Forty Niners Forever

And avoid press conferences at all costs. Not much football news, but the draft is gonna happen in April. Barring anything even weirder happening. So, we got that.

Anyhow, found this pretty fucking awesome vid of Elvis. Not a gigantic fan of his, but he is the King. . .

Sorry. Not much changing around here or anywhere. We did sign Charger WR Travis Benjamin. A fairly low-production guy who has been various flavors of hurt these past few seasons. But he did have a 68 catch, 966 yard year with the Browns. With Josh McClown as his QB. Shocking. But hey, he’s a cheap vet who is available and decent.

Still think WR is our #1 need in the draft. Go CB at 31. We are 23rd in cap room, so there ain’t a lot there, but we have some flexibility. I’d think Goodwin will be traded/cut to free up a little more room, but we’ll see. I’m sure Lynch and Co have more deals in the works.

The news out there now is that the NFL owners want to postpone the draft instead of having it at the end of April. It has already morphed from the feeding frenzy that would have been Vegas to some sort of online deal, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Frankly for me, it’s a nice diversion from the fucking Coronavirus, so just do it online, and we can all enjoy the fun. Stay safe, everyone, and carry on.

Well, not really, but it sure feels like it. Still working at this point, but for how long?

Anyhow, if you want to hear the details of why we traded DeFo, it of course had a lot to do with DeFo’s agent. A guy who drives a hard bargain.

https://www.knbr.com/2020/03/18/barrows-explains-how-conversation-with-buckners-agent-led-to-decision-to-trade-him/?fbclid=IwAR1exuegXakDUn69Y_EKRU2UuWg5XxIYhpZpZ3yigb6GuE0-e7Rve-CprJE

Other than that, thinking of posting highlights of various things? Shit, I don’t know.

Just got 4′ of fresh powder in Tahoe, and no one to ski it. This really stinks. I mean, along with everything else.

Cue David Byrne. Say what you will about sports being cancelled, the NFL is chugging along with a very active free agency period. Beyond our own trade of DeFo for the 13th overall pick in the draft (a necessary evil in today’s NFL), the Tampa Bay Buccos signed 43 year old Tom Brady to a $30 million deal, the Colts signed 38 year old Philip Rivers to a 1 years $25 mill deal, and Drew Brees gets $50 mill for 2 years to stay with the Saints. The Bears get Nick Foles from the Jags for a 4th round (hah!) comp pick. His stock has dropped dramatically, and the Jags will stick with Mustache Minshew. Foles gets a new start for a team that hasn’t had a bona fide QB since the mid 80s. Trubisky is a man without a team, and he likely goes to the Saints as a backup? The Panthers have moved on from Cam Newton by signing Teddy Bridgewater to a 3 year/$63 million deal. Teddy parlayed his stunning subbing into a starting role as Drew Brees was on the mend last year.

Beyond that, the dumbest team in the NFL (hello Bill O’Brien), the Houston Texans, traded DeAndre Hopkins for a worn out David Johnson of the AZ Cardinals. O’Brien went so far as to compare Hopkins to Aaron Hernandez because Hopkins liked to have his kids around the facility. This could very well cost him his job, except that the owner of the Texans, the dead Bob McNair famously said that his fellow NFL owners “can’t have the inmates running the prison.” The Buffalo Bills gave Minnesota a 1st, 5th, and 6th pick in the 2020 draft, and a 4th in 2021, for disgruntled WR Stefon Diggs. Quite a haul for the Vikes.

As for our DT search, Linval Joseph is off the table. He signed a 2 year $17 mill deal with the Chargers.

So, we all may be sequestered in our houses, but at least there’s some actual sports news out there.

Signing Arik Armstead is a great move. He gets 5/$85 mill. Love it. He’s the true quintessential down and dirty defensive lineman that does the hard work in the trenches who often takes on double teams and keeps the linebackers clean to make plays. The fact that he got 10 sacks is a testament to his guts and determination.

That being said, trading DeForest Buckner makes no sense to me. He’s the heart and soul of the defense, and has been a mainstay since he got here. The only way it makes sense is that we don’t have to dole out a giant deal to him after the season ends. We do get a high 1st round pick, so there’s the caveat.

I wrote last week that this is how they could have dealt with AA, but they got a pretty good pick for DeFo. These are the tough decisions that guys like Lynch and Paraag have to make to keep the team competitive for more than a year or two. We get a high pick in a year of not many picks, and I feel like we are just getting started in the trading department. Guys like Goodwin and Witherspoon can garner us some more picks, so we’ll see what the future brings. Or if there IS a future. Commence zombie apocalypse . . .

And I’m NOT very happy about DeAndre Hopkins going to the Cardinals. He is a stud of the highest order, and he’s a guy I would love to have on our team. He’s gonna be a major pain in the ass for the next few years.

Bye bye, Miss American pie. Drove my Lexus to the nexus but the nexus was dry.
Them good ole’ boys are drinking whiskey and rye singing this will be the day that sports died. This will be the day that sports died.

Looks like this virus shit is getting very real as a couple NBA stars, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, test positive for the Coronavirus. The NBA’s response was swift and decisive as they have suspended the NBA season immediately and indefinitely. I’d think the NHL will follow suit, and baseball probably isn’t too far behind, depending on what happens these next couple weeks.

Spring training games have been rolling merrily along, but I’d think with the travel and close quarters conditions they they deal with, someone will test positive for it. As far as the NFL goes, they got their combine in, and there’s not too much scheduled for them now anyway, so the impact should be fairly minimal. And if it came down to getting rid of the insane hype around the draft, so be it. That would actually be a blessing. Bring back the days where Pete Rozelle stands at a chalkboard and writes down who picks who and the whole thing is done in an afternoon.

As far as social distancing goes, I’m of the Charles Bukowski school of thought.

I don’t hate people, i just don’t seem to like it when they are around.

What looked like the deepest position on our team at the start of the season, the defensive line, has some major problems to iron out. Elk Grove High’s own Arik Armstead, the guy who grinded away in relative obscurity as De Fo shined, and the rest didn’t, is suddenly on the edge of either being franchised, franchised and traded, or given a hefty deal to remain with the team.

After a flat start to his NFL career under DCs Eric Mangeniuos and Jim (who?) O’Neill, Robert Saleh saw enough in AA’s ability to hold off linemen and set the edge that he was signed to his 5th year option despite only playing 6 games in 2017. The gamble paid off in spades as AA anchored a defense that wasn’t spectacular, but was making headway to being respectable. He went from little production to 48 tackles, 12 QB hits, and 3 sacks. With the addition of Bosa, Ford, and Alexander, among others, AAs sack total jumped to 10 with hios 18 QB hits and 58 tackles.

Thing is now, the rest of the line is banged up pretty bad. And those that aren’t banged up are free agents. Ronald Blair amd Jullian Taylor are both likely to remain on the sidelines as they deal with their ACL tears. K Street, who has been a ghost with his knee injuries, doesn’t look to be much more that a spot back-up, and Damontre Moore, who looked great coming in for Blair isn’t under contract. DJ Jones at least is under contract one more year, and looks to recover from his ankle injury, so there’s that.

So, the interesting thing to look at now I suppose is, do we go after edge rushers when the free agency market opens up next week? If we go hard after some guys, I guess that means we aren’t looking to keep Blair, who is a free agent as well, and may not get the deal he wants while he rehabs.

Armstead? He played such a pivotal role last year, that it would be hard to replace him. Then again, he benefitted wildly from the guys we added around him. Like Aldon Smith with Justin Smith in front of him, there’s a point to be made that we could tag and trade AA for much-needed draft choices. Simply plug in another guy who can benefit from our other superior linemen.

Sounds good, but I’d rather lose Blair, find another backup, and keep AA.

The rumor that won’t die apparently is the rumor that Jimny G and Tom Brady will switch teams. Tom gets a 2 year deal while Bill Belichick gets his QB back that he didn’t want to lose in the first place, and laughs his way back to prominence with a young stud QB while we have a 43 year old guy who is at the end of his run.

Great idea, amirite?

Jesus, please don’t do something this ridiculous. If this comes to pass, I’d put John Lynch in the front of the CTE line. This makes absolutely no sense on any level. Jimmy G’s first full season, one where he took a lot of hits, faced a lot of pressure, and brought the team back in the 4th quarter a bunch of times. So, yeah, let’s get the 43 year old to replace him.

If this comes to pass, I’d have to rethink my fandom. Seriously. This would set the team back at least 3 more seasons, and we’d have to hope BD Nick Mullens is really the guy to take us somewhere for the next 2 seasons.

The draft is a couple months off, and the combine (woo hoo) is coming up. Showcasing a bunch of guys who we don’t have a shot at. We have one pick in the first 2 days, so that sucks the life out of the hoopla. Hard to fault their strategy of pushing all their chips in to get who they got, as they were 3:30 from 6-1.

Round 1, Pick 31
Round 5, Pick 139 (via Denver)
Round 5, Pick 159
Round 6, Pick 191
Round 7, Pick 195 (via Detroit)
Round 7, Pick 223

Here’s the schedule FWIW:

Thursday, April 23: 5 p.m. PT
Friday, April 24: 4 p.m. PT
Saturday, April 25: 9 a.m. PT

The fun is in Vegas this year, to commemorate the landing of the good ship Raiders I suppose. Jolly Roger and all that.

On all your favorite NFL wall to wall stations. ESPN is busily digging up Mel Kiper’s head out of the cryogenic chamber to mount on an animatronic body for his appearance this time of year.

Since the draft is a long way off, and time will march slowly toward September, the 49ers announced that George Kittle won the Len Eshmont award, an award for the most inspirational player voted on by the players. DeForest Buckner was awarded the Bill Walsh award, one that is voted on by the coaching staff.

Both of these guys of course are looking at the last year of their rookie deals as well. Both look to make a lot more money as the 49ers will almost certainly work contract extensions for both of these guys as waiting until the deals are done would hit the cap harder for the team, and not sit well with either of them besides.

Both are at the top of their positions in the NFL, and certainly Kittle, who is the pre-eminent tight end in the league now, looks to blow past Jimmy Graham’s $10 mill a year mark with something approaching $14 mill if you believe the scuttlebut floating around. But Skittles is way down the pay scale as he wasa 5th round pick and makes around $2.15 mill on the last year of his deal. Buckner however, is already going to make $15.5 million on his 5th year option. He’s hit the bank this year, but looks to get a long-term extension done.

Bucker is in the Fletcher Cox, Grady Jarrett range of dominating interior linemen, and they both make $17 mill per. You have to think something in the $17.5/ $18 mill 4 year extension is in the realm of possibility. One would like to think they both work out team friendly deals that allow other players to be signed as they try to keep the train on track, but time will tell. And we have a lot of that.