Forty Niners Forever

The 49ers invited Randy Moss for a workout this morning, and promptly signed him this afternoon. No details on money yet, but I’m sure it’s incentive-laden, as he didn’t play a down last year, and had some troubles in his last stints with NE, Tennessee, and Minnesota in 2010. Randy has a very strange affliction known as don’t-care-itis. It can strike at any time, and usually leaves baffled and pissed off teammates and coaches in his wake. He still likely has decent speed, and his size is still impressive. Frankly, I think this has more to do with getting a deep target for Alex Smith. And the Niners showing Smith that, hey, we’re getting you a new shiny weapon. And I also see Smith signing before the 1:00 pm PDT deadline tomorrow.

What COULD happen is I still think Seattle may come in with a big offer to Smith should he hit the free agent market. Smith and the 49ers keep saying how they are in agreement with everything, but the deal ain’t done. And Smith could very well take less to go with the Hawks. Spite? Long-held animosity? Still pissed at Teflon Mike? Who knows? Until the deal is done, he’s still unsigned. It bothers me some, because the alternative is either a very raw Cappy, or someone like Josh Johnson. A fair-to-poor replacement. I would hate to see it come down to that, but no one knows what is on either side of the table at this point money (and guarantee) wise. We’ll see soon enough.

For all that Alex Smith did last year, and for all the love that was spread around the team and the newly installed coaching staff in the surprising and nearly championshiop effort put forth by the 49ers, the fact that Alex Smith hasn’t signed a contract yet is flying under the national radar.  ESPN did show the list of FA QBs out there yesterday, with Matt Flynn leading the list. Smith being the 2nd guy. Typical, but it belies the fact that, at least nationally, most people think he’s staying put. Sure, you have guys like Tony Dungy, Jerry (watch me dance!) Rice, and plenty of others thinking they should go after Manning, but this is a non-starter as I (and countless others) have repeated ad infinitum.

But (there’s always a big but), as of now, there’s a bit of an impasse. Alex apparently wants a 5 year deal. The Niners are offering 3. There’s guaranteed money I’m sure they are hashing out as well. I’ve been saying for a while that I figured Smith to be the last signing. I still believe that, and I also believe that they will not let Smith hit the open market. I think a team like Seattle would push pretty hard to get Alex. Alex? Well how much fun would he have playing the Niners 2x a year? The team that put him through the 7 levels of hell, but also paid him tons of money to get the right to screw him over repeatedly. So, I think he signs a 4 year, $45 mill deal with like $15 mill guaranteed right around March 11th or 12th. I mean, look what Kolb got to suck ass in AZ. 4/$63 mill/$20 mill guaranteed. Granted, the Niners can very well say, look we’ve already paid you $78 million, and we’ve just now started making progress. I think they work this out.

As far as the others go (Rogers, Ginn, Morgan, etc), I thought they’d sign at least a few of these guys. I guess they are content to let them hit the market. Rogers, I’ve felt, caused the biggest turnaround for the DBs in that he usually took away the best WR on the other side of the ball. Without Rogers, Goldson does not have his big year. That being said, Rogers is 30 and there are guys like Brandon Carr and Cortland Finnegan who are younger and available. That being said, Rogers WILL get big money from someone like Jerry Jerk-off Jones. He’s not coming back.  Much is made of Rogers getting torched by Victor Cruz in the game, but in the 2nd half, Cruz had 2 catches for 17 yards. Rogers said he made an adjustment in how he covered him, and it apparently worked. I’d like to see him stay, but I think Jones gets him for big money. The rest? Ehhh. Ginn is easily replaceable. He won’t get the big money because he’s pretty much worthless as a WR. Morgan? Test the market, come back. Same with the others.

Say what you will about the guy but Manning is nothing if not a humble, decent guy. At least looking at him from the outside. His press conference (with owner Jim Irsay, a possibly awkward scenario) was short, sweet, and heartfelt. They both understood the realities of the situation, and the inability of the Colts to take the chance on signing him back. This really does harken back to the Joe Montana/Steve Young situation. Too bad Joe couldn’t quite handle it with the same amount of class. The curious thing is, no one is really sure if Peyton will even be able to play again, let alone be the offensive force he once was. There were questions about Montana’s health, but they weren’t nearly this inconclusive as this deal. Montana went on to have a couple strong years in KC, but they were interspersed with injuries and in the end, disappointment. The breathless media (well, ESPN) at this point is pencilling Peyton for 5 more HOF-type seasons. This of course is based on shakey video that was supposedly taken of him throwing with a helmet and pads on.

Beyond that, Peyton is going to be the most talked-about free agent until he signs with someone. The hype machine will be cranked up to 11 very shortly. Peyton’s available to begin the wooing process at 1:00 pm PST. According to the Talking Heads out there, about 28 of the 32 teams are in the hunt. I think it really comes down to 5 teams. Miami, the Jets, AZ, Seattle, and Washington. Seriously, the 49ers are a non-starter in all this. Miami appears to be the front-runner, for no other reason that it’s location being close to Louisiana, and the fact that Manning has a home near Miami already. Washington, and crazy Dan the telemarketing man, could very well throw something like $75 mill for a 5 year deal for Manning based on nothing but his overarching desire to fling money around like a drunken sailor. The Jets are making a lot of noise about signing him. Kind of interesting, because it certainly is a big kick to the oblongs for Mark Sanchez. The franchise would be relegated to the bench to wait for inevitable injury that Manning would suffer, and would then get right back in there as the starter. Teams like Seattle and AZ have little/nothing to worry about QB-wise to take a shot. Kevin Kolb’s huge deal, and subsequent suckage notwithstanding.  

That being said, I don’t feel that AZ or Seattle stand much of a chance. Manning has been an AFC guy his whole career, and to jump across the country AND switch conferences doesn’t feel right. I think the front runners as of now are Miami and the J-E-T-S.

Lastly, if this is any precursor to the other HOF QBs that have moved late in their careers (Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Joe Montana, Brett Favre), it doesn’t bode well. Johnny U and Broadway Joe were shells of their former selves, and didn’t do shit. Montana and Favre did well enough for their last couple seasons, but in the end fell short for whatever reason.  So, where do you think Peyton lands?

According to Chris Mortensen, Peyton Manning will be waived tomorrow, thus saving the Indianapolis Colts untold millions of dollars, dollars which will be then used to sign the next Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck. Lucky for the Colts, they cratered at the best possible time to GET the most highly sought-after quarterback since, well Peyton Manning 14 years ago. OK, how about Dan Marino? 

Only the truly clueless of the clueless think the 49ers would even bother calling his agent or pursuing this in any way. the thought being, he could step in and be the missing piece for a Super Bowl run. Well, beyond the fact that Manning is still hurt, makes no guarantee he’ll ever pay again, does not know this offense, and would want to pretty much run his offense his way, not Harbaugh’s way, sure why not? Pay him 4 years for $60 mill on a hope and a prayer.  In other words, not gonna happen . . .

Where will he go? the big (crazy) money is on Washington or Miami. Daniel Snyder is certainly nutty enough to hand Peyton a blank check. Stevie Ross in Miami is all over Manning. There are billboards being erected in Miami to get him to come. He’s a southern boy, and would be close to his Louisiana roots. So, the Fins looks like the lucky team that will get him. It seems ludicrous to me to sign a guy who as of now isn’t reay to play. They would be taking a huge gamble to sign him to any kind of deal. Short term or otherwise. If I’m Miama, I’m thinking longer term than 2012. I’d go after the Rams pick at #2 in the draft and get RG-III. Either that, or take a shot at Matt Flynn. Neither one would be the big splashly over-revved hypebolic ESPN orgasmic media frenzy that the Manning signing would generate, but hey. There’s no lacking common sense in some NFL team boardrooms I suppose.

The only Niner connection I can glean from this (other than the moronic plea to sign Manning). Is the Anser to this trivia question.

Who was the last starting quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts before Peyton Manning? (No googling!)

Still just speculation on the Bounty-gate front. The Talking Heads out there are predicting things like a year’s suspension for Gregg (the 3rd ‘g’ stands for geneous) Williams, hell fire and a raft of lost draft picks raining down on Tom Benson and the Saints, and possible sanctions against some of the players involved on the Saints and Redskins defenses, places where Williams instituted his pay-for-injuries deal. For what it’s worth here, the issue is really about the perception that the Saints (and Skins before them) organization was on board with this activity. By no means are the Saints the only team out there doing this. Just like NE was the only team trying to sneak video of upcoming opponents. Hello Denver? These kinds of gamesmanship issues have been going on for a long time. Mainly though as something done amongst the players. The coaches would nod and wink, but they would NOT be the ones ponying up the cash. The fact of the matter is, the Saints are the ones who got caught. And suddenly all their games in the recent past get looked at in a different way. A coyuple games spring to mind. The playoff games vs Minnesota and AZ. Both those games, there was a ton of hits on Favre that were questionable. A couple got flagged, but the refs sure didn’t really try to slow down the shit going on out there. And in the AZ game, after a pick, someone (Vilma?) unloaded on Warner, knocking him out of the game.

Granted, this IS football, but adding the incentive for extra money (Vilma apparently put up $10,000 for anyone knocking Favre out of that Minnesota game) to intentionally injure a fellow player is pretty much crossing a line that shouldn’t be crossed. With the NFL the way it is now, and with all the player movement, the guy you are trying to maim could very well be your teammate the next season. Besides, a lot of these guys are friends off the field no matter what team they play for, and are all part of the greater NFL at large. Brothers in arms, so to speak. Putting these guys at odds with each other creates an even more dangerous situation for a game that is incredibly violent, no matter how they try to penalize and sanction hits, legal or otherwise.

So, this leads to Goodie Goodell, the Shield, and perception. He HAS to come down hard on Gregg Williams. To integrate the pay-for-injury ploy as part of the culture of a team, you are pretty much spitting in the face of all the work that Goodell is trying to do as part of the overarching policy of trying to protect the players from later health problems. Plus, to the myriad sponsors of the NFL, head hunting and maiming/crippling players doesn’t sell well. THIS is the biggest indiscretion in my book. The perception that the Saints are flaunting Goodell’s directives for the good of the players and the good of the league. Even worse, the Saints front office found out about it in 2009, yet did nothing to stop it going forward. Goodell didn’t talk to Williams, but his security council did. I’d think Goodell would want to talk to him at some point, but I haven’t heard either way. I think the repercussions are going to severe. Williams likely gets suspended for a year. The Saints will lose 3 draft picks, and get fined a shit-load of money.

I think the Video-Gate scandal is the baseline from which they determine the fines. Frigging NE barely got a slap on thwe wrist. I think this one is much more brutal.

Today is the last day of the franchise-tagging window. Meaning some more FA WRs come off the books. Guys like Dwayne Bowe and Wes Welker look to get tagged, and Stevie (look at me, I’m a moron) Johnson just signed a contract extension with the Bills. DS Jackson was franchised, but I think Philly is looking to trade him now. Braylon Edwards didn’t pan out, Morgan and Ginn got hurt (at different times), Kyle Williams was unimpressive, and Crabs seemed to be coming along nicely til he vanished in the playoffs, so the WR corps(e) look to be improved upon in the draft as well as free agency. And, there’s no guarantee that Ginn or Morgan come back, leaving the Niners with Crabs as their lone WR.

At this point I don’t think they go after any of these big-ticket WRs. Baalke’s strategy of getting bang for the buck rather than breaking the bank served him fantastically well last year, and he likely looks to do the same this year. So, as much as I’d like to see him go after Mike Wallace, VJJ, or even Pierre Garcon, what they will probably do is re-sign Joshua Morgan, sign someone like Eddie Royal out of Denver, a good slot guy and kick returner and/or Donnie Avery, a fast guy who’s been hurt for a bit. Even still, there are guys like Robert Meacham, Laurent Robinson, and Mario Manningham available. They might be too pricey, or they might not. I’m sure the powers that be are looking at all these guys. Shit Brandon Lloyd is out there. And most of the guys he pissed off in his last stint here are gone. Not likely though.

So, they do have options still, but the once very deep free agent WR list is quickly getting shorter, and will be more so by the end of the day.

<b>UPDATE:</b> The 49ers officially put the franchise tag on Dashon Goldson. They also said they are going to work on a multi-year deal going forward.

Not much happening around 4949 Centennial Blvd. The deadline is coming up for teams to franchise tag their players. There’s talk that Dashon Goldson get tagged today. If I type this any slower, he’ll be tagged before I post this. Frankly this makes sense as he’s only going to cost $6.2 mill to tag. Rogers would cost $10.6 mill. I’m sure Hawk’s not very happy about it, but he and his new agent (CAA) can negotiate for a long term deal through July. Goldson famously turned down a 5 year/$25 million deal last year, expecting other teams to pony up the scratch. Drew the Screw apparently miscalculated, and Goldson came back here for a one-year $1,200,000 deal with his tail between his legs after numerous tweets posting his goodbyes.

Well, the situation turned a bit when Goldson had his breakout season. 6 picks, 9 passes defensed, 64 tackles and a forced fumble. He also had a key pick in the New Orleans game. I’m a bit ambivalent where it comes to Goldson. He had a great year, but I think that had a lot to do with the addition of Carlos Rogers and Donte Whitner in the backfield with him. His wild hits in the NCF Championship game still bug me, as they were reckless and not very situationally aware. At least the one where he hit Rogers was. That play was right in front of him. He needs to pick up Rogers about to make the play. Inconsistent and reckless. I’m of a mind to slide Chris Cuilliver to FS, and let Goldson take his act on the road next year.

I think the Niners plan is to let this franchise tag ride, give Culliver one more year of experience, and let Goldson go after this season. I’m still of a mind that they try to get Rogers to sign a 3 (NOT 5) year deal, get Brock more playing time, and say goodbye to Reggie Smith. Curtis Holcomb, the CB who was hurt all last year, attended every meeting, learned all he could from the coaches, and got himself heathyed up. The staff is very high on him to step in and secure a spot in the line up.

The Niners took their first step in trying to keep the team relatively intact for the 2012 season by signing Ahmad Brooks to a 6 year $44.5 million contract, with $17.5 mill of that guaranteed. If you haven’t heard the story of Brooks, it’s one of inconsistency. He was thrown off of the Virginia footabll team, and was picked in the 3rd round of the supplemental draft. He had a few up-and-down years with them as an inside linebacker, usually showing up for camp out of shape. The Niners picked him up on waivers in ’08 and switched him to OLB, and he worked his way into the lineup. After his father passed away suddenly in 2010, Ahmad has worked much harder at staying in shape, and perfecting his game. He’s excited to be here, and has gotten his due. And yeah, they signed CJ Spillman to a 3 year $6 million contract the other day. And, in front office news, Gideon Yu, the Chief Strategic Officer, and the ex-CFO of both Facebook and Youtube, was named President and Co-owner of the team. He was instrumental in getting the stadium financing from the NFL and the banks.

Still waiting to see what’s next on the horizon, but as of now, the team looks as if it really has a clue these days. If Jed York doesn’t watch out, he actually may start getting props for being among the up-and-coming young guns in the NFL ownership clan. Giving A. Brooks that much money can be argued, but it looks like they want to try and keep the team intact. They have some tough signings to consider. The biggest remaining are Alex, Goldson, and Rogers. If they try to sign all 3, they will shell out a LOT of money. But, with the stadium seemingly happening very soon, the onus is to keep the team in the playoffs, and at some point soon hopefully win the big prize.

. . . and nothing out of 4949 Centennial Blvd. I’m curious as to what end the ditching of notorious weenie agent Drew (the Screw) Rosenhaus serves in the immediate future. Goldson is angling for a new big fat contract. Is Goldson really looking for a deal here? Or is he really paving the way for his departure? He did have a much better year in 2011 than at any other time during his career, but that can be attributed to the improvement of the defensive backfield in general. Rogers did much better than Clements, and Whitner did worlds better than Mays or M Lewis before him. Goldson is looking for a deal similar to Antrelle Rolle. As in 5 years, $37 million. Frankly, I don’t think the Niners go this route. They will either franchise him, or let him sign elsewhere for big money. Culliver can slide over to FS and Brock can replace him as CB. The great strides that the DBs made are drectly attributable to the vast impriovement they got from Rogers and Whitner. Which allowed Dashon to have his big year. If they are going to throw a bunch on money at someone, is it better served going to Brooks? Or will the Niners move Aldon Smith in as a 4 down guy? They’ve said as much, but I don’t completely buy that yet. Moving Haralson into Brooks’ role would not be very smart in my book, but what do I know? Goldson is still too reckless out there. Too inconsistent as well.

Still and all, I am unsure what they do (if anything) with the franchise tag. Will they dare use it on Carlos Rogers? He’d cost more than Goldson, but Rogers is on the edge of 31 and could be replaced by a guy like Brandon Carr from KC. Nothing to do now but wait and speculate . . .

Per Trent Baalke’s press conference, he’s leery of using (but isn’t averse) to using the franchise tag. He’s not looking to be reactionary in the free agency period, and is looking at possibly acquiring some wideouts soon. Either through free agency or the draft.

In other words, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I got nothing either. I could fill this with the usual banter about Wallace, V-J-J, Colston, and the large crop of WRs available, but we’ve all been there, done it, and got the shirt to prove it. Ahmad Brooks is going to want a big payday, as is Goldson. Alex Smith will get his, and then there’s the Carlos Rogers question. This will be a busy free agency period to say the least. But until it gets started, we MAY get the odd contract agreement or 2 before March 13.

I wonder if the front office lets all their guys test the waters before trying to sign them. I doubt it, but the possibibility exists that someone may jump on Alex Smith (Seattle, Wash, and Indy spring to mind) and offer him a ton of money. Money that the Niners aren’t willing to part with. I guess I should have led with “Forty Niners To Let Smith Go . . .”