Bleeech. The 2013 season came to a resouding thud last night as Richard Sherman tipped a Colin Kaepernick pass intended for Michael Crabtree that was intercepted as time was winding down. Sherman of course classed the joint up by giving the choke sign and screaming at Erin Andrews as his team celebrated their trip to the Super Bowl. God, I hope they lose the Super Bowl. Don’t want to think about or mention the game. Might as well look ahead.
What happens now will be interesting to say the least. Donte Whitner’s a free agent, but he has stated numerous times he wants to stay here. Carlos Rogers is the one on shakey ground. He’s scheduled to make $13.5 mill over the next 2 years, and he’ll be 33 come summer time. With Chris Culliver hopefully coming back from injury, Brock and Brown playing well, and Perrish Cox as the backup, I think we can lose him, and he’d only be around $3.5 mill of dead money. Plus we’ll draft for DB help as well. The linebackers are locked in for the next couple years, and even Dan Skuta is signed through next year. You have to wonder how much longer Justin Smith can play at this level, but he showed he doesn’t seem to be slowing down. He’s got one more year as well. Tarell Brown, who mistakenly lost out on $2.2 mill this season by not participating in team-scheduled practices, did get a bump from the Niners in December, but they still need to decide what to do with him. I’d say sign him. Adios Carlos.
Offensively is where things get sketchy. Michael Crabtree has one year left on his contract, as does Colin Kaepernick. Those 2 stand to cash in very heavily, and the Niners may try to work on contract extensions before they hit the free market next year. Mike Iupati is down to his last year as well, and with the extension of Anthony Davis, you have to wonder how hard they’ll want to hold on to Iupati. He may end up a cap casualty, but I think they’ll at least try to sign him this offseason to a multi-year deal. Crabs likely wants something in the $50-60 mill/5 year range. He came back ahead of schedule and played outstanding ball, so you’d think they will go hard to extend him. Kappy? Well, had he won yesterday his numbers would have gone up. As it is, the Niners could hedge their bet and not re-up til the contract ends after next season. This could prove to be very costly, as the Baltimore Ravens recently discovered. Sign him up front, and you control some of the cost, but his star-crossed career has already had more that its share of big wins and crushing losses. Can they make another deep playoff run 4 years in a row with Kappy at the helm? Or do they draft his replacement and play out the string? I don’t see that happening, but do they want to tie themselves to a 5 year $120 mill deal with him? I think we draft a QB at somewhere around the 3rd round just to be on the safe side.
Whatever the case, Crabs and Kappy are set to cash in. Beyond that, there are a lot of instant free agents as of now. The list is:
WR Anquan Boldin
CB Tarell Brown
CB Perrish Cox
K Phil Dawson
RB Anthony Dixon
C Jonathan Goodwin
WR Mario Manningham
QB Colt McCoy
WR Kassim Osgood
S Donte Whitner
CB Eric Wright
Off the top, I think Manningham, Pea Shooter McCoy, Goodwin, Wright, and Boobie are gone. The obvious concerns are Anquan Boldin and Tarell Brown. Boldon is 33, but his impact on the success of the team was pretty much off the charts. He and Kappy developed a quick rapport and without Boldin, I don’t think this team even makes the playoffs. But he’s going to want 3 years at least. And with Crabs set to break the bank, I’m not sure how they handle this. I’d think with Rogers coming off the books, they’ll try to keep Brown, with Culliver hopefully recovering from his knee injury.
Phil Dawson was money as well, but he shouldn’t cost all that much. Keep him. Cox and Osgood shouldn’t cost too much either. Get them back as well.
Beyond that, all these upcoming deals have the huge caveat of the 49ers moving into their shiny brand new stadium. They aren’t going to want to lay a big fat egg once they get there, so I wonder how this affects their thinking, if at all. One would think that they will maybe spend more than the may want to to keep the core group together, and make sure they have a strong team going into the 2014 season. They can pass the buck til 2015, but by then the team could be stripped of a lot of good players and we hit another rebuilding session. Will Harbaugh be up for that? He’s looking for a new fat contract himself, and he certainly burns brightly as he moves around the coaching sphere. Will he get itchy feet?
Forty Niners Forever 
Just by glancing, resign:
Cox, Dawson, Goodwin, Osgood, Wright.
The rest I’ll leave for debate.
You keep Iupati, assuming his ankle recovery goes OK. You don’t offload first round OLmen that are All Pro or near All Pro in their prime, they’re too important to the core performance of the team…
Agreed. Half the Niner offense was Gore behind Miller behind Iaputi. Great O-lineman are a treasure.
I found it curious they extended Davis, but not Iupati. Maybe this offseason they’ll do it. But if they don’t extend, I think he’s gone.
The guy is 27 in May. He’s got a good 5 years of great to very good line play left. It usually takes a year or two to get a new OLman up to speed. Virtually everyone agrees that getting and maintaining a good OL is the key to a consistently winning team. Why would they get rid of an All Pro level lineman in his prime?…
Totally agree Iupati is a no brainer to return.
At least Harbaugh changed his pleated pants. BLEEP!
Anyone having a beer today? Dos Equis for me perhaps later.
Dennis can have mine.
You were right about one thing–100% chance of bloviating.
“GOTCHA”
RT, Wright is probably gone. Rumor was he got into Fangio’s doghouse right away, and that was why Cox jumped over Wright on the depth chart when we re-signed Cox.
I’d like to keep Boldin, Dawson, Osgood, and surprisingly to me, maybe Whitner if we can work a deal.
Boldin has some good ball left in him. How much does he cost is the deal, though. Whitner is a keeper along the same lines, how much?
Whitner playing with Reid was hugely better than Whitner last year playing with Dashon.
This draft needs to focus on offense. I don’t think there is a choice after last night. We need to get faster and better at WR. We need to pass the torch at center. You have to have a better backup QB than Colt. We need a tackle option in case Anthony Davis keeps struggling. The team has to figure out how to generate yards on the ground – a power running attack that cannot gain 2 yards per carry against a good defense is not a Championship offense, PERIOD.
On defense, it may have to be a year of patching and making do. We should draft a CB somewhere in the mix, and maybe a S. Other than that, we need to stand pat with our front seven and fix the other areas of the team that need fixing.
Whitner really looked goood with Reid as his safety mate. Not so good when covering for Goldson.
Yeah, as bad as the run game was, it got worse when Iupati went down. Losing Miller had its affect as well.
A speed WR is a glaring need that I’m getting tired of hoping for. I do really want Roman to go. His offensive style is archaic on the passing side, and Kaepernick gets little help. I would love to get Kappy’s UNR coach Chris Ault. He’s some sort of consultant in KC.
You’d think with all that nomenclature and shifts and supposed complexity and such, the passing game would be effective to some extent with a decent set of receivers in Boldin, Crabby and VD. But, it’s just hit and miss. They need to scrap or seriously change their overall pass attack strategy. It’s not working well. And Kap needs to work hard on his field awareness, not lock onto one guy. Where were Patton and VD yesterday? VD was a non-factor. I’m not convinced another TE is not needed. VD tends to go hot and cold, sometimes AWOL, and drops catchable balls with regularity. How much is his fault, and how much is the fault of the scheme and Kap not seeing the field — I dunno. Somebody smarter than I on that can explain…
two things:
the passing game won’t work w/o the threat of a run game when the D is stacked to stop it, in spite of having a qb that isn’t seeing the entire field/passing options. Kaep was doing fine until he stopped running.
ya, receivers that drop the ball gotta go. speed or not, if you drop passes, what diff does it make?
I don’t know that this passing game is more complex than many others are, but a rash of injuries DID take the Niners out of their game and that’s huge. People want to bark at the refs or any number of other factors but injuries killed their chances more than any other single thing, imo.
Running back, fullback, backup QB, two O-line guys and a speedy wideout, that’s a tall order. DB’s aren’t any easier and I’m thinking, “okay, lots of guys come back from ankles injuries like they never happened.” But I’m also wondering “how bad is Bowman’s break since his game is based as much on his speed as his strength and reads.” I know, gotta wait and see what the docs say.
Gore has been beat down too much over the past five or six seasons to have serious gas in his tank but he has another good yr, min, left. Hold off on some huge bucks RB and get a real FB and a ctr. Fangio, according to my 49er buddy of 40 yrs, is fine as long as the 9ers are not challenged by a great or even a very good D, he sucks conservative football when the second half begins. That’s a niner fans’ opinion, not mine.
Baalke and York need to decide where they’re going and it all looks like it’s going to be at or over the cap…
Yep, for the umpteenth time, we need a big, speedy WR threat for downfield action. Apparently that is like asking the Giants to develop a home-grown, quality outfielder…
I’ll catch you guys down the line. It’s been pleasant chatting with you this year. Tough way to finish the season but they’ve done themselves proud over this last 3 years and it was great to see CK and Harbaugh handle the rough loss with class.
Yeah, with that, Vance McDonald is bringing nothing to the table. Can’t block well, and doesn’t get open. I’m not sure why Kappy locks on like he does, but based on the routes earlier WRs were ‘running’ I’d say Kap was directed where to throw on a given play. Hence Baldwin getting startled by a ball thrown his way in the Saints game, and secondary WRs never trying to get open.
Shit, Bowman has a torn ACL and MCL. Tough break.
Fack. I’ve torn both and that’s a long road back. If ever. Good luck to him, and I say that genuinely.
Later Twin, I’ll find my contribution to your poetry thread, if you don’t close comments. It’s somewhere in my cob-webby attic 😉
I don’t close the comments for a couple months.
Good. My attic is a mess and I don’t have it on any media besides paper.
What is this ‘paper’ you speak of?
With all the skiing I’ve done, I somehow have avoided any major knee injuries, but I know way too many friends who blew their knees out. It is no fun rehabbing.
See ya in September, Twinnie . . . yeah, a great season comes to a brutal end. It’s great to be relevant once again, but the falls are painful.
6″ to the right and Crabs catches that ball. Sherman made a spectacular play. He is a wonderfully talented player, but a stunted twit of a man.
“Paper”? Oh thats the green folding stuff you put in yer wallet that used to be worth something. It has been a long time ago though
In the for-what-it’s-worth department, Anquan Boldin sounds like he wants to stick around here. He’ll be an official free agent come March, so we’ll see what happens, but he balked at taking a salary cut in Baltimore, and was promptly traded.
Still and all, he’s certainly invaluable, and we need him, so I say $18 mill, 3 years?
What’s the guaranteed dough on something like that?…
Likely around $5 mill. They can build in incentives and shit.
I hope Bowman takes a steady recovery and rehab, and does not try to come back too soon. If he’s out for the first month or six weeks, let Lemonieux and Skuta and Wilhoite (assuming they keep him) get some more game experience….
The better team won last night. I agree with Ratto. We beat ’em at home, they beat us in their house. Key is they won the home field advantage throughout the regular season, and they won the second half of the game last night. They won, they’re the better team. Now the 49ers are faced with two things – the legitimate question of whether or not their offensive philosophy works, and how they consider that philosophy going forward while reshaping their team this off season in the face of forced change.
I’m personally sold on Kaep. Yes, he needs to go through his progressions better. Yes, he needs to see the field better. Yes, he needs to be more of a pocket passer, and like Montana said, he needs to be able to throw in the face of pressure. But Kaep has an enormously high ceiling if his coaches can help him utilize all of his talents. But Kaep is limited by Roman. You don’t have a run game coordinator from the college ranks teaching a young qb how to orchestrate an NFL passing attack. It’s not a good fit. You give Kaep an OC and qb coach who are both well versed with proven NFL passing resumes, on the same page, and Kaep will flourish, especially if he’s given younger, faster receivers alla Alshon Jeffery and the like.
I don’t have much faith in Harbaugh’s ability to change. I think he’s stuck in a Bo Schembeckler state of mind, and I don’t see much learning from this past experience coming to the Harbaugh camp. I think we’ll continue to be a playoff team, without Super Bowl victories. Mike Shanahan and John Elway didn’t actually win the Super Bowl together until they brought in a dynamic running game. Together, even in the days of Dan Reves, Shanahan and Elway threw the ball all over Christmas, but it wasn’t until Terrel Davis got there that the Broncos became two time world champs. The 49ers need to transition away from an older Gore, and then work to develop a dynamic passing attack by drafting wrs and dumping Roman. I honestly think it will take years for Harbaugh to have a Shanahan / Elway type epiphany.
I don’t see Roman going anywhere unless he gets a better job (HC). Harb’s loves him. Frank Gore called him the best coach he’s EVER had. All the football guys with influence on whether he stays or goes love him. Personally, I have no idea why but I’m not on the team. Nobody here is
I agree they all love Roman, and of course Frank Gore would love Roman. Problem is, Gore’s done. The rest of the coaching staff loves Roman like you would a brother. Sure, your brother has his faults, but you aren’t going to let anyone else know that. Roman will hang around for another few years and then get fired. He won’t get a head coaching job. People around the league know Roman’s a run game coordinator. That’s not a sexy, sellable coach to bring in to get the fan base fired up. Roman will be the next Alex Smith. Dug in like a tick, hoping not to get exposed.
Run OC should tell you something. I’m not sure they can’t win with these coaches, but they have to adjust. The run game is complex, the passing game is simplistic. No slants, no underneath outlets, very few slant-and-reads. They are taking all the decision making out of Kappy’s hands. He needs to step up and take more control of the offense. If they let him.
I’m marginally behind you on this.
I don’t think it’s all Gore. Some of it, yeah – Gore still pops through the line once in a while, but those 50 yard TDs of yesteryear are 25 yard runs now, with Gore getting run down by the younger guys.
Lattimore has a real shot at replacing Gore but something more than just the guy in the uniform needs to change. For years we’ve been a team that pounds it into the line, getting a yard or two, waiting for that one run that goes for 20 or 30.
That does not get it done. You have to move the chains and keep the other offense off the field to win with a running attack. Too many of our plays / formations leave us in second or third and long.
We need a run game that sets the table for 2nd and five or third and short. *Some* of that is Gore, but a lot more of it is the predictability of our running out of a given formation, I think.
I’d rather get five yards every time we run, and sustain drives and move the chains, than 15 or 20 one-yard exercises in futility followed by one 30 or 40 yard breakaway.
Give me first downs, and 70 or 80 yard drives, with this defense, and we will win Super Bowls. The way we are doing it now… not so much.
Horse BLEEP !!
All the cool kids say ‘redacted’, now, Nipper.
Grumpy I have just declared you “redacted.”
What’s obviously missing from the Kaep/Roman repertoire is, the quick strike/timing passes.
Whether that is due to personnel or, the development of Kaep as a pocket passer, remains a mystery to me.
Most, if not all of, the routes Kaep throws appear to be vertical or out-routes by nature.
Focusing outside the numbers and deep middle throws on occassion.
He’s not, (or Roman doesn’t prefer it) adept at the inside crossing routes at this point.
Kaep is a target thrower, not yet able to throw a guy open IMO.
He’ll develop the touch throws as he goes I’m sure.
Maybe adding a Pass Game coordinator of some kind wouldn’t be a terrible idea?
Heck, they brought in Mangini to assist Roman, though I’m not sure just what he assisted with.
I’d be looking for quick inside WRs in May along with a Boldin/Crabtree hands-type leaper.
We have issues with Seattle’s Secondary for 2 reasons.
Height and press-man coverage.
We’ll need another guy like Crabtree, who can play physical and, use his hands well in tight coverage.
Allen Robinson from PSU might be a good option there?
As much as I like the size of Kelvin Benjamin, I’d need to see more of his game, to know whether he’s got that ‘battler’ mentality, especially with the limited experience he has at the College level.
Very deep WR Class coming out, I’m sure Baalke has his guys in focus.
DE Larry Webster from Bloomsburg, (Son of the former Dolphins OLman by the same name), is an intriguing kid.
He’s got a solid basketball background, which would suggest to me that, he’s got some hand eye coordination to go along with his size, 6’7″ 240.
Might want to consider him for a TE position?
Jimmy Graham II?
Another kid I like, WR Donte Moncrief from Ole Miss. 6’3″ 226
Looks chiseled like Delane and plays tough.
Good numbers as well.
He’ll get down the field too. Averaged 15+ yds/catch.
Many interesting options to sift through.
Looking forward to the Senior Bowl this weekend, along with the Combines, to see just what these kids look like in the Scouting process.
I’m not quite sure why everybody’s down on Gore now. He’s been “washed up” for years now according to some ex-spurts.
End of a long season, getting worn down is not uncommon or a career ender for guys much younger with a lot less miles. Plus I think Gore took a couple of big hits in the brain pan area. Funny how so many judge him done every year. I guess sooner or later they’ll be right and come back with a big “I told you so.”
He or his running has been the main element to quite a few wins this year despite the steady drone of complaints from the peanut gallery. One thing’s sure, the Seahwaks weren’t selling out to stop Hunter. The threat of Gore’s dive is what opens the lanes for CK7 to take off.
Seattle’s front seven is difficult to run on. Even more so when running is the order of the day. Gore had six stuffs, defined as zero or negative yards gained. That’s penetration of the defense or the defense knocking the o-line off the ball and something Gore has no control over whatsoever. Besides, Gore, as most downhill rushers, get bigger gains as their touches increase and later in the game when the defense wears down a bit and is a bit more sluggish.
The guy’s been carrying this team’s offense for a long, long time. Let’s give the old guy a break.
.
Looks like Mr. Sherman still has some pent-up ill will toward his old coach, eh?? Still feels dissed by Harbaugh, and Harbaugh/CK7 handed him the chance to stick it to them. Bad, bad decision and probably involved more hubris and juvenile desire to put a point on the win than good sense.
Frank is, and has been, the Heart and Soul of this Team for years NoFear49er, no question.
The only fact that plays into this rhetoric now is, the Cap implications.
It’s a tough spot for him only because of the age/Contract decisions that have to be made.
No doubt Baalke and Co have to make a tough decision in that regard.
I too thought the move to run Kaep was predicated on all the attention focused on Gore yesterday.
We overcame the noise early, got them on their heels but, couldn’t sustain enough Offense to put them away.
We’ve got a good Roster.
Seattle does too.
We face-planted in the second half.
Brutal game in terms of carnage too.
If not for a couple of misplayed deep balls in the Secondary, we held our own.
What could have been, if not for a blown call, on the punt too.
Right you are NJ49er, except for Reid and Whitner letting Baldwin get behind them for a fifty yard big play and our entire defense getting beat on that Lynch TD run and one bad punt and one big return allowed, and CK7’s fumble, INT and final play, yeah, we got beat. Funny thing is, in spite of all the mistakes and playing in the most difficult environment we still had the win if we could have played better in the final minute. Too much like the Super Bowl ending. Damn shame we couldn’t have shut those squawking birds down, and up.
Iupati being out is the reason Kap and Frank couldnt run after our first TD.. Same thing happened in the regular season when Mike I was out: we couldn’t run against a stacked box with our meager passing game. No holes/lanes = no Iupati = no running game = passing like fools in 2nd half despite Crabs presence with the PAC-10 OC attack. We had NO run game minus MI. Nothing wrong with having Frank back next year- and we will- while Lattimore gets up to speed. Nuts to the idea of letting MI walk or low-balling him. He’ll be signed with the money we save on CK not winning the SB this year. Him and a few others like Boldin. Franks got another year but Jim Brown couldnt have run against that D minus Mke I.
Fire the OC (and Dennis)
I would guess that Baalke and Marathe have their numbers aligned for FA and Contract extensions.
A guy I’m on the fence about right now is, Iupati.
Should Iupati venture into the FA pool, he’ll get plenty of attention.
Could be a tough guy to retain if that happens.
He’s also a 1st Rd Pick in terms of Comp Value, should we lose him.
Anthony can easily slide into his spot in favor of Cap Mgt and a younger RT.
We have a young OT from Azusa Pacific, Luke Marquardt, who was tutored by none other than Jackie Slater. Could be a diamond in the rough, who knows?
Is Kilgore the Center of the future?
If so, Goodwin is as good as gone too.
Carlos is overpaid for his age as well.
Many a tough decision awaits.
I have no doubts that they’ll stick to their budget and get the most from this situation.
Perhaps restructuring Frank and, retaining Anquan and Whitner, could be in the cards?
First things first. Fire your ass as GM. Then imbibe with gusto. Laugh the whole thing off. Wait patiently for Sept. Quietly.
NoFear, I’ve been saying Gore’s struggles are a direct problem with the formations he runs out of. He is what he is. An inside the tackles runner who can wreak havoc if he can get through the line. If they would run every play out of 3-4 WR sets, it would help him dramatically. There is absolutely no reason to run the jumbo package on first or 2nd down and have him run out of it. Sure, he’ll pop a big one now and then out of the jumbo package. But it has to be blocked perfectly to get him through the line to make it go. Usually it gets 1-2 or -1. As usual, they did a little running out of 3 WR sets. It worked with Hunter, and it worked with Gore. Of course they never went back to that.
What continually pisses me off about this offense is the lack of finding weaknesses to exploit. Watching the Miami game last year was insane. The corner on Moss was 15 yards off the line. Every play. It took a quarter and a half to throw an out his way. They did it 3 times in a row for about 50 yards and NEVER went back to it. Same coverage before, during, and after. Walsh would pound that play 10 times in a row until THEY adjusted.
Same thing now. They do what they do with no rhyme or reason. No flow. No continuity. It pisses me off to no end.
Gore’s sticking around. There is no way he reaches 10,000 in another uni. Lattimore is (supposedly) ready to take the load, and they can ease him into Gore’s spot.
NJ, here’s what I said on Skeebs’ blog re WRs . . .
================================================
I need 40 times, NJ. We don’t need any more possession type WRs. We need a burner. OK, looked around a bit.
Matthews is big and slow (4.60 40 time). Hoffman is bigger and equally slow (4.60).
Odell Beckham has speed (4.40) and decent size (6’0″ 190 lb) but he’s fast and makes plays deep. He’s projected as a 2nd or 3rd rounder, but he’ll likely move up a little. It would be hard to wait and see if he’s there with our 2, but maybe package our 2 2s to move up to the top 3rd of round 2 (huh?) to get him. His LSU teammate Jarvis Landry looks like a gamer as well. Not quite as fast but makes plays all over the place.
Marquise Lee (U$C)looks very fast, but he’ll be gone. Josh Huff from Orygun is another slot guy who’s fast with a little size (5’11″- 205).
The point being, a speed guy is what this offense sorely lacks. The problem is, are the Niners even built to take advantage of a speed guy? We throw deep less than any other team out there.
If we somehow lost Roman and gained a little more aggressiveness on offense, I’d be more inclined to go for a burner. Frankly, I’m nort sure if they’d even use a guy like Beckham right.
I don’ even want to think about the game, but the truth is, the D gave up 20 points in the 2nd half. Only 3 came off the turnovers. Letting them convert 3rd and 22 was backbreaking.
Beyond that, Gore was playing the game with a broken finger. He’s having surgery today. And Mike Iupati broke his fibula in tha game. Looks like nothing that requires surgery.
Bowman on the other hand, if all goes well, may be ready foir the start of next season. They will operate on the ACL, but let the MCL heal on its own.
Well, that and the turnovers.
Yeah you stated it ….turnovers are killers.