Forty Niners Forever

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.

Huh. Looks like Young Sir Alex is coming back to the Niners. Possible? Probable? Who cares? I’d rather see Frank Gore back in the Red and Gold, if anyone. If we get to the point of Smith coming back and starting, we are fucked anyway. Still think we either get Mac Jones in the 2nd round or we trade up for someone. Then again, we may very well just see if Trey Lance falls to us. Which is slightly possible. More likely if we trade up with, say Cincinnati at 5. Regardless, we would be carrying 3 QBs. Which is prudent.

Irregardless, the Niners may be wise to look at Gabe Jackson, right guard on the Raiders set to be a cap casualty. We desperately need line depth, and he would bolster our line immediately. We can then go for a center in free agency or the draft, as Westie Richie is Toastie for yet another season with a recent hip surgery that will end his 2021 season.

Man, the blogosphere sure has a way of going nuts around our quarterback situation. Peter King has us in a 3 way trade with the Vikes and the Texans where we give up a 1st round pick and Jimmy G for, wait for it, Kirk Cousins. Brilliant. King seems to be hitting the bong a little too hard. Comfort with Cousins or not, trading a 1st round pick to get a guy who has less success than Jimmy G is ludicrous. Granted, Jimmy G isn’t any supreme talent, I’d only put him in the top half of the league when healthy, but he’s coming off a bad year that was not going well even before he got hurt. Cousins is the same cat. Insanely bad trade idea.

The other trade proposal from King gives Tex Fred Warner, Jimmy G, and McGlinchey plus two 1st round picks for Deshaun Watson. The idea of getting Watson is certainly something I would be highly intrigued about, no matter what the cost, should we pull the trigger. But losing all that draft capital and players would be a tough thing to deal with, and frankly, I’d rather see Bosa go than Warner, mainly because of Bosa’s checkered health history. He may very well end up like JJ Watt. A phenomenal talent that can’t stay on the field. Still and all, a steep price to pay.

But if they do do that, I’d be very excited. Watson is a legit stud, and would make plays our last 10 QBs combined couldn’t even dream of. That being said, I get that Deshaun is a phenomenal talent, I just don’t see the upside to gutting the team in that regard. Defense does win championships, and yes, so do quarterbacks. But Warner is a talent we can’t lose. McGlinchey? Sure, he can go. He’s gonna end up a guard in the near future anyway, so his stock is middling at best. Wouldn’t miss him much.

So, I don’t think John Lynch and company take the ginormous risk in getting Watson when they have the possibility of riding their defense to another Super Bowl trip. Jimmy G was just one pass from winning it, and the Niners were one horrible 3rd down and 24 stop from winning it as well. Sure, I’d be excited as hell if they pulled the trigger, but this team doesn’t make moves like this.

And RIP Dick Witcher. I saw him score the game-winning touchdown in the south end zone of the 1971 NFC Divisional playoff game as an injured John Brodie came into the game in the 4th quarter and led the team to 2 late TDs to beat the Vikings. Course I went to the game the next weekend as well . . .

One month to free agency (March 17). Pretty slow till then, but the fur will fly. We have a shit-ton of free agents but there will also be a bigger shit-ton of available guys. Granted, we don’t have much wiggle room with free agency, and the shrinking salary-covid-cap that has cut into it, but we should be looking to replace our mid-range guys with some other mid-range guys.

Does that include QB? Weeeellllll, once you get past Dak Prescott, you have Ryan Fitzpatrick (and his lover Patrick Fitzryan), Jameis Winston, and Cam Newton. In other words, nope.

Wide receiver appears to be the biggest stockpile. Chris Godwin, Allen Robinson, Ken Golladay, and Will Fuller are all young highly productive guys. Shit, even T.Y. Hilton should be affordable in a pinch. He might be a steal, and 31 ain’t that old.

Thing is, we stand to lose a lot of our guys to free agency, even if they aren’t rated that high. Except for Trent Williams. Of the 33 (!!!) free agents, I think we should focus on Williams, Verrett, Juice, Brunskill, and Kendrick Bourne. The list of meh is long. Wilson and Moseley are restricted FAs so they should be staying.

I’m on the fence regarding guys like Tartt, Witherspoon, and Blair, Willis DJ Jones, and Hyder, as they all had solid seasons for a defense decimated by injury. But guys like Mullens, Coleman, Trent Taylor, Reed (on the fence with him as well), Solly Thomas, Sherman, Grasu, and others should hit the road.

Anyhow, here’s our free agent list!

Well, what a strange game that was. From the first pass the mahomes threw, a pass batted down by Jason Pierre-Paul, to the last pick, the Chiefs played like a team that hadn’t been to the big one in a long time. Stupid penalties, bad ref calls, shitty punting, and most egregious, so many dropped passes.

Mahomes made two plays off scrambles that were phenomenal. Both could have been touchdowns. And both were dropped. Hill and Kelce included. The pass to Pringle that was maybe catchable was the stuff of legend. being spun in a circle, he got it off on the mark.

So, but for that, it could have been a different game. The refs did give the Bucs a free TD to close out the 1st half. Which was kinda sucky. But in the end, the Tampa defense, holding both safeties deep, seemed to slow down the deep KC game, and Mahomes was pretty bead up regardless.

Brady was decent, he made the throws he needed to, and the TB run game kept KC’s defense off balance. And by no means did I ever think KC would not score a touchdown.

If only we could have played a 4th quarter like that last year.

Fuck.

Here we go. Super Bowl 55. strange I remember most of them, dating back to the first one I remember watching, Super Bowl III and Broadway Joe. Being 6, I believed the hype about the Colts and thought the mighty Colts would win. By the time the Chiefs rolled around the next year, I was a big fan of the freewheeling style of AFL football. Lenny Dawson, the Mad Bomber, Otis Taylor,Freddie B, great teams.

Unless the Niners were there. Which they almost were. Big I digress. The Chiefs now? Fuck ’em. Yeah, they are kinda reminiscent of the Hank Stram Air Coryell Al Davis AFL, but don’t really want to see them win 2 in a row. Then again, I don’t really want to see Brady lift up another trophy, but hey, Tom’s in the NFC now, and I’m an NFC guy at heart.

Still and all, not really feeling this one given all the shit that’s going on. Hey, I just hope it’s a good game, and the Niners get healed up.

RIP Charlie Krueger. Great player back in the day.

Well, the Rams certainly have balls. They are going all in yet again for a new QB. The one they gave away is the ont they spent a ton of draft capital to get in the first place in Jared (don’t call me Jared) Goff. TWO first round picks, TWO second round picks, and TWO third round picks to Tennessee to get the services of Goff, the guy they just traded to the Lions for TWO first round picks and a third round pick to acquire Matthew Stafford.

Balls they have. But brains? Hard to say. They went all in last season with their mid-season trade for Jalen Ramsey, thus losing the only 1st round pick they have sniffed since trading up for Goff in 2016, and they won’t see one till 2024 with this new deal.

So, the Rams either cash in quick, stay on top for a year or two, or fade from the scene in a slow agonizing death. Frankly, I think they are fucked. It’s hard enough just to get through this division, let alone run the playoff gauntlet. They have mortgaged their future in a big way. They already gave away this year’s first round pick for Jalen Ramsey. Someone who didn’t really help in the end as we sure proved, and Green Bay as well, that if you can control Aaron Donald to reasonable output, you can beat them. Ramsey had a nice season, but in the end didn’t tip the balance.

So, what does that mean for us? Well, it means the price tag for DeShaun Watson is now stratospheric (catastrophic?). Out if this world. Far out. Across the universe. Shit, even looking at what the Rams gave up to trade up with Tennessee to get Goff in the first place is utter insanity. So, that leaves us in a pickle. This team has recently been burned by trading picks (see Dee Ford), and got kinda burned by Beater McBeatHard, and Jimmy G is looking like a slow-moving train wreck.

I hate to say it, but this doesn’t look like out year already. I don’t think the Niners can afford to trade up OR trade for DSW. We take a shot with our 2nd pick with Mac Jones (if he’s around) or Fla’s Kyle Trask. GIve Jimmy G one last shot, and see if he stays upright. If not, we’ll be back near the top of the draft and we can go for Sam Howell or Tyler Shough.

No way in hell did I think Tom Brady would take the Buccos to a Super Bowl. Brady is the pre-emptive MVP with his 4600 yard, 40 TD, 12 pick effort. This will be his 10th Super Bowl. Criminy. Nearly 20% of the Super Bowls involve him. 6 Super Bowl wins. Yadda yadda yadda.

I’ve come here not to praise Brady but to bury him. Sure, he’s from my home town and went to my high school. Meh. Sure, he’s had a phenomenal career and has won a ton of games, but the luck around his success cannot be understated. The Tuck Rule. The INT on the 1 yard line. Dee Ford lining up offsides. Atlanta hacking up a huge lead (thanks, Kyle).

On and on. 3 of his Super Bowls were solid performances. 6 not so much. But, hey, he got there yet again, so color me surprised. He also gets to be the first quarterback to play in his home stadium. The 49ers and Stanford stadium (their home after the earthquake) notwithstanding.

Anyhow, the adage has always been don’t bet against Brady in the playoffs. Well, fuck that. I don’t know. I think KC wins this, but I’ve been wrong about Brady before.

If Brady wins, it will further cement him as the GOAT. Again, meh. Where’s his touchdown to Clark in the NFC Championship game? Where’s his 95 yard drive leading up to the TD to John Taylor with time running out? When Montana got there (as well as Steve Young) he either dominated or hit a big play at a crucial time.

Game on the line and I get one QB? Montana all the way. Sure, I’m blinded by Joe. But then again, so were all the DBs he faced.

Well, here we are at the penultimate weekend of football. We get the NFC oldsters vs the AFC youngsters. What used to be fondly referred to as the Bay of Pigs games back when both teams sucked the bone in the 80s, we have 43 year old Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Bucs against relative puppy 37 year old Aaron (I coulda been a Niner) Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

Brady of course left the safety of his cozy relationship with Bill Belichick to strike out on his own in Florida. Sure, it’s easy to call Brady the winner in this deal of system over player, as the Pats went 7-9 and missed out on the playoffs while Tom terrific has taken the Bucs to the edge of another Super Bowl. Crazy shit if you ask me. I thought the Bucs would be a WC that maybe got one win and gracefully crashed and burned. And it isn’t as if he lifted the team onto his shoulders and threw his way to victory. But still I’m a little more than impressed that he has gotten them this far.

He has a lot of weapons at his disposal in Tampa, and he has used them well. But, I don’t think they get past Green Bay. Should be a fun one though.

Green Bay gives up 3.5 points, but I think they cover and win. The prevailing sentiment out there is never bet against Brady in the playoffs. Well, fuck that, Green Bay wins 24-17.

• Green Bay vs Tampa Bay – 12:05 pm on Fox

The AFC Championship pits the wobbly Patrick Mahomes against the newly awesome Josh Allen. This one could get interesting if Buffalo can get in Mahomes’ face. He has his concussion he suffered last week, along with a toe injury he suffered before that. His hip is wonky as well. So, this one may not be as in-the-bag as one might think. Both teams were scoring machines in the regular season but have cooled off a bit on the playoffs.

Buffalo is coming off two grind-it-out playoff games against the Colts and the Ravens. Definitely a rough road to get here. With Mahomes beat up, I think the Bills get another chance at their first Super Bowl win. They give 3.5 points themselves. But this should be another cover by the victors. Buffalo wins 24-13.

• Kansas City vs Buffalo – 3:40 pm on CBS