The Niners as of now have 12 free agents on their team. I’m not counting Brandon Jacobs or Billy (wrong way) Cundiff fior obvious reasons. They are:
Randy Moss
Ted Ginn
Delanie Walker
Leonard Davis
RJF
Ice Soap
Tavares Gooden
Larry Grant
Clark Haggis
Tremaine Brock (RFA)
Dashon Goldson
Darcel McBath (who?)
The shoo-ins are L Davis, RJF, Gooden, Brock, and Grant. They are all solid backups who look to stick around and won’t cost too much. Haggins and McBath I have no idea. They are deep on the depth chart, so sure, why not? Keep ’em.
The drops are fairly cut-and-dried as well. Randy (I guess I’m NOT the greatest WR in history) Moss and Ted Ginn, mos def.
The three biggest questions revolve around Dashon Goldson, Delanie Walker, and Isaac Sopoaga. Goldson, whose worth has been debated fairly regularly around these parts, is the lynchpin for this offseason. What they decide to do with him affects many other moves. Franchising him will a) piss him off, b) cost a lot of money ($7.4 mill), and put off for another year the quest to find a cover FS. Signing him will cost in the range of 5 years and $40 mill +. That’s a lot of scratch for a guy who, to me, has played very hot and cold for a long time, and is reachng the end of his shelf-life.
If they sign Goldson, then they have the option of tagging Delanie Walker. Another guy who has nearly as many fans a detractors. Walker is a great blocker and a big ST contributor. But he’s got poor hands. His 30% drop ratio was 2x as bad as any other TE in the league. If they tag him, it’ll cost close to $6 mill. A pretty penny for what amounts (to me) as a role-player. If he wants to be mroe valuable, catch the damn ball.
If they don’t tag either (by releasing or signing), there’s always the option to franchise Ice. Ha ha. Just kidding. He’d garner $8.3 mill as a tagged DL. He’s on the other side of the hill at this point, and since most teams in the NFL are passing teams, he’s barely in. He gets somewhere like 30% of the defensive snaps. he’s the one to go in the nickel. Not gonna happen. I don’t see the Niners signing him either. Unless he takes some kind of hometown deal.
Here’s a crazy thought. I don’t think the Niners tag anyone. The Niners have endless (14) draft picks in this draft and can easily replenish what they lose in Goldson and Walker. There will be some interesting FAs out there. Hey, mabye Tony Gonzalez would like to play closer to home for one more year.
Forty Niners Forever 
Smith goes, Gore stays.
And in other news, Justin Smith had successful tendon reattachment surgery yesterday. Rehab ahould be quuick and Cowboy will be back to his old self.
Old being the key word there, . . .
first I think you are right smith goes Gore stays. I expected gore to have a down year this year with Hunter taking a lead role and LMJ getting spot duty. Gore turns 30 this year, RB’s usually show signs of decline around 28 and usually hit a wall at 30. Niners used Gore more wisely last season and the results were another strong year for him but how many more can he have left? Gore is due 6.5 mil this season in total, none of it performance based except that he needs to be active for 13 games and includes a 400,000 workout incentive to stay at team facilities. His 2014 contract is identical for 2014 at least that’s how it is broken down here:
http://www.ninersnation.com/2012/12/20/3789642/frank-gore-contract-what-the-future-holds-for-the-49ers-all-time
RB position is a bit unknown now due to Gores age and injury history, Hunters recovery and LMJ’s size as a featured back. They do have Jewel Hampton, described as a bowling ball with legs and Dixon.
Spit posits trading Gore and certainly Gore is at the twilight of his career but since he had another very strong year it’s hard to estimate when he breaks down. Spit is also right that to get anything for Gore they would trade him now as his value only decreases. I think with Hunters productive return uncertain the team will keep Gore for this season but he is probably gone next.
Hunter’s injury plays into this, as you said. If he was healthy, I’d think there would be an outside chance to trade Gore. As it is, I doubt it heavily. Gore is under contract, so they’ll let him play out his string. Depending on how things go, you figure it from there. If he has another strong year, well, then it gets dicey. It would be bucking the odds, but who saw AP nearly breaking the rushing title after his nasty injury? Thing is, they’ll play him as they did this year. He’ll get his rest breaks and he’ll break off some big games.
The biggest change in Gore’s productivity is the huge difference in catches under Nolantary compared to Harbaugh. He doesn’t get asked nearly as much to catch passes out of the backfield as he did under the previous two coaches. He still gets his 1,200 but doesn’t catch 40-60 balls like he used to. He’s down to 25. That has certainly paid off on the wear and tear on his body.
Still and all, what would they get in trade? Nothing like what they would lose in leadership and guts and game smarts. No chance they trade him.
New thread is up . . .
Gore no longer can take it to the house, he gets caught from behind and as you say his pass catching opportunities are far less now but last season he was very productive and he has been the face of the franchise up until Kap took over. I would say there is no chance he goes this year, but the odds are he is gone before the 2014 season starts. It was just an interesting titbit that Spitty put out there for debate.