Forty Niners Forever

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.

This is the latest rumor in the grist mill. Among a billion of them. TB may straight release him, so the point is moot. And I don’t know. We’d need a revamped line besides to get Brady enough time to throw. I think The Beli would want to fleece us a little harder so it prolly wouldn’t be worth it anyway.

I don’t know. I see a trade with either the Broncos or Steelers coming up soon for the services of Jiminy Cricket. The team seems worthy of honoring their promise to trade Jimmy to a contender. And Pittsburgh and Denver fill the bill nicely. A middling 1? a 2 and 4. A 3 and a 4? Whatever it is, we need to clear the decks for the upcoming season, and his money is vital to keeping Deebo and Bosa, among a bunch of other guys.

Mostert? Sure, if the deal is team-friendly. Don’t know what he wants, but having missed the entire year minus one series, he isn’t in a strong bargaining position. Same with Jason Verrett. But the defense is a convo for another time. Mostert, Mitchell, and Sermon would be a nice set of backs to have. With speedy JaMycal Hasty as the super sub. With all of them healthy, we can hopefully KEEP them healthy all season and do damage on the ground.

A strong run game will be essential in Trey Lance’s development. As will a deep threat. This team desperately needs to open up the passing game to more than between-the-numbers slants and dig routes. Not that they don’t serve their purpose, but they have to show off Trey’s arm and take shots downfield. This will benefit the run game AND the short passing game, not to mention Lance scrambles for big gains, a la Russell Wilson.

Shanahan HAS to grasp that this is how you develop a mobile QB. Put him in the pocket to make throws or break contain when the situation dictates. Do NOT run the read-option. Mix in some roll-outs, but do NOT send the QB on end-arounds. It’s bad enough doing that with Deebo, but with the QB leads to plays like the one that nearly got Lance killed on the goal line last season. Protect the investment, ninny.

Anyhow, the Olympics are over, basketball is on their All Star break, baseball is in lockdown, and there ain’t shit going on, other than the possible start of WW III.

woo hoo

For those of us oldsters, that used to be their tag line. Dee (First on Race Day) Ford received his $4.6 million injury payout. You’d think that would be bad news, but it isn’t. Mainly because we can recoup $7 million in salary cap space if we release him after June 1st. But that means we have to wait till after June 1st to realize the money. Meanwhile trying to extend Deebo and Bosa to new lucrative deals.

Me? I wonder what becomes of Raheem Mostert. He’s an outstanding back when he’s on the field, but being there is a challenge. His price may stay low due to his injury history. Laken Tomlinson? DJ Jones? Jason Verrett? Well, he gone. K’Waun Williams? Jaquiski Tartt? Ross Dwelley? Marcell Harris? Jeff Wilson? Jordan Willis? K Street? Arden Key? Demetrius FF?

No matter how you slice it, the 49ers have a shit-ton of free agents. Most of the guys listed, and there are about 10 more, restricted or otherwise, contributed big and small to our success last season. Some we really need to sign. Then there are restricted guys, like Jauan Jennings, Azeez Al-Shaair, Kevin Givens, and JaMichael Hasty.

Off the top of my head, I’d let Jeff Wilson, Jason Verrett, Ross Dwelley, and K Street go. Mostert can hopefully stay on the field. Verrett will never have another injury-free season. Woerner is fine as the backup TE. And with Bosa, AA, Givens, Key, Kinlaw, Ebukan, Omenihu, and DJ Jones in the fold, we still have amble depth on the defensive line.

So, keep Tomlinson, Mostert, DJ, Tartt, KWilliams, Harris, Willis, and Demetrius FF. The restricted guys we should be able to keep w/o too much scratch.

Sooo, we need to nail down a deal with Jimmy. I wonder what happens if Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers stick with their teams. That should create a little more value for Jimmy G as this is a pretty thin QB class, and the free agent pool is drained. Unless Andy Dalton, Cam Newton, or Tyrod Taylor floats your boat.

Hey, maybe we CAN get a 1st round pick for Jimmy. I’m holding my breath for Denver. Or the Washington Generals. John Lynch and Paraag Marathe need to hit the books and figure out how to wrangle money out of the Santa Clara mudflats to keep a lot of these guys.

Notorious BIG among others was spinning in his grave yesterday as the nation got a big fat slice of West Coast rap, what with Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre taking over the world for a little while a few miles from where they both grew up in Compton. Dre’s protege Slim Shady even made an appearance and got in a quick kneel-down in honor of our own Colin Kaepernick.

Funny how the NFL still gets kicked in the balls over their treatment of Kaepernick, even as they do this Super Bowl tribute to the West Coast rap scene. While Brian Flores pulls back the ugly truth over the joke that is the Rooney Rule process of shining on black head coaching candidates. Seeing as Kaepernick is still black-balled by the league, and Nick Mullens has a job, I guess the double-secret probation still applies.

Oh yeah, the game. The Super Bowl. Maybe the Super Bowel. It was a fairly uninspiring game. Both coaches played it not to lose and both nearly lost the game in various ways. Cincy stupidly went for it early on 4th and 1 from midfield, and failed. This gave the Rams a short field and their first TD. Cincy’s O line was pretty much a disaster, but they held together for the first 35 minutes anyway, giving the Bengals a 20-13 lead midway through the 3rd quarter, after pick #2 from Matthew Stafford. Mr. Lucky. Mr. I never met a deep pass I underthrew for a pick in the playoffs. I guess it fits that Kupp gets the MVP as Stafford was unimpressive throughout the playoffs with 6 TDs and 4 picks.

The 2nd half was a punt fest as both teams tried to out-wimp each other. Cincy had a better excuse as their offensive line completely fell apart and allowed 6 sacks in the 2nd half. But still, Cincy faced a 2nd and 1, and tried the home run and failed, tried a run up the middle and failed, and then went for the short pass and failed. Call me crazy, but at that point in the game, down 3, the impetus is to keep the chains moving, not to go for the deep pass. Do that when you GET the 1st down. Everyone in the world, including Kyle Shanahan, knew the 3rd down play would be a run up the middle. If you are gonna go for it on 4th, do something different on 3rd.

Oh well. The pisser to me is this was a truly shitty set of teams in the playoffs, and had we won 2 weeks ago, I think we win this game handily. Neither team looked very good, and at least of the AFC side, KC and Buffalo were better than Cincinnati. Oh well. Another season like this ne and we should be in good shape. Lance should provide a lot of offense and we won;’

Just hoping the Rams crash and burn like their last Super Bowl loss a few years back. Joe 2 Cool could come through and win this game, but with Cincy’s poor O line, and LA’s dominant D line, this seems unlikely. That being said, Stafford is good for a couple shit throws a game.

Happy as hell that BY made the Hall of Fame. Super Bowl champ, rookie of the year, comeback player of the year, 1990s all-decade team, all-pro. He was a stalwart on the line for many years.

Well, it would seem to be a non-issue as we have traded so much draft capital in getting Trey lance, but we just got 2 conditional 3rd round picks (one this year, one next) for the Mike McDaniel hire by the Miami Dolphins. Like Robert Saleh last year, he is walking into a shit-show of the highest order, and will likely be in for a struggle. Saleh coached the Jets to a 4-13 record. Ouch. Miami is embroiled in the Brian Flores scandal, but I guess this hire takes the heat off? Whatevs.

This is about the draft. Jimmy Garoppolo, for good or ill, is on the block. Yes, he reached the NFC Championship game. Whether that was due to him or despite him isn’t really an issue as there are SO many teams looking for an even decent QB to do something for them. Just off the top of my head, Pittsburgh (bye Worthlessburger), Tampa Bay (bye Tom Terrific), Houston (where’s DeShaun?), New Orleans, Miami, Carolina, and especially Denver are all actively looking for a quarterback. Plus, Jimmy G handled all the bullshit thrown his way by the media and the team itself. He proved to be a great mentor to Trey, so he’s valued by teams in that regard as well.

Then there are teams that could possibly make a change, as in the Raiders and the Seahawks. Pete Carroll loves taking our castoffs, so that is always possible, but I don’t see us trading with either Vegas or Seattle.

Shit, speaking of the Jets, they could even take Jimmy off our hands to protect their investment in Zack Wilson, as he got clobbered all year and was hurt and/or getting chased down relentlessly all season. They could give a guy like Jimmy a shot to be a bridge QB while Saleh tries to draft an offensive line this draft. But I doubt it. Now that the Broncos ownership is up in the air, we may have lost our biggest target. Horse-face has been failing miserably in trying to fill the QB spot since he signed a gimpy Peyton Manning from the Colts way back in 2012. Peyton retired on top, winning the Super Bowl by not fucking up in the 2015 season, so they haven’t had a QB since.

Could we get a one out of them? Since we don’t know who the GM or coach will be, we have to wait. But my baseline would be as I said, a 2 and a 4. Pittsburgh has a solid team and Worthlessburger has recently pretty much been Jimmy G with his short to medium passes, and no deep game whatsoever. Tampa is a solid team as well that could use the steadying presence of a guy like Jimmy. NO is the same. They just need someone to be solid if not spectacular.

Houston? I don’t think we’d have the heart to fuck Jimmy over like that. But as of now based on what moves we have made, we own 9 picks:

• Round 2, Overall Pick 61
• Round 3, Overall Pick 93
• Round 3 (compensatory pick for McDaniel)
• Round 4, Overall Pick 133
• Round 5, Overall Pick 172
• Round 6, Overall Pick 186 (from Broncos for LB Jonas Griffith)
• Round 7 (compensatory pick)
• Round 7 (compensatory pick)
• Round 7 (compensatory pick)

Seeing as this brain (fart) trust seems to do well at the bottom of the draft board, maybe this isn’t a bad thing.

Well, for all intents and purposes, this season was a success. Believe it or not. The main goal of giving Trey Lance a red-shirt season worked, amid the fits and starts and injuries around Jimmy G and the whole team for that matter. The 49ers were a couple plays from the Super Bowl, which is what we were supposed to be. And we knocked Dallas and Green Bay out of the playoffs. No mean feat as they were both road wins. The Ram loss was a bitter pill to swallow, but as a team, we are young, talented, and hungry. I’ll put aside my animosity toward Kyle for the time being.

Jimmy said yesterday what the team wouldn’t, in that he has played his last down in a 49er uni. He hopes he is sent “to a team interested in winning.” Which I guess leaves out Houston. My landing spot was always gonna be Denver, as they are as desperate as any team, but they all off a sudden have major issues around the Brian Flores firing, and apparent sham head coaching interviews with Denver, Miami, and the New York Giants. All done to conform to the league and the Rooney Rule.

I’m thinking the upcoming Broncos sale is part and parcel with the impending fallout from this allegation of racist practices, so maybe Denver is out as a destination as horse-face and the entire Broncos organization is shit-canned in favor of a new ownership group and front office.

But that’s a different convo. Jimmy’s destinations still include New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Miami, the Giants, or possibly even the Jets, as they may want to get Zack Wilson out of harm’s way for a season while they try to build a better team around him before he gets killed out there.

My high-water mark would be a 2 and a 4. Given all the glowing reports from all Jimmy’s teammates, and the (relative) success the team had, you would think that he would get this in a trade. And it should happen pretty quickly. The teams looking for QBs are many, and the hope is that there is a bidding war for his services. Even if it is as a mentor for another highly drafted quarterback.

Fuck this. This one hurt. Kyle Shanahan has never seen a 4th quarter lead he can’t blow. It defies logic that Shanahan runs up the middle when there are 8 guys against our 5 on 2nd and 1. Since it didn’t work on 2nd down, or most off the whole fucking game, let’s try it again!!! Fuck me sideways. Fucking McVay had done it earlier himself, so it baffles me to no end that this keeps happening.

Where were the jet sweeps? None. Misdirection? Nope. Where were the slants Oh yeah, they worked to perfection, so naturally we stopped throwing them. Stopped. Throwing. Them. And I think Shany dipped into the Deebo up the middle well too often. We never ran outside. Baffling. And Jimmy wasn’t half bad. Sure, he missed Kittle wide open over the middle for what could have been a 1st quarter TD, but he was fairly solid, and actually got out of a few sacks without any damage.

Poor Jaquiski Tartt had the drop off the game on the gift from Stafford, but hey, that’s why he isn’t a wide receiver. The man who wears this loss is the head coach. Those last 2 drives, they couldn’t get anything set and they took a penalty, 2 more plays that no one was on the same page, and we just gave the ball right back. Could you have called a timeout, coach? Naaah. We’ll just piss the game away.

The pass rush was inconsistent, and people say you don’t blitz Stafford? Fuck that. He throws ducks when pressured. He’s the luckiest guy on earth that Tartt didn’t hang on to that duck.

Shanahan in the last Ram game got creative because he was behind. Since he was ahead, he hides like a turtle in his shell and plays it safe. Over and over and fucking over. FUCK HIM!

If Eddie was running the team, Shanahan would be gone tomorrow. As it is, I think we are gonna suffer a couple more years of this.

Man, this has been quite the season. What is it about San Francisco sports teams this year? The Giants come out of nowhere to win 107 games??? The Warriors storm out to the best record in the NBA? And now we have the Jekyll and Hyde 49ers turning on the jets after staggering out of the gate. One game from the Super Bowl? These guys were DOA after getting waylaid by the Colt McCoy-led Arizona Cardinals and were at 3-5.

Sputtering offense, shoddy defense, mediocre special teams. The maddening crowd, including me, was calling for a quarterback change, and a coaching change at the end of the year. But internally, the team kept their cool. They didn’t fracture behind the obvious division that the Trey Lance signing could have caused. Or the offensive woes as the team struggled to score. Or the injuries. Or the shoddy defense and bad clock management. The Super Bowl and NFC West crown dreams vanished in a hurry.

Thankfully the Rams provided the springboard for our current run back in week 10 as we pounded them into submission with a 15 minute game-opening TD drive and a 31-10 shellacking.

Something I think we repeat tomorrow. The Rams are the Rams. They make plays, but they also make mistakes. They blew a 17 point lead against us and lost, and blew a 24 point lead against the Bucs and won. Matthew Stafford can be pressured into mistakes, and our defensive line has really ratcheted up the pressure. In the last Ram game, Ryans dialed up a few blitzes on some obvious passing downs and got sacks. And most importantly, Ambry Thomas was a full participant in practice, so no Dontae johnson in the slot. We will still need help with Cooper Kupp, but I feel much better with Ambry out there.

So, buckle up for a big day of football.

Don’t know why, but I’m feeling a rematch of Super Bowl XVI and XXXIII. KC’s defense will not slow down Cincy enough to win.