San Francisco 49ers Forever

Here we go! 5:00 PM today, the hyperbopalooza begins. Pittsburgh is the lucky site for this insanely overblown extravaganza of corporate greed, needless glitz and grandiosity, and oh yeah, the draft.

The self-indulgent importance is only heightened by the fact that the draft is on FOUR networks. NFLN, ESPN, ABC, and ESPN Deportes.

Round 2 starts 4:00 PM tomorrow

Rounds 3-7 starts at 9:00 AM Saturday

The breathlessness and hype is crazy but for all the bullshit, this team really needs to get younger and stronger with this draft. Seattle got weaker through attrition but they have been very solid in their drafts lately, and as the NFC West goes, so goes the NFL. One of us, the Rams, and the Hawks are more than likely gonna be the champs if the season goes according to plan.

1. DE
   2. C
   4. LG
   4. WR
   4. S
   4. RB

And how ’bout them Giants! Sweep!

. . . and welcome Flapper orphans!!!

Thought I wrote this yesterday, but now that we have Trent signed for one more year (and one less holdout) I’m of a mind to, yes, go with a DE in the 27 spot. I’ve been moaning about rhe O line, but at this point, getting a strong DE could tip the scales in our favor. This is a very strong DE draft, so we can get the guys I mentioned yesterday (somewhere if only in my mind) like TJ Parker from Clemson or Cashius Howell from Texas A&M. They could likely be available.

Adam Schefter has us even trading out of the 27th spot with NE for their 31 and a 2nd round pick. I could see us doing that if both guys are still available. Everyone seems to be looking for O line talent in the mid to late draft, so I think we can wait till the 2nd and 3rd rounds to go C, LG.

Then just waste the usual picks on an RB that never sees the field and a WR that spends the season in the dog house.

And, hey, go Giants ! ! ! be nice to roast the dogs these next couple games.

Pretty edgy stuff for 1967.

Well, maybe they ARE learning. Trent Williams got a 2 year/$50 million extension. Before the draft. Before the OTAs. Before the preseason. We still need his backup, but the need for a starter to move in immediately is off the table. That still leaves LG and C as big needs. For me.

Yes, we need a DE to bookend Bosa but the interior looks pretty good with the trade for Odighizuwa and the reps that Collins and M Williams got. Before they got hurt.

As usual, this all depends on 2/3 of the team not going down to injury.

Because remember how well it went last time they did this?

Comical how fucking tight-ass these multi-billionaires are when it comes to paying the plebes in their domain. Make them full-time? FUCK NO!!! That means we’d have to pay benefits!

Christ. Baseball has robo-umps. How about robo-refs?

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/ai-officiating-is-coming-to-the-nfl-will-it-help-135822689.html

Other than that, the draft is coming in 9 days. Draft for O line help!!!!!

And by that I mean draft offensive linemen. The achilles heel for lo all these years has pretty much been getting shut down by teams with strong defensive lines. Seattle gets away with playing a nickel defense and still gets max pressure from their 4 man line. It stopped us in our tracks.

Near as I can tell we need a LG, a C and a backup/starter for Trent Williams. Although Vederian Lowe is possibly a decent backup. We signed 2 backup LGs in Brett Toth and Rob Jones to an already underwhelming group of Connor Colby and Nick Zakelj. so, upgrade that spot.

Jake Brendel is near the bottom of the league in centers so we need an upgrade there as well. He may be a decent run blockerm, but his pass blocking is

I think LG is the biggest weakness so start there.

Plenty of draft boards have us getting an O line in the 1st but I took a look at Walterfootball. They are pretty good and seem like they do their research, but their picks are:

1st: Kayden McDonald, DT, Ohio State
2nd: Jaylon Guilbeau, CB, Texas
3rd: Aaron Anderson, WR, LSU
4th: Ted Hurst, WR, Georgia State
4th: Kaytron Allen, RB, Penn State
4th: Mason Reiger, DE, Wisconsin
4th: Deshon Singleton, S, Nebraska

Nothing for the line. I don’t get it.

For once in their lives, they really need to go O line. Hard. 1 and 3 at the least.

The Giants are staggering out of the gate with little hitting, poor defense, and terrible pitching, the Warriors can’t tank their way out of the playoffs even without Steph, and the 49ers can’t seem to figure out how to build their O line. At least the Sharks have a bona fine star in Macklin Celebrini, son of Warriors team doctor Wayne Celebrini. But they ain’t playoff bound either.

So that leaves what? The draft? Everyone who cares about the team is praying they do more than use late picks to bolster their O line. One that has seem the ‘addition’ of a couple backup LGs and their dicking around with Trent. What they will do is another story entirely. I do like their last couple drafts. Minus the Pearsall pick. Great kid. Terrible story around getting shot. But he needs to stay on the field. He’s awesome when playing but not when he’s not. Which is a lot.

If they score a DE in the 1st, they’d better nail it. I have all the faith in the world around our revamped defense under Raheem Morris, and the fact a lot of our young guys got serious playing time with all the injuries. But again, it is ALL about the O line. Our losses last year came at the hands of teams with a strong pass rush.

Hoping against hope they can build an O line that gives Purdy time, and of course they find a way to rest CMC. Stop me if I haven’t said this shit before.

News from the brass is that Trent Williams’ signing is imminent and all is well in Ninerland with the electromagnetic devastation raining down on the practice field. It’s a nothingburger. Sure.

OK, then hire a new fucking training/medical staff. OK? Cuz these guys suck.

Other than that, we appear to have fixed the WR issue with a couple grizzled vets in Mike Evans and Christian Kirk to take over for certainly Brandon Aiyuk and possibly Jauan Jennings. Still waiting for them to sign something more than camp fodder for LG, but hey, there’s some time. And the draft.

The only other drama surrounding the team is the ungodly travel schedule. The Rams were so embarrassed by the 49ers taking over their stadium in recent years that they begged the NFL to schedule them an international home game against us. In fucking AUSTRALIA. A nice 32 hours of flight time to start the season.

Then we get to play in Mexico City? Woo hoo. Last time we did that the team caterers got the team Montezuma’s revenge. Do we get 2 more Thursday games? Does the front door of the stadium have a ‘kick me’ sign on it? Fuck these schedulers.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Awards of Excellence awarded offensive line coach Bobb McKittrick with his induction to the hallowed hall. He of course was the O line architect for 21 seasons, and was involved in all 5 Super Bowl victories. His favoring of smaller, faster, and mainly unheralded, linemen set the tone for the the quick short passing game, and the motion/misdirection that was the west coast offense. Nevermind the cut blocking he so favored as well.

Strangely enough, we are still in the midst of this philosophy. McKittrick led to our OC Mike Shanahan, which led to the Broncos going with smaller faster linemen and unheralded running backs to help power the John Elway offense, which led to Kyle Shanahan, the current cheap-skater of our current offensive line. So here we are still trying to build a small fast heap line.

Flap orphans unite!!! Hah! This is the first home opener for the Giants in at least 20 years. Feels like it. Something like that. Season kinda snuck up on me. The newly Tony Vitelli coached team is looking better with Bader and Arrez, and defensively with Bader and, uh, Bader, but I’m still worried about the pen and the starters. And we get the Yankees to kick off the year.

Woo hoo! I think we’ll be better than last year, and reach the playoffs, but it’s a long season and spring springs eternal.

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Meanwhile in the mudflats, the 49ers are once again stonewalling a star that they need and they more than likely will drag out till late August. Not very happy that they fuck around with Trent Williams, but they’d better get this done. And since the will, why go through the bullshit?

And we DID sign left guard Robert Jones. He of the Dolphins and Cowboys. Actually he broke his neck last July so never played for them but he’s better. I guess. We’ll get Larry, Moe, and Curly on his medical report.

. . . for what is ailing the football team. Here we go once again with the trials and tribulations around the 49ers crack(head) medical staff. Yeah, guys play hurt. They want to be out there. They keep quiet about their injuries, but George Kittle is the latest to say he was hurting three weeks before he tore his achilles.

He said he tore ligaments in his left ankle in the week 16 game against Indy and kept playing on it. He said he overcompensated by using his other leg too much. He ended up missing week 17 against the Bears, but here we are with a major star with a major injury. Would it have helped for him to miss the week 18 Philly game? we’ll never know. But still and all, this medical staff has been among the most injured just about every year they’ve been a art of the team.

Maybe it’s time for a change, eh?