Jeff Ulbrich’s name seemed to come out of nowhere as our lead candidate for DC. He’s currently the Jets DC, so this would be a lateral move, but I guess it is something that is possible given his ties to the Niners, and our need to fill the spot. I’d be fine with that. Shit, I’d be fine with Riverboat Ron Rivera. He’s a known commodity and frankly I want a gambler on defense. As Vanilla Wilks proved, a soft defense gives up yards and points. But I have no idea if Ulbrich wants to make a lateral move. Albeit for more money.
The name I completely don’t even remotely get is Brandon Staley. He made bad decision after bad decision for 4 years in SD and should have been fired 2 years ago. Sure, he was a hot young DC for the Rams, but that defense was stacked. As this one is, but as proven by Wilks, coaching matters. Saleh and Ryans got much more out of this defense with lesser talent. Yeah, those were solid players, but Wilks had the best team to work with.
Which is why Staley should not even be in the convo. Belichick or Carroll? Too funny. Neither would want to go back to being an underling. Vrabel could, but why bother? He would be more likely looking for an HC spot as well.
The only other guy that makes sense to me would be current LB coach Johnny Holland. LB play was God-awful in these playoffs, and Holland, despite this year’s regression, has built an excellent LB corps. Greenlaw and Warner are top-notch, and Al-Shaair was excellent in his time here. Would love to get him back.
Other than that, the Warriors? They should open up a laundromat as they are the kings of folding.
The Giants? Well, they have 3/5 of their starting rotation already on the IR or undetermined, and have done little to add a 30 HR bat. Lee Ho Fook may very well be a star, but that isn’t a certainty, as well as all the marginal guys like Luciano, Harrison, Schmitt, and the rest.
Looks like a fight to be over .500 and a scramble for the last play-in spot. Huzzah. Shoot me now. I mean, the Dodgers, Padres, and Diamondbacks look much better than we do now, after hearing all about how aggressive Farhan will be. Blah blah blah.
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
I really don’t see any team competing with the Dodgers maybe Atlanta. So, I am going to hope that they implode somehow. As far as DC goes for the Niners I think we should hire minorities. We showed Wilks the door and maybe a little to soon since we lost the chance of a draft pick to bad we don’t get something for Lynn leaving.
Prolly in the playoffs. As usual.
I just want someone who attacks on defense.
My Son has a dark horse entry from within – Daniel Bullocks (DB Coach).
The lack of success with Wilks being a DB coach I don’t see it.
That being said, I thought they would have made a decision by now.
Warriors rolling right now. I don’t sweat Dodgers. They win 100 every year and then figure out a way to lose in playoffs. Giants went 6-7 vs them and AZ last year. Melvin should bring more real baseball back, without openers or pinch hitting in 4th inning. There’s LA ATL and then big group of teams that can fight for NL playoffs.
Melvin will do marginally better than Kapler with a marginally better lineup. Meaning scraping for that last play-in spot.
Our rotation and bullpen is not much better than last year, so don’t expect too much difference in the results.
Melvin’s no magician. He can’t sow shit into gold.
As long as they cut down on the errors and run the bases better, I’ll be happy I guess.
Last year we started out pretty good but the 2nd half we couldn’t get a clutch hit no matter how hard we tried. There are times when we show a lot of patience at the plate then more times than not we have no patience at all. If that changes maybe we can win some games That 107 win season was full of 8th/9th inning game winners. That truly made it fun.
I have no idea how this season goes. I just look at how much better SD, LA, and AZ are than us. If we are 4th place in our own division, how can we even make the playoffs? I guess it’s possible, but I don’t see the front office putting a lot of thought an effort into making this a viable playoff contender.
B Isaiah Oliver cut, he was a Wilks hire that didn’t work out saving 2.4 mil and the cap is over 255 mil this year, breathing room to sign Brandon etc.
$30M+ added to the Cap certainly doesn’t hurt 12th.
Be even better if Paraag can restructure some Contracts within to fit BA and a potential FA into the mix.
Seeing buzz around CB Surtain of late too.
I’m good with that depending on the price tag.
Fins released XHoward the other day too.
Salary dumping is just beginning.
https://heavy.com/sports/san-francisco-49ers/offseason-patrick-surtain-trade/
Keep an eye on NYJ Bryce Huff too.
Interchangeable pieces between us and the Saleh/Ulbrich stable of talent.
18. EDGE BRYCE HUFF, NEW YORK JETS
Huff set out to prove that his absurd pass-rushing efficiency in 2022 wasn’t an aberration, and he did just that in 2023 with a crazy high pass-rush win rate once again. Still, there’s a reason the team that developed the former undrafted free agent and saw him every day didn’t like to deploy him against the run and hasn’t made much of an effort on an extension. This will be a nuanced negotiation for a designated pass rusher type — fortunately, that’s the richest facet to excel in for an edge defender.
Former Baltimore Raven and Chicago Bears pass-rush specialist Pernell McPhee comes to mind as a comparable player, as does Huff’s current teammate Carl Lawson.
Top free agent comparison: Carl Lawson, 2021
Player Pass-rush grade True pass set pass-rush grade Pass-rush win rate Run-defense grade APY as % of Cap at signing
Bryce Huff 90.1 90.1 23.1% 45.2 ?
Carl Lawson 79.6 89.3 15.3% 61.3 8.2%*
Ywah, he was terrible. No big loss.
Recently rewatched old Giants highlights from 2010 post-season. Completely forgot that the starting 3rd bagger in many of those games was… Fontenot. Also had forgotten how much Pat the Bat had pretty much lost it (looked especially bad in the Series). That lineup was not intimidating in any way, yet the team got the job done…. mostly because of the amazing pitching. Giants 2024 lineup could certainly use another strong bat, but even as is, it will score runs. The pitching will be the key, as it usually is, which is why I have been shaking my head at Z thinking the pitching is pretty much set as is. If he’s right that Winn and Beck and… the other guy, former reliever… will be good starters, I will gladly tip my hat to him, but I’m afraid the starting pitching could get ugly unless they fortify it further.
Good stuff. Loved Juan Uribe, and everyone said Giants lack of hitting would do them in, vs. Phils et al. If Luciano could hit 20 HRs from left side of IF that would be great. Agreed, not sure they have enough pitching to get through front half of schedule, but they do have young guys coming through system to help there. If they have to get into games a lot (Winn Beck etc.) hope they can figure it out.
Hey! Giants are on MLB network. Webb turned a nice DP.
I’m fairly certain that we keep BA. And Jennings. Shanahan knows how hard it is to find WRs and he has a good crop of them now.
Marc Adam’s had article today on 5 things for a repeat into SB59. First two are BA and Jaun Jennings. With 255 million cap that is handled. The third to do was fix C-RG-RT. No mention of Zakelj in any of this. This is priority 1 !!. At least first two draft picks go to this. The next two were run stuffing DT and edge on other side of Bos
https://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/niners/196054-ot-nick-zakelj-fordham-6th-round-2022-draft/search=Nick+Zakelj
Found this in the forum. An Adam Peter’s pick. Skillet, athleticism, size for OG, C.
He seems to be developing into an Alex Mack. Can he get there.
Make our #1 pick an OT body type. Target Zakelj as Brendel successor.
Hey bakkentom I’ve seen some speculation about Duke LT Graham Barton.
Plug-n-play multiple OL guy including OC.
Maybe DJeremiah?
I’m trying to get into the Draft buzz and will be glued to FA & Combine stuff.
Yep… Jeremiah
https://www.nbcsportsbayarea.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/daniel-jeremiah-49ers-graham-barton-draft/1706282/
I’d like to see a CB or DE early depending on what they do with BA and FA
Cubs broke logjam on Boras FAs by re signing Bellinger, 3 yrs 80 mil (30/30/20) with opt outs in both first 2 seasons.
Waiting for the “we made the same offer” bullshit.
Opt-outs on the first 2 years? Wow.
They have to get a DC named before the Combine IMO.
Gonna be a tight window between Combine and the Draft.
Steal Ulbrich and Huff from NY and I’m golden 😜
Alex Mack 6’5″ 315 lbs
Nick Zakelj 6’6″ 312 lbs
Spencer Burford 6’4″ 300 lbs
Colton McKivitz 6’6″ 301 lbs
Did the last two add muscle and
weigh more now. Why isn’t Zakelj starting yet. Graham Barton has short arms <33" which Shanahan prefers more.
Oline imo needs to be fixed first
Short arms is IOL for sure.
If Barton is agile enough on the edge that suggests he’s light on his feet.
Read huff great on pass but lousy setting the edge. Oline may need FA’s but cash heavy WA and others can outbid us. To compete maybe time to unload Armstead. 6’7″ 290 lbs replace with kinlaw. How can he be considered good against the run and he is not a DE anymore.
I’m doubtful Kinlaw will get an extension.
They’ve already beefed up the DT position with guys already on the practice squad and available prior to FA.
Fat Man in the middle time.
Protect the LBs.
Zakelj may need to beef up his body with muscle. Burford and McKivitz need more weight. Both are small and need replacing.
The name made me look…
Shorter arms but top shelf abilities.
https://nflcombineresults.com/playerpage.php?i=26250
Is Harris the father of Graham, who is 6’5″ 314 lbs. Please do not post a picture of the mother then.
That’s what I was looking for and he wasn’t Harris’ Son.
Set the DVR 😀
NFL Scouting Combine Live Drills begins Thursday, February 29th, with exclusive LIVE coverage on NFL Network starting at 3pm ET. Full lineup below:
Thursday, February 29th, 3pm ET – Defensive Linemen, Linebackers
Friday, March 1st, 3pm ET – Defensive Backs, Tight Ends
Saturday, March 2nd, 1pm ET – Quarterbacks, Wide Receivers, Running Backs
Sunday, March 3rd, 1pm ET – Offensive Linemen
The forum article had a comment about Zakelj being manhandled. Looking at the video at end he may not be able to build muscle strength for his upper body. . Will they spend big on an IOL FA.
They need to keep the pocket from collapsing as well as block for inside runs. Fourster sure is slowwalking him.
May need to FA and draft all 3 positions to fix the right side. Need to protect the.QB better.
For as far as this team got, it is apparent that the pass protection leaves a lot to be deisred. It is imperative that they build the O line over just about everything else.
Purdy has proien he can hit his targets given time, and even without it most of the time, so naturally, figuring that out is job one for these guys.
New thread is uup.