According to Matt Maiocco, Ahmad Brooks will count $2.85 million against the 49ers’ salary cap in 2012. For all the figures of Brooks’ deal, read Matty’s article here. Just know that Brooks’ cap figures significantly increase in upcoming seasons, but in 2012 he’ll be a relative bargain. Here’s how this affects free agency: Currently the Niners have about $23 million in cap space. If they cut Shawntae Spencer, then they’ll…
CSNBayArea.com just posted my latest article on the top-five young quarterbacks in football. For the purposes of this article I define ‘young’ as incoming rookies and soon-to-be second-year guys. Of those QBs, which ones will be the best five years from now? Here’s my list: 1. Cam Newton 2. Andrew Luck 3. Robert Griffin III 4. Jake Locker 5. Colin Kaepernick. To read the article, click here.
The Niners just announced that they re-signed outside linebacker Ahmad Brooks to a six-year contract extension. The contract is worth $44.5 million, according to ESPN’s Josina Anderson. Now, the Niners have every member of their elite defensive front-seven signed for multiple seasons. They’ve solidified the strength of their team, which is always a good strategy. It’s interesting that the Niners gave Brooks the first long-term contract of the offseason, and…
Who are the top-five Niners under contract right now? Recently, we’ve focused on players who don’t have contracts, like Coby Fleener and Carlos Rogers and Alex Smith, to name a few. What about the players the Niners have currently? Who are the best ones? Here’s the top-five. 1. Justin Smith – He’s the best player on the team, arguably the best defensive player in the NFL. He’s a great run…
The wide receivers ran their 40-yard dashes this morning at the combine, and just like that, you can forget about Mohamed Sanu. He ran a 4.67 40-yard dash today at the NFL Combine, which means he’s slower than Michael Crabtree, which means the Niners probably aren’t going to drafting him. So, that narrows things down a bit. What else did we learn? Michael Floyd ran 4.47. He’s probably not going…
A few days ago I wrote a blog listing the free agent wide receivers who could fit into the 49ers’ budget this offseason. I put Pierre Garçon was on that list, and then he turned down a five-year contract from the Colts. He may not have belonged on that list, after all. He’s going to get a lot of money in free agency, more than the Niners are willing to…
Yesterday, I wrote that free agent free safety Dashon Goldson had a strong negotiating position with the Niners because they have no replacement for him. Well, maybe Trent Baalke disagrees. He gave C.J. Spillman, backup safety and top-special teamer, a three year, $6 million contract (1.8 million guaranteed), according to Matt Maiocco. Spillman is the first 49er Baalke has re-signed this off season. Considering the Niners will not re-sign last season’s…
Here’s a very interesting tidbit from the great Mike Sando on Trent Baalke’s free agency philosophy. Sando asked Baalke at the Combine when is the right time for an NFL team to spend a lot of money on an outside free agent? And here’s what Baalke said: “There’s reasons why we don’t do it and I’m not going to get into those reasons of why we operate the way we…
Trent Baalke reiterated this morning at the NFL Combine that the 49ers want to keep their guys in place, as in re-sign their free agents. Baalke said there’s no priority list for who he wants to re-sign, which is baloney, probably. Let’s try to guess that priority list. Which of the 49ers free agents are most important to resign? And in what order? Keep in mind, no free agent is…
The NFL draft combine starts today, and as soon as something happens I’ll break it down for you. Stanford tight end Coby Fleener will not run this week because he has a high ankle sprain, so we won’t know how fast he is until he runs at Stanford’s Pro Day on March 22. If he runs a 4.5 40-yard dash, he would be a good pick for the Niners with…
I got back from Mexico last night, and I was going to put this blog up as soon as I stepped inside the Cohn Zohn, but I was tired from all the travel, so my dad and my mom and my girlfriend and I drank a couple of bottles of wine instead – a 2007 Matanzas Creek Cabernet from Knights Valley in Sonoma, and a 2008 blend of Petite Sirah,…
Now that Alex Smith has completed his first full season under Jim Harbaugh, let’s break down what we know about his game at this point in his career. Here are his top-five strengths and weakness. Strengths 5. Following directions. Smith does everything the coaches ask him to do. He stays at the practice facility late on weekdays game-planning with the coaches. He led mini camps and taught Jim Harbaugh’s playbook…
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat just posted my dad’s Monday column ranking the Bay Area sports franchises in order of current importance. He ranks the Niners No. 1, and I agree with him. Even though the Giants won the World Series just a year and a half ago, the Niners dominate the market right now. At the Pebble Beach Pro-Am tournament, Jim Harbaugh was the star – not Matt Cain….
Trent Baalke is having a monster year. On Friday, the 49ers extended his contract through the 2016 season, this coming a few weeks after he won the NFL’s Executive of the Year award. Almost every move he made in 2011 worked out. It was like he was on a heater at a craps table in Vegas and he was hitting ten the hard way over and over again. Here are…
When the season ended, maybe some of you thought you wouldn’t hear from me for a while. But the Santa Rosa Press Democrat informed me they consider this a 12-month a year position because football never stops. So, our conversation will continue without interruption except for a few days next week when I’ll be in Mexico. Some of the big things coming up are the scouting combine, free agency, the…
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,…
Eddie DeBartolo Jr. did not get voted into the NFL Hall of Fame last weekend. Here’s why: There are many more deserving former players who need to be inducted first. Like Tim Brown and Cris Carter. And Charles Haley, who won five Super Bowls. None of those players were inducted this season. If they didn’t get in, DeBartolo had no chance. Bill Parcells – a former Super Bowl winning coach…
Despite beating the Super Bowl champion New York Giants in Week 10 and coming a few plays short of beating them again in the NFC championship game, the Niners only have a one-in-ten shot at winning next season’s Super Bowl according to the MGM Grand’s sports book in Las Vegas. The MGM Grand is wrong. The Niners should be the preseason favorites to win the 2013 Super Bowl. They were…
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat just posted my dad’s Tuesday column on the Super Bowl. Before the Super Bowl he asked if Tom Brady was as good as Joe Montana – the greatest quarterback of all time. Now, we know that he ain’t. So, in this column my dad asks a new question: Could Eli Manning be the closest quarterback to Joe Cool in the NFL right now? To read…
Here’s my other Super Bowl XLVI observation: The Niners would have beaten the Patriots more easily than the Giants did. Here’s why: First, the defense would have held Brady and the Pats’ offense to fewer than 17 points. They’re better than the Giants defense. They would have shut down BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead, the Patriots running backs, with no more than six players. Then, the Niners could double team…
