San Francisco 49ers Forever

Without furthur ado, here’s our 2019 schedule. We get the pleasure of two Monday night games: Week 5 against the Browns at home, and week 10 against Seattle at home. Our Thursday game is week 9 in AZ.

You’d think the NFL in its infinite wisdom could schedule Thursday games coming off the bye week. As it is, the players are usually banged the fuck up for that game (there’s a math problem in there somewhere that I just don’t give a shit about so maybe it doesn’t work out logistically, but whatevs).

1: @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1:25 P.M., FOX, Sunday, September 8
2: @ Cincinnati Bengals, 10:00 A.M., FOX, Sunday, September 15
3: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, 1:25 P.M., CBS, Sunday, September 22,
4: Bye week
5: vs. Cleveland Browns 5:15 P.M., ESPN, Monday, October 7
6: @ Los Angeles Rams, 1:05 P.M., FOX, Sunday, October 13
7: @ Washington, 10:00 A.M., FOX, Sunday, October 20
8: vs. Carolina Panthers, 1:05 P.M., FOX, Sunday, October 27
9: @ Arizona Cardinals, 5:20 P.M., FOX, Thursday, October 31
10: vs. Seattle Seahawks, 5:15 P.M., ESPN, Monday, November 11
11: vs. Arizona Cardinals, 1:05 P.M., FOX, Sunday, November 17
12: vs. Green Bay Packers, 1:25 P.M., FOX, Sunday, November 24
13: @ Baltimore Ravens, 10:00 A.M., FOX, Sunday, December 1
14: @ New Orleans Saints 10:00 A.M., FOX, Sunday, December 8
15: vs. Atlanta Falcons, 1:25 P.M., FOX, Sunday, December 15
16: vs. Los Angeles Rams, TBD, Saturday OR Sunday, December 21/22
17: @ Seattle Seahawks, 1:25 P.M., FOX, Sunday, December 29

Got to say, those last 6 games look pretty tough. I hope we have significantly improved to get through that stretch with a winning record. We could conceivably be 7-3 and run into that 6-game gauntlet.

I mentioned this in the previous thread, and I think it holds true, that the team who gives up sacks a lot more than it creates them, will look to bolster a shakey line through free agency rather than the draft.

We have very little draft capital, and I think we need to upgrade too many other areas to use a pick on an offensive lineman. Well, maybe one. But nothing higher than a 4th rounder.

Our tackles are set in ageless Joe Staley, and Mike McGlinchey. The rest is up for grabs. Westie Richberg (Richie Westberg?) is coming off a sub-par year that he attributed for being dinged up. As of now, Person and Tomlinson are our right and left guards with Magnusen and Garnett being the backups.

So, if there was work to be done there, it would be at guard. Our guards are OK, but they leave a bit to be desired pass protection-wise. We gave up 48 sacks. Not the horrendous number of 62 given up by Houston, but we were 9th worst in sack totals,and 4th in yards lost.

One guy we are apparently interested in draft-wise is Garrett Bradbury. He had played both guard and center well in college, and could very well slip into Tomlinson’s spot. He’d be a 3rd rounder if the yokels are right. He ran a 4.9 40 and possesses the later quickness desired by our outside zone blocking scheme.

As far as who will be available after the draft? Who knows? Your guess is as good as mine.

Shanny said this early in the free agency period, so does this tip his hand? Does this mean QWilliams? Sure, it could And it very well might. It could also mean trading out of the 2 and getting picks, and going for a guy like Montez Sweat. Someone a tick below Williams, but likely right up there as a player. Funny thing about the quote is, is, George Seifert said this very same thing in the late 80’s and early 90s when he drafted Ted Washington, Dana Stubblefield and Bryant Young among his 8 picks.

They all worked out pretty well, eh? Sure, we lost Washington before he excelled, but he knew how to get defensive line guys. Seifert’s approach was to have 8 or 9  linemen rotating in and out all game depending on situation to get better pressure and to keep guys fresh throughout the game.

We certainly have a lot of bodies, we picked up a couple guys, and we also have K Street coming off injury. And it looks very damn likely that we are going after QWilliams. This means a plethora of guys to rotate in and out I’d think. And, since we are going defense with such a high pick, the pressure is squarely on another George, Robert Saleh, our embattled defensive coordinator.

He’s the latest in a long line of guys that have tried to turn around a defense that has languished at the bottom of the league since the salad days of Vic Fangio. Call it turnover, age, injuries, or shitty drafting, the 49ers have been a bottom-feeder defensively since then despite all the drafts and moves to change our fortunes. As we all know, time will tell.

I’m nearly certain we take QWilliams now.

Well, at least bore the shit out of them. As hard as Jolly Roger wants to keep football in the mind’s eye 24/7/365, now is the time for nothing. Mel Kiper’s head hasn’t even been exhumed and attached to a Disney automatron president and propped in front of a desk at ESPN headquarters.

Sure, we can keep up the QWillimas/Bosa/Sweat/Josh Allen talk, because that is what we got now. We WILL get a pass rusher with our first pick. It just depends on where that pick is. We do have a thin batch of picks this draft, and that kinda sucks. One thing Baalke was able to do was round up a lot of picks. Sure, he fucked them all sideways,  but we stand here with 6 picks instead of the bounty we have been used to.

So, trading out is high on the list of to-do’s for John Lynch. If we can trade down and still get our guy (likely Sweat or Allen) then more power to them. This of course is predicated on the Giants and Raiders needing to deal with us or AZ.

If you believe the hype, AZ is all about Murray. Going so far as to floating Josh Rosen for a 1st round pick. Seeing as that is a complete non-starter, the whole thing may be just a smokescreen to draw the Giants into a desperate trade to get Kyler.

As it is for me, I’d like to see us grab:

1. Pass rusher/edge guy
2. WR
3. Safety
4. TE
5. O line
6. CB

If we can finagle picks out of NYG or Oak, go for it.

After a flurry of activity during (well, before) the free agency period started, the rest of it has seen no activity.  That being said, we HAVE been inviting guys over to the facility to kick their proverbial feet in the interest of drafting them next month.

Josh Allen, a guy much touted by me, is stopping by to visit with the 49er brass, among all the other teams in the top 6 spots,  as a precursor to draft day. He of course had 220 tackles, 31.5 sacks, and 11 forced fumbles in his 42 games. For a defense that forced very few turnovers, as well as generate sacks, he has to be a guy high on their radar.

The thing is, they could very well trade out of the 2 spot (with the Raiders or Giants) and get him. The Raiders have 1st round picks to burn, so the impetus would be to squeeze their collective giblets (or the Giants) for a big haul.

They met with Nick Bosa last Wednesday. No more needs to be said about him that has already been hashed and rehashed. He’s either the best pass rusher available, or a bust and a half.

They also met with Quinnen Williams last week. This is the guy I think we should get. While AA is solid inside, I think they very well could move him back outside and plug  QWilliams in the interior. We are also getting Kentavius Street back and he is healthy the last I heard. Be nice to have a solid and deep line that can be rotated in and out without much let-down.

We worked out TE Josh Oliver from right down 101 at SJ State. He came on his junoir and senior seasons to rack up 91 catches for 1,006 yards and 5 TDs. He looks like a great red zone option at 6’5″ and 250 lb. Good blocker as well. We could prolly get him in the 3rd round.

They also worked out TE Chris Gragg. Not sure why, other than he’s been hurt most of his career, and we seem to gravitate to those kinds of players.

The draft as it stands now. Top 10 picks.

The scenarios I see are:

1. AZ picks Murray. We pick QW. Jets get Bosa. Raiders get Haskins. Bucs take Josh Allen, NYG take DT Ed Oliver. Jags take OL. Lions, who cares? LB? Bills get DL. Broncos take the most viable QB left. Daniel Jones.
2.  AZ picks Bosa. We trade with the Giants who take Murray. Jets get QWilliams. Raiders take Josh Allen. We get Rashan Gary (or Oliver). the rest is the same.
3. AZ trades with the Raiders who get Murray. We pick Bosa. Jets get QW. AZ gets Josh Allen. Bucs get Rashan Gary. NYG gets Haskins.

Something like that. I just don’t think we pass on Bosa.

Two things though (among a million others):

• We are supposedly high as hell on QWilliams
• The Giants are NOT high on Haskins

I thought keeping AA meant we would go with Bosa, but getting Dee Ford leans us toward QW. A good problem to have is line depth. Who can forget the rotation days of yore under George Seifert? Keeping guys fresh for 4th quarter dominance was a staple of those underrated defenses of the 80s.

In the last couple days, the 49ers added:

— LB Dee Ford (trade; Kansas City)
— RB Tevin Coleman (UFA; Atlanta)
— CB Jason Verrett (UFA; L.A. Chargers)
— LB David Mayo (UFA; Carolina)
— WR Jordan Matthews (UFA; Philadelphia)

The4y have also re-upped:

— DB Jimmie Ward (UFA)
— G Mike Person (UFA)
— LS Kyle Nelson (UFA)
–DB Antone Exum (UFA)
—LB Elijah Lee (EFA)

We franchised Robbie (good as) Gould

They lost: Garcon, Pinion, Morris and Earl Mitchell among others.

So far, I’m pretty pleased with this offseason. We didn’t fall for the sucker bets of ODB or puffy-chest. They apparently did go pretty hard after Le’Veon Bell ($38 million offer), but still got Tevin Coleman, a solid runner who can catch passes, and offers a less fragile approach to running back. I like the Jordan matthew signing. He’s a big WR who can play outside. We have enough slot WRs to fill 2 rosters. I love Matthews size.

Defensively we seem to be going after turnover guys ball-hawkers. Ford caused 8 fumbles last year, and Alexander is another fast LB that can cover and hopefully cause turnovers himself. Jason Verritt is a great, if injured, CB. He needs to stay on the field but he’s on a prove-it one year deal. He’s coming off an achilles rupture like his CB counterpart Richard Sherman. david Mayo? Don’t know too much about him other than he’s a special-teams guy.

I was leery at the start of this with the Alexander signing, but these other moves are solid and they provide needed depth at key positions.