Now we go from the Who to one of my favorite underrated bands of all time. One of the most influential bands no one gives a shit about anymore, the Kinks. They were true punks 12 years before the Sex Pistols exploded on the English scene, yet beyond Lola, you don’t hear too much about them anymore.
Be that as it may, the 49ers have their own dedicated follower of fashion, and a new blogosphere topic sure to at least get close to the fun we used to have with Alex Smith, and that is one Colin Kaepernick and his impending contract upgrade.
The 2 main camps are; pay the man, or hedge the bet and wait a year. If necessary, franchise him.
Either side has it’s plusses and minusses. Frankly, my take is pay him now because his price will only go up in the front office drags their feet. This is hard to dispute since guys like Romo, Cutler, and Ryan have monster deals in place and they have done little to nothing in playoff games. Kaepernick on the other hand took over both Green Bay playoff wins, and willed the team back in the Atlanta game, and the Super Bowl after the defense laid a huge turd in the 1st half of both those games.
The only reason not to sign Kaepernick is to think he isn’t the quarterback of the future, and that he’ll somehow revert to Mark Sanchez and fail miserably. With the structure this team has in place (for now), a huge backslide like that is highly unlikely. I mean really, this isn’t Tannenbaun, Rex Ryan and the Jets. And if this comes down to franchising Kappy, that isn’t the trail to happiness. The Saints travelled this road with Brees, and ended up giving him the biggest contract in NFL history at the time. Not something the Niners want to do.
So, pay him $18 mill as a base and give him incentives to jack shit up if he wins it all.
The on;y wrench to be thrown into this is Kappy himself wanting to hold out and play out his deal in the hopes of winning it all and really forcing the issue (kinda like what Harbaugh is doing). That is a dangerous road for anyone, let alone your fearless scrambling quarterback.
Me? I’ll be lazing on this sunny afternoon.
Forty Niners Forever 
Jim Brown couldn’t run up the middle against the defenses Frank usually faces. That’s a scheme problem. They are going to wean Frank out as Lattimore gets more touches anyway. Not sure why he’s such a big issue, Spitty.
No, I’m with you on the front office, NJ. They have been doing a much better job since Harbaugh came around, and even beforehand. Although it was hard to tell at times. They have done a very good job of keeping who they feel they need and locking them in to long term deals. Whitner’s getting courted hard by the Jets, but Donte has to know he doesn’t want to walk into that nightmare. Goldson took the money and ran into a buzzsaw of shittiness.
Whitner is looking for his respect as well Chuck.
It’s business after all.
He’s come close with SF.
If the offers are fair, he’d have to appreciate the shot at another run.
But, in the end, he has a life to plan for after football.
Money is important to any player in this game.
I’d like Whitner to stick it out but, we don’t know what the deal is on the SF table, if there is one or not?
I’m seeing Deone Bucannon coming our way in May.
Several young SSs could be had on the cheap.
Maybe RD 2 or 3?
Have to prepare for the youth movement and getting Kaep paid too.
Just think it’s a little iffy going into the season with one solid CB in Brock and Reid as the vet safety. Culliver’s coming off the IR, and a whole lot of questions in Wright (gone) Cox, and they may or may not sign Brown. Rogers isn’t staying, and Dahl isn’t much of an option.
Ever evolving process Chuck.
Have to get younger, all the while remaining consistant with the fundamental practices.
Quite the juggling act.
We’ll see what shakes out.
They’ve held it together pretty well since Baalke and Harbaugh have paired up.
As with Goldson, things change, the Cap still has to be maintained.
Good Coaching comes into play, as much as the Vets have to yield to the youth factors.
Chuck: It’s an issue because it’s not only a bad plan, but the reluctance to dump an old player indicates the offense is too complex to interchange players, thus making the offense to dependent on specific players. And this is a core problem with the offense, and we’ve seen the issue repeatedly. You need to be able to plug in players faster into the offense to fool defenses, but if the offense is too complex, you can’t.
In addition, Lattimore is no guarantee. The off season is just beginning. But if the 49ers stick with Gore and his 6 million in the 2014 season, and only have Lattimore as his backup, this front office is flat-out stupid.
Same can be said for the Coaching too Spit.
If Baalke is giving Harbaugh the control of the Roster, it can’t always be focused on the FO.
Both sides have to work to accomplish a successful finished product.
I’d suggest that Harbaugh and Roman have to adjust that dynamic.
I’m still in favor of a more WCO oriented attack.
This Draft should have plenty of options to improve the WR speed dynamic.
How quickly they can be implemented is the key.
It’s the fact we don’t run outside the tackles. No sweeps or pitches, other than WR sweeps or the occasional reverse. You can’t run those in the heavy packages. It’s not the complexity, it’s that guys like LMJ aren’t build to run in the offense the way it’s built. The offense needs to change to get these others more involved.
Hunter, and especially LMJ are built to get the ball in space. Not busting through the line like they’ve tried with Gore since 2005. Do we throw screens? Do we pitch the ball wide? No. It’s not in the game plan. Either they make it part of the game plan to utilize what LMJ and Hunter can bring, or they stick with Gore/Lattimore and keep banging away at the line
Back to that recent debate about the Harbaugh/Baalke relationship.
Is it the personnel or the Plan?
What exactly are they seeing as the Offensive Plan going forward?
Baalke isn’t calling plays.
Something has to get figured out.
Yup. Curious shit heading to this draft. If they go defense, I feel that they are going to stay the course. I think they need more team speed. Especially at WR. Pretty much a no brainer to me. RBs? Sure. Later. They need, in order, a WR a CB, a SS if Whitner goes, QB, another WR, RB, CB/KR, DL, LB.
Just to make sure I have this right, we want to pay CK7 $20 million a year and the sooner the better and we don’t want to pay the guy who ends up shouldering the load of the offense every year no matter what plan in the off-season falls apart in the pre-season and ends up at Frank Gore in the regular season year after playoff year. Is that about it?
Some assume Hunter and LMJ don’t play more because Harbaugh and/or Roman have some strange tie to Frank Gore? How’d that tie and a mountain of accolades work out for Alex Smith?
Every game and every practice each player is graded on his performance, how well he did what he was asked to do and how well he handled those unexpected situations with football smarts and situational awareness.
Frank Gore’s grading sheets are full of pluses, LMJ and Hunter maybe not so much. Frank isn’t who is keeping the passing attack down, it’s the passing game that keeps Frank hitting those stacked fronts.
Not sure why fans don’t see how easy our passing game is shut down, especially in the red zone. Don’t tell me we don’t have anybody getting open because CK7 is not looking anyway. It’s fine to get CK7 more weapons but good receivers get tired of downfield blocking and running go routes all game without getting so much as a look.
Definitely a curious entity NoFear49er huh?
This is solely a challenge to the Offensive Plan IMO.
Frank has earned his right to get paid this year too.
Paid his dues as it were.
Until Roman/Harbaugh devise some sort of a timing Offense around Kaep, we’ll be facing the same challenges of radar lock on the Primary target and scramble.
Or, Jumbo mania with a sprinkling of Lattimore.
That’s what I’ve been saying for a while now, Chuck. The 49ers’ run game now sucks. You know what’s coming from who’s in the backfield. If it’s Gore, it’s gotta be up the middle. If it’s Hunter or LMJ, it’s going to the outside. You can’t have two separate running styles with two separate backs or the defense knows what’s coming. You have to have one back who can run inside and run outside. Gore can no longer run outside. And if he’s your bell cow, you’re in trouble. Period. And that’s what happened in the Seattle game. The defense knew what Frank does and it was easy for them to take it away.
Lattimore would be great if he could do both (run inside and out), and if the 49ers just go with Lattimore, I’m going to be double-crossing my fingers he doesn’t get injured again because then, if he does get injured, the 49ers, in my mind, are no longer serious contenders for a Super Bowl. Gore’s a non factor because he’s so limited. And you don’t play any limited player 6 million per year. I don’t care how great he’s been for us.
The X factor is Hunter, who I think can do both, but the 49ers didn’t use him that way in 2013.
I looked at his highlights and you’re right- he runs upright, has long legs, long torso. At least he can cut and isn’t afraid to hit the hole either. Injury history is a worry
This article does not mention the cap hit for the proposed 2yr/$14-15M per for Kap this year. Maybe this is more likely this year? It seems preferable to work out a long term deal, cap friendly but is it too soon?
http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2014/03/09/the-triple-option-on-colin-kaepernicks-contract/
Gore had some big games against shitty teams, but again, I don’t really have a problem with him. Just the scheme.
Scheme scheme scheme. It took 17 games before we threw out of a bunched formation in the red zone. It took 17 games to run in a spread formation in the red zone. Both plays resulted in touchdowns. Otherwise it was run out of the jumbo, pass out of the 3 WR set.
We’ve already talked about the cart before the horse being Roman or Gore. I say if you dump Gore the scheme gets better. Limited players create limited schemes. It’s that simple. And to make the scheme even more limited we lost Crabtree and Patton for a large part of the year.
17 games Then we break our tendencies? And it works twice fer TDs? Great, that means we only have to play 15 more to see it again, right?
Except it’s bullshit. Wk5 INC to Boldin. Wk6 TD to DAVIS. Wk6 28 yds to Davis. Wk14 INC to Miller. Wk 16 Sack. And that’s just a quick look see.
Please it’s not bullshit it’s Hyperbole = hype. You know exaggerating to make a point? As you mention in yer examples we have some success when we break our robotic tendencies
I don’t think Kappy signs a 2 year deal. The shortest would be a bridge contract like Rodgers signed a few years ago. 4 years.
If I’m Kaep, I want a short deal – two years. If I’m the 49ers, I want a six year deal. Chuck’s probably right that Kaep will sign a deal for 4 years.
Well the article is by Kevin Lynch @ the Chron and he’s a likely tool in the CSN playbook. Then too he’s not a very penetrating analyst of the game of football. Hell, Spitblood is better than Lynch.
Right now, a lot of fans are being critical of the deals that Flacco, Brees and Romo have received because the qb making more takes so much from the rest of the team. But when the cap expands, and teams have locked up their qbs for a long time, with some contracts getting cheaper over time, if the qb can stay healthy and dominant, that team then can make a few serious runs at the playoffs. The question is 1.) whether the qb will still be good when the cap increases and the contract decreases, and 2.) whether or not the GM can then have a team in place when the qb’s contract is more manageable for legitimate Super Bowl runs.
I don’t know the structure of the before-mentioned qbs. Brees is obviously getting older. Flacco is still young. Romo will always be a choke artist. But Kaep could get a long-term deal with more money than we’ve expected with the 49ers thinking they’ll make another three year run two years down the road. The interesting aspect is how good the team will be regarding win / loss records and how that affects draft position.
Which is the juggling act the GM is saddled with.
Letting guys like Goldson get paid elsewhere while backfilling with Rookie deals if possible.
Frank has to overlap his successor, which may or may not be Lattimore.
I’m with you on grabbing another option however.
If it’s not Lattimore, Hunter or James, maybe Jewel has some value?
Rookies are expendible.
Keep stockpiling them until the right guys are identified and retained.
More Picks, more options, better odds of finding paydirt.
We can afford the occassional Boldin, Moss, Rogers signings as fill-in/mentor value guys.
You always want Picks.
The whole Cap premise was devised to stop guys like Eddie from buying all the talent.
The game is now won by running your opponents into the ceiling while building your foundation with Rookie options then, trying to retain them.
Reason 1 why Jerruh is where he is, mired in mediocrity.
Miss on a few Drafts or, deal away Picks for quick fixes and, you’re effed.
Next step, stagger the deals so you have the money budgeted for the future needs.
Which is why Kaep may create problems for guys like Iupati or Crabtree.
Time will tell.
QB wins in any argument unless he overplays his hand.
NJ, Baalke has done a good job of staggering deals IMO. One problem comes when you have a good draft and 2 or 3 come due at the same time. One of the reasons to try to do a deal with Kap this year is to try to stagger the other big FA due next year and with the probability of a few mil more cap room it is still possible.
I think the Niners take 2 WR in this draft with an eye to losing Crabs next year. Iupati is presumed to be asking for tackle money. Aldon probably gets his option 5th year picked up by the team unless they are convinced he is playing with a full deck after this season.
His contract will be sizeable if he can keep it together and maintain his on field productivity.
In conclusion: stay away from mirrors …..with all the worry bags are sure to appear under the eyes. BLEEP!
Is discussion worry?
Yeah, even Lemonier plays his part in this. If he comes on like gangbusters, they have a leg to stand on dealing with Aldon Smith. To the point of trading him/letting him go. Same with Crabs. They get a WR who is above-grade, they can afford to let Crabs skate. The one guy who is fairly indispensable is Kappy.
The front office has always been about getting imporftant guys to commit early to lessen the cap hit, and to lock down some of their strongest years. I don’t see this phoilosophy changing with Kaepernick.
So, NoFear, you think our red zone offense is effective? Even you have to admit there are problems with it. Do you think telegraphing plays down close is a good strategy?
New thread is up . . .