Forty Niners Forever

Crabtree is participating in practice!  Well, not really. It’s non-contact OTAs! Uh, well, it’s not even that. It’s voluntary workouts with strength and conditioning coaches. Huzzah! Last year at Camp Alex, Michael Crabtree tried some new shoes on. Apparently that was an epic fail for him as it wiped out yet another preseason of activity for him. Of course Crabs’ take on it was to ignore his QB, and to dismiss anything resembling getting on the same page with Alex Smith. He had a decent enough year, but there were many many times where they weren’t in synch and didn’t connect. Let’s hope he can make it through a training camp w/o getting messed up. Again.

Larry Grant showed up at headquarters ready to sign his tender. He’s on board and ready to go. Dashon Goldson however, hasn’t signed his franchise tender, and the two sides are apparently in negotiation. I haven’t heard anything on either side of the deal, but seeing as how the Alex Smith negotiations went, I can’t think that Dashon is going to be very happy. I could care less. Let him walk after this year.

Frankly, I think the Niners wouldn’t skip a beat without him. His supposed greatness had a lot to do with Carlos Rogers and Aldon Smith being here rather than anything else on his part. Yes, he had a bunch of picks. M<ainly due to the fact that Rogers was much better in coverage than Spencer was, and the pass rush forced many more errant passes than previously. Plus, he broke up two sure interceptions in the NFC Championship game that could have easily turned the tide in a game that the niners should have won anyway. One was a bang-bang play, but the second one was due to his anawareness of his surroundings. Instead of Brock getting the pick, Goldson leveled him, broke up the pick, and knopcked him out of the game. The play was in front of him. He should have let the play develop instead of going for the highlight-reel hit.

The easy solution would be to move Culliver to safety, and put Cox in his spot. Holcomb is getting good press at CB for his comeback from injury, and we still have the draft to get a guy like Harrison Smith to strengthen the defensive backfield. So, I don’t see the Goldson situation resolving itself very quickly. I also don’t see the Niners budging much from whatever their number is.

The world is still at a snails-pace in the recently actuated 2012 NFL season. The big doings coming is the NFL draft on April 26th. The mock draft shows are cranking up, and Mel Kiper Jr’s bulletproof hair will be seen all over the airwaves shortly.

It sure is a MUCH different feel drafting at #30 than it is at #7 for the 49ers and their fans. This team, in one short season, has gone from a desperate team with a bunch of needs to one that is looking to shore up a couple positions. Here are the the $9ers pick slots:

1st round – 30th  pick
2nd round – 61st pick
3rd round – 92nd pick
4th round – 125th pick
5th round – 165th pick
6th round – 199th pick
7th round – 237th pick

No extras or even compensatory picks this year.

The defense amazingly returns all 11 starters from the 2011 season. The only need there would seem to be DB depth. The Niners did gain Perrish Cox, a CB/PR, but they lost Maidieu Williams, Reggie Smith, and Shawntae Spencer. None of them were high on the depth chart anyway, but they still need to get some warm bodies there as backups.  It would not be too surprising to see the Niners use their #30 pick to grab a safety or CB. The elite guys will be gone (Kirkpatrick, Claiborne, Barron, etc.), so Harrison Smith (SS) from Notre Dame looks like a possible. He’s big (6’2″-213) and fast, and is great in run support and coverage. A top-talent guy who has taken a credibility hit is Janoris Jenkins, the CB from  North Alabama. He’s a 1st round talent who has the dreaded ‘character issues.’ He’s a possible at 30.

Offensively, even the main weakness at the end of the season, WR, has been beefed up considerably with Mario Manningham and Randy Moss. Gone are Braylon Edwards and Joshua Morgan (who amazingly cost more than Super Mario). Even Swett Brain re-upped here. Still, the Niners will likely draft a WR or 3 in the middle rounds. Or even 2 if they want some Randy Moss West-LA-Fadeaway insurance.  The guys that could be available at WR in the 2 hole are Brian Quick, Appalachian St, a big target at 6’4″-220. He has what coaches like. Football speed. His 40 times are in the 4.5 range (not great), but he gets open downfield, has a definite size advantage over smaller CBs, and great leaping ability. Marvin McNutt is another big guy (6’3″-215) who isn’t a burner, but is an excellent route runner/possession-type WR who occasionally breaks big plays. On the flip side would be a guy like Chris Givens from Wake Forest. He’s a burner at 5″11-198 who runs 4.3 40’s. Great route-runner who has decent (not great) hands. Kind of a Brandon Lloyd type who makes great catches but drops some easy ones.

I won’t profess to even guess at who they are looking at in  rounds 3-7, but it will likely be something like RB, OL, DL, DB, WR.

The wildcard in all this would be Coby Fleener. I think if the Niners can grab him at 30, they should. He’s a big target in the red zone, and of course is very familiar with Jim Harbaugh. Delanie Walker has been fair to good, but Fleener would vault him over the top, and the Niners would have an instant mismatch down close with 2 (or even 3) TE sets. Having VD and Fleener as targets would be a good thing to have.

I’m sick and fricking tired of Bounty-Gate, the draft is still nearly 3 weeks out, and the Niners still haven’t signed a RG to replace Adam Snyder. Other than that, there’s not a lot to report regarding the Niners. Oh, the big news is that the Niners re-signed WR Swett Brain to another one year deal.

And Brandon jacobs officially signed his Niner contract. Other than that, it’s snoozeville, USA. Quite the contrast to last year’s histrionics over the lockout and ensuing weirdness.

Uh, see below for more Bounty-Gate news.

Still no word how much or how badly the players will get fined. I wonder if Carlos Rogers is a little on edge. He was ‘aware’ of the bounty program as a member of the Redskins during Williams’ time there. I doubt anything comes of Gregg’s time in DC, but who kbnows?

Ex-Saints DC (and soon to be ex-Rams DC) Gregg Williams just keeps digging a deeper and deeper hole for himself. Sean Pamphilon, a documentary filmmaker, yesterday released audiotape of a New Orleans Saints defensive meeting the night before the divisional playoff game against the 49ers. In the f-bomb-laced speech,  he targets Frank Gore (I’m paraphrasing)  “hit him in the head, hit him in the pile, get him running sideways” Michael Crabtree ” he’ll be human if you blow out his ACL” Vernon Davis ” go for his ankles on the pile” Kyle Williams “hit that little #10 to see if he’s certain” Alex Smith “blitz the f*ck out of him, hit him right here (points to chin), lay him out.”  The 5 minute speech was apparently part of a full 12 minute speech Williams gave to his defense. One that Pamphilon said Payton or Loomis were not present for. Pamphilon also said that Williams would often flash a ‘F*ck you’ card to anyone who questioned his tactics. The card meant that he was given free reign by Sean Payton and the front offfice of the Saints to run the defense how he saw fit, with no interference.

Pamphilon was with the Saints as part of a documentary he is filming called ‘The United States of Football.’ It is about all aspects of football in America from Pop Warner to the pros. The Saints gladly gave him access to practices, meetings, and games last season. Oooops. I’m sure he has a lot more where this came from. We all know the very troubling aspects of this. Bounties, intent to injure, the real threat of paralyzation, or even the specter of death, and more importantly, and the personal affront to everything Roger Goodell has been preaching regarding player safety these last 5 years. Players these days are very big and very fast. This is a little different than the relative lawlessness of the 50s and 60s. The biggest players in the early 60s are about the size of a running back these days. And they were immensely slower. Players back then didn’t train year-round, have access to designer steroids, or have fitness trainers and nutritionists. Nowadays you have 320 lb linemen who run 4.8 in the 40. That kind of speed and size was unheard of even 30 years ago, let alone in the 60s. For all the ‘pussification’ of the NFL, the fines, suspensions, and penalties, these guys are human missiles flying around out there. Adding fuel to the already competitive fire is lunacy. Goodell is still trying to see football as a clean competitive sport among gentlemen, not a blood sport a la Roller Ball.

Here’s the audio from the Williams meeting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fhnn9kbqQUA 

At this point, I don’t think the Saints get any leeway through any of these appeals. Williams may be banned from football for life.

You’d think that after the incredible turnaround by the 49ers this last season, there would be a lot more general happiness and excitement for the upcoming season. Seeing as the team turned around its fortunes as a perennial doormat to a bona fide Super Bowl contender in one short year. All the more spectacular seeing as there was precious little training camp, an abbreviated free agent period, and a quick preseason to implement the new offense and incorprate new systems and players. What was seen as a debacle in not wading into the free agent frenzy instead yielded gold at just about every turn.

So, here we are at the cusp of the new season, and once again, there is a general mistrust of the guy who everyone was completely blown away by in the divisional playoff game. One Alex Smith. After years of improvement, injuries, inept play-calling, yoyoing in and out of the line up, and fan fury, Alex Smith put together a season that was almost perfect. 22 TDs to 5 picks, and the amazing 2 TDs in the last 2:20 of the New Orleans game to rocket the team into the NFC Championship game. One in which he outdueled Eli Manning in a defensive battle that was decided by the 49ers special teams gaffes (yes, KW goes down in history in the same breath as PR. Players whose names shall not pass my lips. PR still hurts more for whatever reason). The front office didn’t do much to assuage these feelings by low-balling Alex, and basically giving him a make-good contract that the Niners can bail on after this season.

Smith, for his part, blows this off as just another step on his way to greatness (or even goodness?) as the once and future QB of the team. Smith and the Niners seem inexorably intertwined as partners who can’t seem to quit each other. Jim Harbaugh gets about 99% of the credit for what went down last year. Good, bad, or indifferent, Harbaugh does deserve credit for being the right coach for Alex Smith. This after 5 Mr. Wrongs in Mike Nolan, Mike Singletary, Jimmy-Hat Raye, Mike Hostler, and Mike Martz. The Teflon Mike/Aluminum Mike strategy of ‘hanging around’ til the 4th quarter, and trying to pull out wins then was grossly inadequate as the team struggled through season after season of Gore left, Gore right, Gore up the middle.  All that strategy allowed was a lot of close losses. Harbaugh, for all his offensive wizardry with QBs pretty much ran the same kind of offense, albeit one that actually had balance and flow. Yes, there were struggles with 3rd down conversions, and yes, there were consistency issues, but there were also six 4th quarter comebacks for wins. As the season went on, the team improved, and the offense had longer stretches of god rather than bad.

So, here we sit, on the edge of the unknown. Was last year an abberation? For the team as well as Alex Smith? Is this team  a flash in the pan, as Seattle and AZ proved to be with their recent Super Bowl visits followed by loud hard crashes into the dregs of the NFL? In a word, no. I suppose it could happen, but this team has a monster defense that stands to be a little better than last year (their TO ratio will be nigh impossible to match, though). The special teams unit should be fine with the swap-out of Costanzo for Rock Cartwright. New CB Perrish Cox can spell Ted Ginn for KRs. The offense has added some needed WR help in the enigma that is Randy Moss, and the recent Super Bowl hero, Super Mario Manningham. If anything, this should hopefully get Mr. Krabs to actually participate in a preseason to see if he can figure out what a hot-read is. The team is again built for a deep playoff run. The big question being, can this offense gain more consistency? Can they sustain drives better than they have? Is the recent low output of the WRs due to Alex Smith, or despite Alex Smith?

These questions, and more, will be answered, As The Quarterback Turns . . .

Huh, the 49ers signed Brandon Jacobs to a one-year deal. The guy had an awful year last year, but I guess the hope is for a turnaround in new surroundings. The one thing he does bring is size, and the ability to get the tough yards on 3rd and short. Something fairly lacking lo these many years since William Bar None Floyd. He’s also a good enough pass-catcher. Bruce Miller was never really used as a true fullback, and Anthony Dixon failed as a short-yardage guy, so I guess this makes sense. He’ll mainly be backing up/blocking for  Frank anyway, and a 3rd down plugger.

49ers also took a look at Duece Lutui, FA guard from AZ. He was a starter for 5 years, but weight problems kept him out of the lineup last year. Ex-Niner Kyle Kosier is available as a FA. He was recently released by the Cowboys. He’s old though. Kilgore Trout is the guy that the Niners have pencilled in to replace Snyder. In other news, Manny Lawson is still out there looking for a place to land, as is Mike Wallace, FA WR extraordinnaire. Ladarius Webb, CB is also around, but his price tag will be high.

Well, the Niners have shunned the spotlight for the time being. We had our share of media hype around Manning, and the Smith mini-drama, but it’s back to the doldrums for these guys. ESPN should be happy about the recent J-E-T-S developments. They can frenzy out over the Annointed One and leave the rest of the football world in the background as the Jets figure out how to make Tim Tebow an H-back. 

If you think that this was merely a publicity stunt to garner attention for the Jets, bingo. The New York Football Giants are the defending champs and are getting all the fawning accolades, even though they’ve shed some components, and may be leaking fluid a little bit. The Jets needed some headlines, sooo, poof, Timmy Tebow Time. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Neither of those teams will be in the Super bowl next year, so why bother with them?

Anyhow, slow weekend. The Niners still need an RG and maybe D line depth in this free agency time. Off to Amador County . . .

There are apparently no hard feelings in the wooing of Peyton Manning and subsequent fallout to our own Alex Smith. But, whatever. Alex got his deal, the Niners have their QB, and Denver now has unrealistic expectations to try and live up to (with a QB who very well may not ever play a game for them). So, now that the 49ers have signed their QB, signed a few WRs, and kept their defense pretty much intact form last year, the focus will now be on he draft, and maybe an OG and KR to sign. The 49ers still haven’t replaced Adam Snyder (the Schwartz went to Deetroit) and they still haven’t really addressed the KR spot. Ted Ginn hasn’t signed, and Kyle Williams, with the addition of Randy Moss, Mario Manningham, and Perrish Cox (may be a KR), looks to be a guy without a spot.

I’m sure the Niners have their eyes peeled for an impact offensive guy like Coby Fleener from Stanford. He’s a big red-zone target that would complement the team nicely. There’s also Dontari Poe, the huge DL who dropped a few jaws with his 4.8 40. his value shot up the draft board amidst the questions of his heart and motor. You also have to wonder if the Niners would look at an RB to spell/replace Gore. Hunter is fine, but he’s more of a scat-back/change of pace guy. They may want to get someone like Davis Wilson from VT. he’s 206, but runs with power, is quick to the hole like Gore, and catches the ball well.  Dixon doesn’t seem to be wowing any of the coaches, so I wonder what his status will be this coming season.

The couple that can’t seem to extricate themselves from each other carries on for another 3 years. Through trials and tribulations, good or bad, ill will or happiness, the marriage goes on. Word is, Alex Smith and the 49ers agreed to terms on a deal. it’s somewhere near the original 3/24 that was on the table before free agency started. So, it’s back to the future, same as it ever was, tried and true, time tested, whatever cliche you’d like to insert.

My guess is that by the time OTAs roll around, all will be happy happy in Ninerland. The dalliance with Peyton Manning will be a distant  memory. Especially if Manning tweaks his nack gettting out of bed one of these days. Smith now has a WR corps that is MUCH better than in recent memory. The line is solidifying nicely (especially if the Schwartz is with us), and we still have a draft to negotiate.

So, signs are looking good for the upcoming season. All these hurt feelings and squashed prides will all be forgotten and shit will be good once again. Well, until that first Alex pass hits the ground uncaught.

Party on, folks.

Criminy, how much bullshit can one guy endure? The strange and terrible saga of Alex Smith’s American dream rolls on. Granted, I think some of the other transgressions perpetrated on him by the 49ers were worse than Manning-Gate. Nolan’s chucking him under the bus in front of the rest of the team and the media after his shoulder separation, questioning his toughness, throwing him into the Saints game (in’07, I was there) where he was pounded relentlessly, and Nolan left him in there with a bad shoulder to take numerous shots until he finally pulled him midway through the 3rd quarter, Martz’s preseason bullshit that Smith tried to work through and couldn’t, Jimmy Hat’s horrifically putrid offensive game plans, and Singletary’s snide media comments,  sideline screaming rants and subsequent yo-yoing of quarterbacks. For as much media-driven angst as this seems to be causing, the worst case scenario is for Smith to leave.  

The thing is, everyone knows this. Everyone seemed to know it before free agency started. Which is why the Niners original offer was low. Smith was coming from the erroneous assumption that he could get Kevin Kolb (5/63/18 guaranteed) money. The Niners were coming from the assumption that a $3 million raise (and a 3 year deal) should be enough going forward. Low-balling? Sure. But again, this last offseason was one marred by the lockout and a whole lot of craziness that ensued once free agency started. The Niners knew that Manning was out there, plus guys like Matt Flynn, and lesser talents like Ortron, Gross Rexman, JJ, Hasselhof, etc. Through all that BOTH sides said Smith was coming back. How much that played early on for his value won’t be known, but it sure didn’t seem very high once he did hit the market. Most other teams out there feel that Smith is the creation of Jim Harbaugh. For good or bad.

The rest played out as we saw. The Niners took the midnight train to Georgia (woo woo!) (work with me here, it’s Gladys Knight and the Pips) and tried to sneak away with the Peyton Manning prize. That blew up in their faces amongst the hurt feelings and a morning flight to Miami. So, here we sit. The only viable option is for Smith to come back to the 49ers. The only question is will they hard-line it at this point, and stick with the 3/24 offer they originally gave him? There’s something to be said about Seattle giving Flynn, a veteran of 2 NFL starts, more money than the 49ers are offering Smith. Smith WAS supposed to visit with Sea, but instead signed Flynn before Alex could get there.

I think he comes back. The Niners will kick down a little more scratch for the bullshit they put him through. I think it happens later today. By the time the OTAs roll around, the wounds will have been healed and all will be well going forward. As well as they can be with Alex at the helm. I kid, I kid . . . This IS the best scenario for everyone involved.  The latest revolting development in all this is the talk of Tim Tebow coming to the Niners. God help us all . . .