San Francisco 49ers Forever

Color me worried. Why sign a guy like Sudfeld? I mean, I get they need bodies, but they will soon have 5 QBs. Josh Johnson, Jimmy G, Josh Rosen, Sudfeld, and whoever we draft. I also know Shanahan is on record as saying that he likes his QBs to be the same style of QB to be in camp. And one trait Shanny shares with his dad is his abject pig-headedness when it comes to his self-belief. He thinks he can turn shit to gold where it comes to QBs, and he didn’t want anything to do with our ex-running QB, Colin Kaepernick. And every guy since has been a pocket passer.

This sure sounds to me like Shanny wants Mac Jones, since 4 out of these 5 QBs are slow-footed white guys who don’t move very well. As I’ve said, Jones could be the 2nd coming of Big Ben, but it is a huge gamble seeing as how he has 17 starts, and played behind a very stout Alabama line.

And really. The last Alabama QB to make his mark in the NFL? Kenny Stabler. Then agan, Ohio State has a shitty track record. Fuck, I don’t know. I think the Niners are playing chicken with the Jets to try and deke them into Jones.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten drafts—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping on my chamber door“
’Tis some quarterback,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—      
Only this and nothing more.”
___

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the veranda.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;—the past I sought to borrow
For my quarterback of tomorrow—sorrow for the lost Montana
For the rare and radiant passer whom the angels name Montana—     
Nameless here for evermore.
___

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each would-be QB
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
’Tis some quarterback entreating entrance at my chamber door—
Some late quarterback entreating entrance at my chamber door;—
This it is and nothing more.”
____

    Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
“Sir,” said I, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door;—    
Lance was there and many more.
___

    Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
Which quarterback would lead us, lead us to the golden door,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Joe?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Joe!”—      
Merely this and nothing moe.
___

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
“Surely,” said I, “surely that QB at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what threat is, and this mystery explore—
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—
 ’Tis the draft and nothing more!”
___

  Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In stepped a stately QB of THE Ohio State,
“I’m a passer as you see, but a runner I can be!”
“And I read the field as a general who is great!”
And with that he perched upon a bust of Namath,
just above my chamber door—    
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
___

Once again there came a tapping, a persistent tapping rapping at my chamber door-
In walked a sludgy, mushy QB, who looks like he drives a truck named Mac
“I’m not mobile like a cat, but buying time’s where its at!”
“And I fit the ball into the tiniest crack!”
And with that he crawled upon a bust of Norm Snead just above my chamber door—    
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
___

One last time there came a-knocking, like a crazy Gronk a-Gronking
The last QB who was standing, was green horn who can dance
“I can read coverages best of all, and I stand straight and tall, I throw the pass just like a lance”
“Pay no mind to my lack of starts, I’ll give the O a 2nd and 3rd chance”
And with that he leapt upon a bust of Tarkington just above my chamber door—   
Perched, and sat, and nothing more. 
___

So now what of the clamour for a QB we enamour, will we pick the one that no one has surpassed?
Should we pick the one who’s fast, the one who may not last, the one named Fields who reminds of QBs past?
Or should we go with Jones named Mac, who may end up on his back, as protections fall apart, and the line cracks?Last shot will be Lance, he can throw and he can dance, but needs more work before the die is cast.
___

As I ponder weak and weary of a stud we need so dearly
I cannot think so clearly
But at least Mel Kiper’s head goes back in his box.

Now that most of the wheeling and dealing is done, the 49ers have come out smelling like a rose. You have t hand it to Paraage Marathe and the job he has done with the contracts. We have retained top slot corner K’Waun Williams, CB Jason Verrett, FB extraordinaire Kyle Juicechick, safety Jaquiski Tartt, blindside tackle Trent Williams, and DT DJ Jones.

They signed Ram DE Samson Ebukam and most importantly signed C Alex Mack from the Falcons. Center was a position of desperate need and though Mack is 35, he’s playing at a very high level. They also brought back Mohammed Sanu for shits and giggles.

The most important aspect of this is they restructured Dee Ford and Westie Richie’s contracts, and as of now they STILL have close to $20 million in cap space.

Call it a convergence of tight wallets and little money to throw around, but the Niners came out of free agency positioned about as well as a team could be positioned. They have leveraged their future on this upcoming draft, but that again is due to the front office’s drive to keep the pedal to the metal as this young team hopefully healthys up and makes a strong push for the Super Bowl.

Even still, they could gain a lot of draft capital (and cap space) back by trading Jimmy Garoppolo. There is still interest from the Patriots, so time will tell.

As far as who we pick on April 29th? Shit, I don’t know. I’m 90% sure Wilson will be gone so it falls to:

1. Justin Fields (fast, athletic, strong, tough – one-read wonder?)
2. Mac Jones (big arm, hits all the passes – fat, slow)
3. Trey Lance (big, strong, makes the throws, mobile – least polished, biggest project)

All have strong plusses and decent minusses, so let the debate begin.

I tell ya, I’m a bit shocked. This isn’t a move that this team usually does. But with a stacked group of QBs, the Niners made their move by trading with the Dolphins. A team I picked only yesterday as a trade partner. We get the #3 pick in exchange for our 12th pick in this draft, our 1st round pick next year, and our 3rd round comp pick next year.

This of course will net us what looks to be Zac Wilson of BYU. Some mocks have the Jets taking Wilson, so that would net us Justin Fields. Whoever it is, it will be a huge risk for this team, but one they feel is necessary to get the team over the top. That being said, I don’t think the new guy gets much playing time, barring injuries, because the prudent thing to do would be to ease the new guy into the very complicated Shanahan offense.

Sure, this team still has holes to fill (slot WR? LB depth? OL depth?) but this is a bold statement that this team is in win-now mode.

Speaking of Wilson, there are reports that he’s a super-entitled rich boy (a la Johnny Manziel) who may shy away from the work needed to jump to the rigors of the NFL game. His uncle owns Jet Blue and there’s fear that he’s a flash in the pan. a 1-year wonder. Frankly, if we could get Fields, I’d be ecstatic, but i think either one will be better than Jimmy G, so here we go. This is either a bold gamble that pays off huge, or they just set the program back a few years.

We won’t likely know till 2023, but hey, at least they made things interesting.

Since I’ve pulled the plug on basic cable, and thus, no ESPN, I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Mel Kiper’s unfrozen head spewing utter nonsense in the face of the upcoming draft. I’m sure someone had done an accuracy report on these guys, and their success ratio has to be less than 1%. I mean, once you get past the first 5-6 picks of the 1st round, everyone goes off the rails.

My amazing prognostication in the 2008 draft at the Niner Insider should have gotten me a high-paying job in Vegas, for fuck’s sake. I picked 2 guys right in that draft in Kentwan Balmer and Colin Kaepernick. I did get a signed Alex Smith jersey worth $150. Unfortunately, the unsigned one is worth $200.

But I digress.

Funny, mock drafts now are full of trades. They were rarely accounted for in most mocks, but now I’ve seen us trading with the Vikes, the Jags, the Jets, and the Dolphins.

Someone WILL trade down unless all the suspected QBs don’t go before us. I’m not counting on it, but then again it wouldn’t surprise me one bit. Thing is, we can kill in if there’s a QB on the board and someone wants to throw picks at us. We can parlay that into draft capital, and still pick someone up down the draft.

I wonder if we have been looking at Davis Mills at Stanfoo? Big guy, big arm but not much experience. He gets the ball out quickly, and is accurate. Another guy is Kenny Pickett. Big but moves well and has the tools to throw the ball deep. Accuracy, experience and the speed of the NFL game is something everyone needs to learn, and as a lot of the recent QB busts have shown, a high draft doesn’t guarantee success at the NFL level.

I have no idea how they play this, but so far I’ve liked the moves they have made to shore up the team. Restructuring Westie and Ford garnered us an extra $12 mill in cap space. Yes, we still need help at WR, backup QB, future QB, and more bodies sprinkled around the O line, LB, and DB, we have signed a lot of the guys that made this team successful.

You guys have any sleeper QBs you’d like to see thrown a bone?

The Niners are still making moves, they signed Jaquiski Tartt to a one-year deal, and they signed strong safety Tavon Wilson to a one-year deal as well. They also kept Jason Verrett (yay!) and Dontae (what, me cover?) Johnson. I guess we need bodies in camp, so we’ll see how this shakes out, but with Tavarius Moore already signed, we have some things to work out. But I like the signings as we need to keep the pieces ready, and Wilson at least has been in a lot of strong systems, and looks to be a steadying presence in the absence of Richard Sherman.

That being said, the move we are still dreaming on, Deshaun Watson, has hit a series of roadblocks. Either Watson did nothing wrong (wink wink) at the massage parlors, didn’t get the happy ending he thought he deserved after getting a massage, or he’s a major douche nozzle who is playing the “do you know who I am?” card and getting aggressive.

I’m no lawyer, but when these things happen and the people involved do not file criminal charges, wait for a year to come forward, and their lawyer trolls for others to come forward to join the gravy train, it smacks of a money grab.

No idea how this works out, but fortunately for the six teams supposedly in the running for Watson, there is no timetable to the trade. This situation can at least be dealt with before any decisions are made, but all involved would like to get this taken care of before the draft.

Like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of our lives . . .

6 years and $138 mill for Trent Williams, AND we signed center Alex Mack to boot. Now we have the Deshaun Watson rumors heating up. He reportedly has narrowed his choices to two teams. The 49ers and the Broncos.

And with this attention to the O line, does this mean we are serious about getting Watson? I still think it would cost way too much, but Watson’s claim to want to play here certainly gives the 49ers some leverage. Watson could do what Trent Williams did, and sit out a season in order to force Houston’s hand. With that possibility hanging over the Texans’ collective head, they may take a deal that isn’t so costly.

I mean we all saw DeAndre Hopkins go to the fucking Cards for pocket change. Let’s hope the powers that be in our front office can package something up not too damaging.

We would be an instant powerhouse with Watson on the team.

We wait with baited breath.

Well, it looks like we’ve signed everyone BUT Trent Williams. Emmanuel Moseley got a 2 year, $10 million deal, Kyle Juicechick got a 5 year, $27 mill deal, and we also just signed Jason Verrett to a one-year $5.5 mill deal, and now Dee Ford agreed to a restructured 2 year, $24 mill deal. The restructure takes came of the $11 mill they’d be on the hook for if he was on the team, but hurt. The restructure means they are banking on him not being able to pass a physical come April Fools Day. For insurance purposes, they just signed OLB Samson Ebukam from the Rams, 2 years, $12 mill.

The 49ers are also apparently interested in Mitch Trubiscuit. Say it ain’t so! But I guess we are still looking to sign Williams. Kendrick Bourne looks to be signed by the Patriots, and while I like him in the red zone, hopefully we won’t miss him that much.

Anyhow, as it stands, I like what they’ve done so far. Minus Trent Williams.

Well, maybe. That’s the talk anyway. From Trent himself, who said “Y’all are barking up the right tree.” Works for me. He was dinged up and didn’t play perfectly, but he’s worlds better than Mike McGlinchey, or any other guy currently on the squad. With Westie Richie Hurtie out for yet another year with yet another injury, we need help across the line. Center being a big glaring need. Something we most likely address in round 1 or 2 of the upcoming draft.

It would be nice to gain some depth as well. Raider Gabe Jackson is on our radar, as is center/guard Ethan Pocic of the Seahawks. Poach one of their guys, for a change. He’s not spectacular, but he can play all 3 interior line spots, and started 14 games last year. Canter Alex Mack is available. Even at 35, he is playing at a very high level, and likely wouldn’t be too too much money. Much less than what we are on the hook for Westie anyway. I would love to see us get at least 2 guys in free agency to bolster the line, and get a better sense of what spot we draft for in April.

We very well could draft for McGlinchey’s RT spot as he has become a giant liability in pass protection, and may warrant a move inside to RG. Anyhow, not much going on out there in football-land. But things will get rolling once free agency hits.

If this is the Queen’s Gambit, then these are the opening moves. The 49ers signed restricted free agents Jeff Wilson, Ross Dwelley and Marcel Harris to one-year extensions. Wilson had a pretty great season as the back up to the back up, and ended up with 600 yards (a hefty 4.8 yards/carry average) and 7 TDs in 12 games (3 starts), along with 133 yards and 3 TDs on 13 catches. An easy signing. Dwelley and Harris however are coming off fair-to-middling seasons so they are low-cost deals. Dwelley had a decent year catching passes, but was called on a lot of holding call and false starts. Harris has some solid special teams plays, but his safety work is iffy at best. Reed is a better backup, but we have to see how he holds up health-wise.

The last restricted FA I want to see signed to a deal is Emmanuel Moseley. He is a plus defender and he is the only CB they even have nominal control over. Sign him to an incentive-laden deal.

Shrivel-dick Mullens is the other restricted FA, but his days here are done. We had such hope after some decent play from him, but he became a turnover machine that ended up costing us 3-4 games last year. Say hello to Alex Smith. Hah! Somewhere NoFear is spinning under his busted-ass trailer.