      1. Yea, checking his size at 6-2 235 he’d be strictly a pass rush specialist. DeVonte Fields is more in line with what they’d be looking for, out of TCU….

        1. you wouldn’t be lookin’ ahead to the 2015 draft ..
          would ya, Razor ?

          Sheesh ! .. this season just started ! .. ;-)

  8. Since you see about as much love for Frank Gore in these columns as you do for President Obama on Fox News, here is a little something from the 49er homers at the NY Times:

    “Each season for what has felt like ages, fans think it must be the year that Frank Gore will finally break down. But then they turn on a 49ers game, and there he is, crashing through opponents like a dump truck speeding downhill without brakes. It is astounding that he can run the way he does and last so long in the modern N.F.L. What is his secret? Fish oil? It must be fish oil.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/sports/football/week-3-nfl-matchups.html?ref=sports&_r=0

  9. Funny Razor was talking about Beasley. I’m an FSU and FSU should have lost last night. Clemson has a bright future ahead of them. Their freshman QB looked damn good. Their freshman CB locked down arguably the best WR In college football. Last but not least, Beasley was having his way with one of the best O-Lines in the nation. People get caught up on size and forget heart. Give me a kid with heart, determination, and fight. I’m sure many people thought Jerry Rice was “undersized”. He had the heart and the want to do great things. Don’t get caught up on size. I love college football. Spend all day Saturday watching and thinking who I’d want on the niners. Usually We don’t pick who I liked. Ex: Kelvin Benjamin

  10. Three years in a row Baalke has cut outstanding backup QBs with passer ratings over 100 and games similar to Kap, in favor of three very mediocre backups. Why? Certainly not to benefit the team. What pattern is there? I haven’t seen any brother bring this up so I will, the three QBs who were cut were black, the three bozos they kept are white. Please give me a valid reason for your actions, Mr. Baalke…

    1. That’s funny. I never really paid attention to that. As a young black male I do not think race was really an issue. I feel they want someone who may be the opposite of Kaep. Now with that being said, I do think they should have kept BJ Daniels. If Baalke had a real issue with race, I do not believe he would keep as the leader of the team. Many people have tried to label Kaep as a thug. Whether it be because of his tattoos, the fraternity he chose to join in college(Kappa Alpha Psi), the people he hangs with, his clothes, etc. I know thugs and Kaep is far from one. If Baalke has a problem with blacks, I’d think Alex Smith would still be the QB, or we would have did whatever it took to get Peyton Manning.

    2. Big Al
      You asked the question in a reasonable way, but my white boy take would discount race as his reasoning. I’m finding it hard to imagine that anyone could survive in an NFL Personnel Dept. if handicapped by those views. I’m old enough to remember the stupid clichés like black guys couldn’t play QB. Earlier that was thrown around about MLBs too, so the question is still fair to ask.
      I’ll just have to ask how you can label these guys who were cut as “outstanding backup QBs..”? Where have they caught on and made contributions after Trent let them get away? Josh? Seneca? BJ?

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