San Francisco 49ers Forever

Weird shit inside the Niners gold mine. Deebo Samuel has removed his 49ers profile picture on Instagram, unfollowed the team, and deleted over 80 posts from his account. Does it mean anything?

Well, probably not. Other than as a bargaining position, I don’t think this means much. But who knows? I haven’t heard a peep out of the team or Deebo that there are anything other than good feelings between them. But who knows? We’ve lost a bunch of coaches, and he stands to make a huge payday, so maybe there is resistance behind the scenes.

Hard to say. Just another monkey wrench in the works. It would be disastrous to lose Deebo after his breakout year last year.

Nice move by the 49ers to sign Frank Gore to a one-day contract to retire a 49er. He will forever be remembered as a tough, no-nonsense player who gave his all every season, every game, and every down. He ran like his life depended on every play, he blocked anyone and everyone in his path, and he gave as much as he got. He’s the leading rusher in 49er history with 11,703 yards, and #3 all-time with 16,000 yards and 99 touchdowns. He’s 5th all time in all purpose yards at 19,992.

He gained yards even when our brilliant head coach, aluminum Mike Singletary, told our opponents Gore would get the ball 25+ carries. He gained 1,000 yards 7 times with a career high 1,695 in 2006. It’s too bad Harbaugh insisted on using Gore mainly as a blocker in pass plays, because under Nolan Gore was solid catching passes out of the backfield. Over 400 yards 4 times, including 61 catches for 485 in his breakout 2006 season.

He was a 5 time pro bowler, and all-pro that 2006 season with 2180 yards from scrimmage and 9 touchdowns.

First ballot Hall of Famer to me. He was a joy to watch on some awful teams early in his career and he never complained, he always gave it his all, and if not for a goddamn delay of game, would have scored the game-winning touchdown in Super Bowl 47. Love me some Gore. One of my definite all-time favorite 49ers. Hell of a career.

Still lots of free agents to deal with. Still a lot of holes to fill.

Still got Jimmy. Funny, he’s all over the airwaves doing ads suddenly.

Here’s who we have lost, who we got, who’s still unsigned. As I said earlier, Tomlinson is the only one I really didn’t want to see go. Jones is a drag, but we should be able to fill his role between Givens and Willis.

UPDATE: The Niners sign ex-Niner and Seahawk-last-year Kerry Hyder to a one-year deal.

Will not Return

RB Trenton Cannon (UFA, Titans)
OL Tom Compton (UFA, Broncos, 1-yr)
DT D.J. Jones (UFA, Broncos, 3-yr, $30M)
RB Raheem Mostert (UFA, Dolphins, 1-yr, $3.125M)
WR Trent Sherfield (UFA, Dolphins, 1-yr)
DL Kentavius Street (UFA, Saints)
OL Laken Tomlinson (UFA, Jets, 3-yr, $40M)
CB K’Waun Williams (UFA, Broncos, 2-yr, $7M)

Restricted Free Agents – I’m sure we sign these two

LB Azeez Al-Shaair (2nd-round tender, nearly $4M)
OL Daniel Brunskill (tendered right-of-first-refusal, $2.43M)

Returning 49ers

OL Jake Brendel (RFA, 1-yr extension)
LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (ERFA, 1-yr extension)
DL Kevin Givens (ERFA, 1-yr extension)
RB JaMycal Hasty (ERFA, 1-yr extension)
DT Maurice Hurst (UFA, 1-yr extension)
CB Dontae Johnson (UFA, 1-yr)
DL Jordan Willis (UFA, 1-yr)
RB Jeff Wilson Jr. (UFA)

New 49ers

LB Oren Burks (Packers, 2-yr, $5M, Burks)
DE Kerry Hyder (Seahawks, 1-yr, $1.5M, PFN)
WR/RS Ray-Ray McCloud (Steelers, CBS Sports, ESPN)
S George Odum (Colts, 3-yr, $10.95M, PFF)
DT Hassan Ridgeway (Eagles, 1-yr, $2.5M, ESPN)
CB Charvarius Ward (Chiefs, 3-yr, $42M, $26.7M guaranteed, ESPN)

I like the C Ward signing, but like their baseball brethren, the Niners are not making a big splash in free agency. For all the turmoil of last season, we were a couple plays away from the Super Bowl.

That being said, they better nail this draft. DB, DE, and O line depth are still big concerns.

CBS Sports is reporting that the 49ers have an offer on the table for Jimmy and it is two 2nd round picks. More than likely, if true, it involves the Saints or the Colts. If it was a team that Lynch didn’t want to trade with, say Carolina or Seattle, I don’t think he’d go public with the report. Then again, the report could be utter bullshit.

Lynch could be trying to sweeten the pot. The empty pot. If he had an offer like that, the truth is he’d mre that likely jump at it. I would. Anyhow, it’s out there.

File under “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not”.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/jimmy-garoppolo-trade-rumors-49ers-have-been-offered-two-second-round-picks-for-veteran-qb-per-report/

The Browns will give up three first-round draft picks and two additional picks to get Mr. Happy Ending’s services. He also gets $230 million over 5 years. Which of course means that Baker Mayfield is on the move. Thus forestalling yet again, the continuing saga of Where’s Jimmy Gonna Go? At this point I’m ready to believe the Jets will take him off our hands to be cannon fodder for the inept Jets line as Zack Wilson cools his heels on the bench. We’ll get a bag of balls and a punter.

Blehhhh. IO feel like our front office is being schooled by the league as all these deals go down, and Jimmy remains on the team. Who the fuck knows?

I’m already resigned to the fact that Mayfield goes to the Colts tomorrow.

I’m no Monty Hall, but in the interest of trying to add to the team instead of hemorrhaging players, George Kittle and Arik Armstead reworked their contracts to open up close to $19 million in cap space. Putting us $14 million under the cap. We have a new CB which is nice, but there are a lot of guys on the bubble and we need an edge rusher to boot. We also need to deal with Deebo and Bosa.

On the good news side, Russell Wilson and Chandler Jones have left the NFC West and are both now in the AFC West. Ta ta. Well, except for the fact that the NFC West plays the AFC West this season. Fuck. Oh well.

Not sure what the hold up is with Jimmy G. At this point we are losing people and not getting better. We are getting weaker with the signing of Laken Tonlinson bu the New York Jets, and DJ Jones signing with the Denver Broncos.

I thought both of these guys would be fairly big priorities as Tomlinson had a solid year among a pretty inconsistent line, and DJ Jones was a stud as an interior lineman. But here we are hanging on to Jimmy and hemorrhaging players. They have re-signed these guys. Nothing earth-shaking. Givens did have the play of the Green bay game though

• OL Jake Brendel (RFA, 1-yr extension)
• LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (ERFA, 1-yr extension)
• DL Kevin Givens (ERFA, 1-yr extension)
• RB JaMycal Hasty (ERFA, 1-yr extension)
• DT Maurice Hurst (UFA, 1-yr extension)

And we are apparently looking to hit the FA CB market and may try to get Stephon Gilmore.

As cool as that is, all this goes nowhere with Jimmy G’s $25.5 mill still tied up. The offers must be shitty because he should be gone by now. I just don’t get Wentz going before Jimmy, but fuck, I don’t know. I guess we are waiting for DeShaun Watson to make his decision?

Funny thing is Watson rejected a trade to the Seahawks. For obvious reasons. He’s looking at the Saints or the Steelers. The AFC East and the NFC South are much weaker, at least defensively, than the NFC West.

Get it done!!!

The NFC West power structure just took a huge shift as the Seattle Seahawks traded Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos for a king’s ransom, and Drew Lock. Hard not to respect Russell and all he has done for Seattle, but he has been a pain in our ass for a loooooooong fucking time. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.. He is now a major headache for the rest of the AFC West. A strong division that just got even stronger.

They certainly ain’t gonna bank on Drew Lock. Or Geno Smith. Or Jacob Eason. They seemingly blew it by not trading Wilson last year if their goal was to get a young stud QB as this year’s class is light years away from last year’s QB class. I wonder if they somehow have a line on DeShaun Watson. He could roll right into their huddle and fit like a hand in a glove. Provided he gets out from under his myriad illegal use of hands penalties.

So, where does that leave us and our soon-to-be-ex-quarterback, Jimmy G? Not sure, but I had Denver as Jimmy’s top destination. That has now shifted to Pittsburgh. They have local hero Najee Harris and a strong defense. Worthlessburger has been pretty much a clone of Jimmy G lately anyway as he has lost his ability to throw deep, so he would fit right in to their ball-control offense.

New Orleans is in the running as well as Jameis Winston may or may not be ready, fricking Minnesota could move on from our once-upon-a-time-future QB of the past, Kirk Cousins (wouldn’t that be the definition of irony!), or the Raiders possibly moving on from Carr.

A-Rog signed a 4 year, $200 million deal to remain in Green Bay so he’s out of the dance. So. it’s clear as mud what happens next. Still and all I want something to happen quick. Still think a 2 and a 4 isn;t out of the realm of reality.

Late getting around to this. Been busy travelling for work. Not much to report, other than Jimmy G seemingly waiting till the worst possible moment to announce he’s having shoulder surgery. People seem to be freaking out about it, saying we should simply cut him, but I don’t think this will affect his worth much. He is what he is. He’s a charismatic Alex Smith with a pinch of Brett Favre wildness to him.

He will be a stabilizing force for a team developing a young gun (NYJ), or simply a guy who can steer a strong defensive team to the playoffs (Pitts, Denver, Wash). I don’t even think the Jets are leaning that way, but it is possible given the Robert Saleh connection. Pretty sure he doesn’t want to be a backup, but it’ll be interesting to see where he goes and what he (and we) gets.

In other news, we are looking at Trey Lance’s receiving buddy Christian Watson. Big, fast, and tall, he may have played himself out of our reach. But we have a shit load of low picks, it would be worth our while to trade those for a shot at him. He had a solid Senior Bowl, and he is a bona fide deep threat with his size and speed. 6’4″ 205, 4.36 40 time.

Do it.