San Francisco 49ers Forever

Yeah, it’s football down-time as we all wait one more month and change for the draft, but the 49ers have actually done a pretty solid job of getting some free agents, signing their own free agents, and even completing a trade with the dreaded Cowboys. Hopefully as devastating a trade as the Charles Haley one was, but I’m not gonna hold my breath.

We’ve shored up the O line, a little. We traded for a real good DT Osa Odighizuwa, signed safety Nate Hobbs from GB, signed Mike Evans from the Bucs, kept Jake Tonges and Eddie Money Piniero, and even reunited with Dre Greenlaw. And Nick Bosa reworked his contract to gain the team $17 mill in cap space. Did he do it go get his brother onto the team? I guess we will see, but neither is very sturdy these days, so, uh, no.

That leaves the draft. As much as I want this team to build the line, they really need to do something about the opposite side of Bosa. But they need to expend some high picks on the O line though so I guess it’ll come down to who’s available. There are a lot of DEs in this draft.And WRs.

*gulp*

Don’t do it, Shanny!

In baseball news, Team USA, behind Logan Webb, beat Canada 5-3 as Webb went 5 strong innings and got the win. They are now in the semis against the powerhouse Dominican Republic team.

In a yearly occurrence, the 49ers were granted compensatory picks for their lost free agents. We had a big purge last year, so we ended up getting three 4th round picks. The three comp picks were for Aaron Banks, Josh Dobbs, Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga, Jaylon Moore, and Charvarius Ward. And we lost our 5th round pick to the Iggles for Bryce Huff.

Funnily enough, Dre Greenlaw was released by the Broncos and is available once again. If not for his achilles injury in the Super Bowl, we mighta got that #6. But that is the past. Might be worth a camp look to see if he’s fully recovered as he was a dominant force when healthy.

Other than that, the blog world (at least around these parts) was shaken to its core with Big Flav announcing the end of his SF Giants blog, OneFlapDown. Craig started his blog back in 2009 when the Chronicle’s Splash Hit blog got insanely overrun with crazies and weasels and overkill on the moderation.

I’ve gotten to meet quite a few of the bloggers as we’ve gone to a few baseball games together, and in a coincidence of monumental proportions, I discovered that one of the blog posters had a son attending SF State at the same time as my daughter. The night before I met him in person, I realized that his son was dating my daughter. Crazy stuff.

Hey, we signed Eddie Dinero Piniero as well, but I do like the Mike Evans signing. He’s solid, tough, has size and speed, and is a great 3rd down/deep ball/red zone option given his 6’5″ 230 lb frame. Yeah a little long in the tooth at 32, but he’s got some mileage left.

A little surprised the Buccos simply gave up on him as he must lead their team in just about every WR category, but hey, he’s a pro and he should do very well here.

So glad to see a move like this as this will hopefully get the impetus to fix the O line in the draft. Throw Mac Jones into the mix for some good bodies on the O line.

Beyond the fact that we get to play TWO international games this year.

Whoopeeee!

Although the flight to Mexico City is shorter than our regular east coast swings. But yeah, Australia and Mexico. Be still my heart. With our luck there will be a Thursday game for us after the 18 hour flight home.

Other than that, at least the bloggowebs are paying some lip service to the O line woes and that we are kicking the tires on Steeler LG Issac Seamalo. There are a few other names out there, and guys in the draft I haven’t really gone in depth to look at. And there are apparently a ton of good WRs. But I think we should wait until the 4th round for that and look in free agency for our wideouts. Mike Evans, say.

So yeah, really missing NJ 49er right now.

Here we are in February, the same month as the Super Bowl, and we have our first contract impasse. Trent Williams and the team are “struggling to find a contractual solution” according to John Lynch. Something they’ve been working on since that crap-ass Super Bowl. Oh goodie. A team that has O line woes may lose their best lineman to free agency.

Will this get the 49ers brass to pay attention to the line in the draft?

We’ll find out one way or another.

One good thing about the hype train is that guys can get boosted by the media for no other reason than there’s not much else to talk about. The latest is the 49ers are expected to get “BIG OFFERS” for Mac Jones, the next rehabbed QB after Sourdough Sam Super Bowl champ.

Of course, nowhere are these BIG OFFERS spelled out exactly, or even remotely. But yeah with a weak QB class behind portal princess Fernando Mendoza, a weak-ass free agency QB class (hey, let’s give this Trey Lance guy a shot!) led by Daniel Jones (our next backup rehab?) and a bunch of other backups (Minsheeeeewwwwwwww? Zack Wilson? Hey, let’s rehab the entire 2021 QB draft class!), a guy like Mac Jones will continue to get the hype treatment as the guy to fix a team like Minnesota’s QB problems.

Minn of course famously jettisoned their rising sourdough bread loaf 14-3 QB for an unproven dry-white-toast guy in JJ McCarthy. The results? McCarthy went 6-4 and missed 7 games (plus his entire first season) as the Vikings missed the playoffs. And we all know were Sourdough Sam went. He went to Disneyland!

Hey, I’d take a 2nd round pick and tackle Christian Darrisaw. Unless the hype train drives his value up to the 1s. And Minn is likely the best landing spot for a guy like Jones seeing how successful Sammy was. Besides Minnehaha, teams the need a QB are:

• LV Raiders – Yeah, they get to cross the Mendoza line but if they were prudent, they’d let him cool his heels at least one year on the pine. Maxx Crosby would be a nice shiny piece, but we would be the ones adding picks to that deal. Would the Raiders do a deal with us?
• NY Jets – Still reeling from the Aaron Rodgers/Robert Saleh/Joe Douglas/Woody Harrelson, uh Johnson inepti-fest, they tried to rally behind Justin Fields. He wasn’t terrible, but he missed 12 games. The rest were garbage and that team is a running train wreck and I pity the fool that ends up there.
• Cleveland Browns – See Jets, NY above. Mayfield/Chubb/Stefanski/Andy (May)Berry shit-show continues the legacy of the Factory of Sadness for another few decades.
• Miami Dolphins – Hawk Tua looks to be jettisoned and they would be a prime spot for Jones. Not as big a fuck-fest as the above 2, but they are trending that way.
• Pittsburgh Steelers – Well, seeing as Mega Mike McCarthy may want to keep Aaron Rodgers for one last gasp, they might not need him, but it would be better than the Jets and Browns, and they still might want him for insurance purposes.

Speaking of insurance, the Rams might just let Clipboard GQ Jimmy G find another team’s clipboard to hold and get Jones for insurance. Would we do a deal with them?

Saints and Colts are also unsettled at the QB spot, so let the hype train roll on!! Let’s get a #1!!!

This shit is too funny. “That’s the end of the game!” and the ref high tails it out of the stadium.

Well, football season is in full nothing-but-hype mode as teams position themselves for the draft and the upcoming free agency period. The 49ers got off to a roaring start (*urp*) with the signing of C/G Nick Zakelj, he of the 47 point word score in Scrabble. Not bad in and of itself, unless they really think he is starter material. Funny thing is, though, Ben (owwww!) Bartch and Spenser Burford are free agents as well. Barth is a walking injury waiting to happen, so I don’t see him as a priority. Burford? No, not really as well.

So, we look to be replacing a center and 2 guards. On top of already needing to find Trent Williams’ replacement, and finding a swing tackle.

I really hope they look at the draft AND free agency. We need a lot to fix this line.

Among our lengthy list of free agents, the guys to sign are Eddie Dinero Piniero, Skyy Moore, Clelen Ferrell, and Kevin Givens. The dumps are Bartch, Bourne, Burford, Gross-Matos, Pinnock, Curtis Robsinson, TTaylor, and PTaylor Jr.

I’m iffy on Jennings, Brian Robinson, Morstead, Wallow, and Weeks.

My only issue with these guys is their backups ON the team aren’t beating them out. Jennings brings a ton of balls and swagger to the WR room, and he carries a lot of weight. If he goes, we have one guy who is hurt a lot, and diddly squat. Cowing and Watkins are following the trail blazed by AJ Jenkins and Danny Gray.

Brian Robinson didn’t get a chance to play that much, but his backups were invisible. Given a decent O line, I think he could really be productive, but 99% of that is on Shanahan and his reluctance to give CMC rest. Morstead and Weeks could be fairly easily replaced, but we might as well keep them since they are known commodities. I guess I’d keep Wallow as he played well despite his depth in the depth chart.

Well, the sports landscape hits the Sargasso Sea of things going on. Or is it the Horse Latitudes? Basketball slogs on through its endless amount of regular season games. about 20 too many, baseball is juuuust starting to poke its head out of the frozen tundra, and oh yeah there is the Olympics, if that is your bag.

I do enjoy the skiing and the various ways men and women slide down a frozen river at 90 MPH, but other than that, quiet time. NFL draft time. Various mock sites have us taking Kenyon Sadiq the TE from Orygun. Big fuck no to that. Even going DT like Caleb Banks would be someone I would pass on. Only for the reason that we NEED to protect Purdy at all costs. As the Seattle games showed, Purdy struggled under the relentless pressure of their 4-man cover 2 defense.

We couldn’t run or pass. And the reason the 49ers won the 1st game was because the defense was healthy, and the Sourdough Sam offense was finding its way. Well, they were still pretty inept in the Super Bowl, and a few of their other wins. Which is why it is imperative that we get Purdy and the offense help.

Other than that, sad to hear Greg Brown, original lead guitarist for Cake passed away. Very cool Sacto band with a very distinct sound. The trumpet solo from War Pigs is great.

Here we go. Got my first sighting of the reanimated talking helmet hair head of Mel Kiper Jr. Must be draft hyperventilating time. I mean, really, all these prognosticators go south after the first 6 picks anyway. But there’s plenty of money and plenty of clicks to be had, so carry on, Mel.

Well, that was a let-down. Both QBs looked pretty overwhelmed, but Drake Maye was flat awful under the relentless Seattle pass rush. Say what you will about the Seahawks, but they have built a defense that is hands-down the best in the league. Their 4-man rush was way too much for the Patriots to handle, and when Seattle threw a blitz at them, it resulted in a sack, a fumble, a pick, or all of the above. Since their pass rush is so effective, they can run a nickel defense all the time and take away everything deep by playing their safeties back. They do play a defense similar to ours (4-3, short zone), but everyone on their D line applies pressure nearly every play and their LBs fill the gaps on just about every run.

It looked like this would be an 18-0 snoozer what with Seattle stalling out on all their drives to the 20, but Sourdough Sam got one TD in the 4th quarter, and their defense got another one late. So, in reality, NE’s offense got 1 more TD than Seattle’s. Huzzah.

But the game was littered with missed passes on both sides. Maye hit one long gainer but otherwise was awful. HE was seeing ghosts. NE couldn’t run for shit either, but Seattle (and their MVP Kenneth Walker) set the tone early with a couple big runs and they kicked their way to a 19-0 lead into the 4th and coasted it out. All in all a real snoozer. All the shots around the Bay Area looked great, tho.

Didn’t see the halftime drama as the puppy needed a walk. Did the world end? Did Bad Bunny burn a flag? According to Twitter, the NFL will be forced to shut down due to the negative reaction by trillions of people. In other words, the basement dwellers weren’t happy but the rest of the world went “Whatevs. It’s a halftime show.” No nipples were harmed in this year’s production, so there’s that.

AI sez Bad Bunny got 136 million viewers, and Kid Rock got 5 mill.