Great song about nearly getting shot in a bar fight in southern Mississippi. Up there with Charlie Daniels first hit, Uneasy Rider. Back when Charlie Daniels was a long-haired country boy . . .
Wow, the angst over signing one of the few top safeties rages on. Whatever. It’s a solid move that will bridge the gap to the next guy we draft in May. I mean really. Bethea’s better than Craig Dahl and that’s what matters to the 49ers.
Other than that, crazy FA times. The Raiders try to sign Saffold only to watch him fail hi physical. OWrd is Prince Valaint put the kibosh on the deal, thus overriding Dennis McKenzie. Who knows? Who cares? Other than that, Denver is signing big-tickets guys (Talib, D Ware, and G Tate) with the loss of Champ Bailey and presumably Black N Decker. Ahhh. I see Decker signed with the Jets. Who will throw him passes? If they are lucky, it’ll be Todd Bridgewater. Or, I hear Tim Tebow is available. Anyhow, Philly has cornered the market on pass-catching RBs by signing Darrell Sproules. Him teaming with LeSean McCoy in the Chip Kelly Experience should be non-stop fun. Foles should get about 6,000 yards through the air just dumping the ball off to those guys.
Me? I’m still waiting to hear if we will sign Tarell Brown. The longer he lingers, the more likely he re-ups with the 49ers.
Forty Niners Forever 
He’s in no rush to reup with the “hey if we only knew Niners”. What if we sign someone else and he gets double douched? Not good fer TB. We should give him a fat signing bonus.
Who’s left among CBs:
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.
Antonio Cromartie
Charles Tillman
Walter Thurmond III.
Brandon Browner.
I’d take Brown over all those guys.
Cook didn’t even make the list of top corners per PFT. Spit and Del Mar will have matching shit fits
If the Niners had not gone after FA replacements for their starters and had relied upon the draft to fill those slots I would have to question their real desire to make a strong run at the SB this year. That they have made moves unusually early in FA tells me they are very serious about it.
It also looks like they are trying to get Kap more targets so maybe they do intend to open things up a bit. It is Kaps 3rd year, notoriously the year QB’s get it. NF has said he thinks they may have been holding back the playbook because Kap wasn’t ready to use it in full and he may have been right to a large degree.
Every off season, year after year, we used to hear how Alex was going to open it up this year and basically it never really happened. I hope they don’t follow that same formula with Kap. I would like to see him get a real opportunity to be more productive and hone those skills during the season rather than as a desperate do or die effort in play off games.
From SB Nation:
http://espn.go.com/blog/san-francisco-49ers/post/_/id/5837/49ers-clearly-interested-using-in-more-three-receiver-sets
I think they should look at Sanders. I think NE wants Edelman back pretty badly.
Game plans don’t prevent playmakers from making plays.
If you never throw go routes to your fast guys they do. If you never throw slants and quick hitters tro your WRs they do.
How many deep passes did Ginn catch here? How many did the 49ers try? I think it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 0 and 1 respectively. The only one I remember was a 75 yard TD play that was called back by a bullshit illegal blocking call on Gore.
That article plays in to what you just said, 12th. And yeah, that used to drive me nuts as we’d hear what a ‘great rapport Smith has with Braylon Edwards on deep balls.’ Or AJJ, Or Moss. Or Antonio Bryant. Even Kappy and AJJ early last year. They worked out together, they are hitting the long routes, blah blah blah. It’s all lip service until they do it on the field.
I hadn’t seen that article but that is how I see it too.
Interesting. Emmanuel Sanders is coming for a visit Saturday to Ninerland per Matt Maiocco.
Trent must be reading this blog.
Of course he does, he uses the disparaging remarks as motivation to do better.
Makes sense they will talk to Nicks, Sanders and Edelman. I am a bit surprised they don’t have Miles Austin on their radar. He has been hurt so maybe that’s why but I figure he has been a playmaker in his career and would be cheap now.
Austin has already signed I believe =Titans?
Trent is cleverly using the moniker “Spitblood” to smoke out new ideas fer acquiring FAs and drafting players. Sneaky smart, who woulda thunkit?
If I was Baalke, I’d be standing on the outer-most rail of the Golden Gate Bridge, talking to social workers about how the jump wasn’t worth it.
Trent you can’t fool me, I know your game but hey they’re going to install some nice new netting under yer ledge just in case your ’14 draft is another ’12 stinker.
http://tinyurl.com/mfsyklh
I’d take Edleman if they can get the hometown discount(local kid from Redwood City, played at CSM as well I believe) had better stats then Welker and a bonus can return punts..105 catches last year from Uncle Tom..
The going rate for good RB this year is 3.5 mil per year (Sproles, Gerhart, Brown). I have to question why the Niners have not reworked Gore’s contract from 6 Mil down to 3.5 mil yet. I know Gore has done a lot for this team etc but he has also been paid well for doing it and at the end of the day it’s a business and that money could be used to improve the team elsewhere.
Gore could not get a better deal than 3.5 anywhere else so that is the standard that should apply IMO.
Yes I agree w/ ya there12. But will he/they agree to a cut? Doubt it unless we get in cap trouble
There’s still time. I think something happens with Gore. It’s not like we’ve shortchanged him over the years. Run him into the ground? Sure, but that’s his job.
Yeah I suppose so but Baalke’s comment about it not being a necessity to rework it is a concern.
IMO management knows Gore has nearly demigod status in the locker room, so doing anything to him that looks like dissing his historical contributions to the organization would not be good for team morale…
I also think he should retire before they have to cut him in camp…
Not gonna happen Snarkk.
Frank is 33 yards away from 10,000 rushing yards, they won’t pull the plug and cut him right now, that would be a media nightmare.
Kat, I didn’t know he was close to 10k yards. Still, he’s on his last legs. He didn’t do much in the NFC champ game. You can argue the Niner OLine sucked in that game, but he’s not a breakout guy anymore, if he ever was. He’s got no speed. Between the tackles 3 yards and burrow in. And, that’s gonna go, too. By NFL RB standards, he’s ancient with a ton of miles. I can’t see this offense relying on him for much. Bill Walsh would cut him, I’m pretty sure of that, maybe even before last season…
Agree 12th they should rework it for extra cap space, just maybe think Frank is still a major clubhouse strength & Leader and they don’t want him butt hurt in his final roundup,and there still gonna be concerns over how Lattimore will perform,so they probably are not gonna rock the boat with Frank.
You’re probably right Kat, not crazy about that line of reasoning though.
If Gore is a major part of this offense in 2014, the Niners are in deep crapola…
Yup. I think we will still run a lot. I just hope we run from better (i.e. 3-4 WR) formations.
I’m sure there’s something going on in the background regarding Gore. At least I hope so. He’s proven to be a team player over and over. Maybe he’s felt he’s done enough for the team?
It’s certainly possible.
Still and all, the salary cap went up $10 mill, so maybe they do feel they can absorb that. He’s not the only overpaid guyin the NFL by any stretch of the imagination. Kappy and Crabs are later cap problems. How much later we’ll see.
Does anyone actually know what they’re bitching about? What are the details of Frank’s contract that you want to take away while backing the money truck up for unproven, in this offense at least, wide outs that may or may not make even a little bit of difference?
From what I’ve seen roster and workout bonuses and per game bonuses make up about half the money. Isn’t that the way a smart FO writes a RB contract? And for a guy like Gore, who’s proven himself the main cog in this offense, a pretty decent bargain I’d say.
What I’m bitching about is paying Frank 6 mil. I don’t see him at that value this year.
So let me get this straight. Tom Gamble is gone, and so far, this free agent period, we’ve acquired an O lineman who can’t block (Martin), a corner who can’t defend (Cook), a top ten qb who’s been dumped by his team (Gabbert), and an old safety in Bethea? And they’re interested in Sanders and Nicks?
To say Trent Baalke is missing Tom Gamble is a an understatement. Baalke sucks.
Niners signed Cook?
Not crazy about that move.
Nicks went to the Colts.
You can pay a lot more if you reduce Frank Gore…
Can’t pay everyone Spit. Whitner was too expensive so they took a very similar guy in age and stats and one of the best five available at the position. Martin is for free and is at worst a camp body and at best a good backup. Gabbert is at least as good as McCoy and if Harbs can get his confidence back he will be great trade bait down the road, oh and he was taken for a 6th, pretty cheap.
The long term solution at CB and SS should come from the draft.
Not a fan of signing Cook but we wait and see I guess.
Spitty’s the one coming apart re: Gore. He wants him cut. The team doesn’t seem too concerned about it, but like I said, I’m sure they’d be amenable to him being less of a cap hit if he came to them. The truth is, Gore’s contract labels $3 mill of it as ‘miscellaneous,’ so if it’s incentive-laden, he’ll ony get $3 mill. Problem is, his cap hit is the full $6 mill. There’s no way on God’s green Earth they cut him, though.
These other guys are training camp bodies, Spitty. Martin and Cook anyway. Bethea is the only one that means anything. Is he better than Dahl? By a country mile. Gabbert? Better than Pea Shooter McCoy. As with 98% of the other teams in the league, you lose your starting QB, you are in big trouble.
Overreact much?
How about we go through a draft before grabbing the axes and pitchforks, eh?
I’m not giving up my TORCH!
BLEEP IT!
Tarell Brown to the Raiders
Don’t like that move. Brown is much better than Cook.
Yeah but it was clear despite biting his tongue all year he has a rather large chip on his shoulder against the Niners. Hope it doesn’t come back to bite us
Frank Gore is still owed 6 million, but we let Brown walk for Cook? Are you kidding me? John Martin? Who’s making these decisions? Blaine Gabbert with no heart and a team that gave up on him with a quickness? Who’s making these decisions? Is Mark Davis running our front office? Did we switch front offices with the Raiders as an experiment? That’s the only thing I can fathom.
Can’t pay everyone? Is that all you guys have? ‘Cause you can play a lot more by prioritizing CORRECTLY, and not cutting Gore is taking this team down the tubes, quick!!!! That 6 million will be killing our secondary this year. Every time there’s a blown coverage, I’m blaming that on Frank Gore.
Please save a little of the blame fer Balky/Paraage as their share of the “credit” fer fucking TB out of $1.7 M. This is not a FO that gave a rats ass over retaining Brown and he knows it. He is happy with $3.5M /1 yr rather than $10M/3 yr reportedly offered by 9ers.
Keeping Gore is pure sentiment but douching Brown is pure short sighted arrogance.
How do you want deep passing routes and less protection? How do you want an offense where the defense no longer fears the run or the pass? Every year we try to lean less on Gore and every year we end up leaning on Gore.
We will try to get Hunter more involved, again, and we will try to get Lattimore involved. BUT IT MAY GO LIKE IT’S GONE EVERY YEAR and they don’t cut it and we’re back to leaning on Gore. You think that’s pure sentiment or pure good sense and sound logic?
And how is it the Niners fault that Brown and his agent can’t read the contract they signed and got paid under? The Niners contracted to pay him for showing up and he didn’t. Any short-sighted arrogance is on the part of Brown for blaming the team for his stupidity.
Even if the Niners had wanted to pay him anyway it would set a precedent so that no one would have to perform to get paid. Why bother writing it into a contract if it doesn’t obligate the player?
NoFear,
Why do we have Tom Rathman? What’s his job? Are you telling me Tom Rathman can’t develop a good running back if we draft one? Is that what you’re claiming? Because if you are, I’m not buying it. Every year we’re forced to lean on Frank Gore because we don’t draft running backs who can do everything. When was the last time we drafted a complete running back? Hunter? Nope. Specialty back. James? Certainly not a complete back. Lattimore? No again – too many questions about his health. So the 49ers are putting themselves in position to have to rely on Gore because they have no other options. Give Rathman options (a complete running back) and he’ll develop those options. The 49ers are afraid of Gore. They don’t want to upset him, and that’s to their decline, and my furry.
NF Brown is being a perfect gentleman about his dealings with the Niners FO. “It’s a business;I understand they want to bring in younger guys” etc. It’s me that’s upset. I understand perfectly why he wouldn’t resign w/ Niners = he figures he can get a better future deal elsewhere and he’s seen enough. Even if he won’t say it.
That’s what I’m bitching about
‘Cause you can “pay” a lot more….