Forty Niners Forever

Trent Williams gets a restructured deal that gives him some up-front money from his last year of his current contract. And an interesting caveat that prohibits the Niners from franchising him next year. Not that it means much as that is going to George Kittle, but all this is of course mere speculation.

Other than that, 5th round tackle Colton McKivitz signed his rookie deal, as did 7th round WR Jauan Williams.

Hoping against hope we have a football season, but at this point nothing looks very clear. If baseball and basketball reopen without too much disaster, I guess it’s a possibility, but with cases going up instead of down, who knows?

Just got word Deebo Samuel broke his foot today practicing with teammates today, and is already undergoing surgery to fix it. The diagnosis is him being out 3-4 months, but ‘a source’ told ESPN that Samuel would be ready for opening day September 1.

We will see, but let’s hope this isn’t a trend. Trent Taylor had a similar injury last year and as we all know, he didn’t play a down. His first surgery didn’t take, and he got an infection after his second surgery, thus the lost season. FWIW, the usual recovery from this surgery is 6-8 weeks.

So far in this sportsless landscape (golf? NASCAR? zzzzzzzzzzzzz), the NFL has been waiting on the sidelines hoping for things to calm down while baseball and basketball deal with the ramifications of sheltering during games, and all the logistical nightmares that go with it. Actually baseball is fighting over money, but that’s beside the point. Stupid fuck idiots, the lot of’em.

Thing is, with restrictions being mildly lifted, Ezekiel Elliott, and ‘several cowboys and Texans’ per a CBS report have tested positive for the Coronavirus. Elliott himself is asymptomatic and doing fine. None of the players were at their facilities, and the teams know and follow the protocols, but therein lies the rub. Open this stuff too early and the feared second wave hits. Baseball and basketball with most certainly have to deal with this contingency where they would have to shut their games down a second time.

Football is waiting against all hope that there is some kind of hope that the season will not have to be shortened, pushed back, or God forbid, cancelled. Seeing as this just took hold after the (FUCK) Super Bowl, we’ll have to see if they can dodge that bullet.

Say what you will about Tom Brady, but I’m still going with Joe Montana as the best quarterback to ever suit up in the NFL. Yeah, Brady has more appearances (9) in the Super Bowl, and more wins (6), but he also has 5 picks, 3 losses, and a couple real gift victories. Sure Tom’s numbers are solid. 235–for–357 with 2576 yards, 18 touchdowns and five interceptions. Joe? 83 of 122 passes for 1,142 yards and 11 touchdowns, and NO interceptions.

Tom Terrific could very well be 4-5, but for the Seattle Pete Carroll brain fart, and the Atlanta Kyle Shanahan/defensive fuck-a-row debacle. Throw in the tuck rule game that got the whole thing started, and he loses another one to be 3 and 5.

The other caveat of course is the fact that the NFL bent themselves backwards to change the rules for Brady (and Rodgers) as you now can’t hit a quarterback below the waist, above the shoulders, land on him, breathe on him, or brush the facemask without the unsportsmanlike call. Joe routinely took shots that cost him playing time that Brady never had to endure. The shots by Jim Burt and Leonard Marshall, among countless other shots Joe took, would be flagged today and neither were.

The other argument is that Joe had superior talent. He had Rice, Taylor, Roger Craig, Brent Jones, yadda yadda yadda. But Rice and Taylor weren’t on the team for the first two Super Bowls, but Mike Shuman was! And there was the fact Brady had Randy Moss for a few years. Strangely enough, Moss never won a Super Bowl with them (2 losses) or with us.

Anyhow, Happy 64th Birthday, Joe!

News out of the offseason is great for two important defensive players. both Dee Ford, who had his knee cleaned up, and D.J. Jones is fully recovered from his ankle injury. Ford still has tendonitis, but he reports that his knee feels 100% better than the limited time he played last season.

I’m sure the 49ers were looking for much more than the limited action they got from Ford, but his presence on the field did wonders for their sack totals. Having him available for more plays will only help. Jones on the other hand is poised to be the run stuffing force that they lost in DeFo. He was a 6th round pick who was playing extremely well before he was hurt.

Other than that, well, you get it.

Still no baseball, no hockey (so?), no nothing sports-wise unless you count some staged golf event that I didn’t muster the energy to look at, some NASCAR meh, so what’s going on?

Well, the Niners are looking to extend George Kittle’s contract. One that should put him in the range of $14-$15 mill a year. Something like 4 years and $60 mill is in the realm of possibility. Seeing as he is what he is, the best TE in the league who grades out at the top in yards after catch, catches, yards, and blocking, he’s worth the scratch. The good news is also the front office has done a good job with the deals to Garoppolo and AA, and are positioned fairly well to keep the team competitive.

Say what you will about the DeFoBu trade, but it saved the team a ton of money and allows for the extension to Kittle and got us Kinlaw. Yeah, Ford and Alexander will cost down the road, but that will be dealt with next season. So our contract situation isn’t nearly as dire as, say, the Rams.

The Rams are $5.3 mill OVER the cap and have yet to sign Jalen Ramsey to a deal. You know, they guy they traded two 1st round picks for. With $16.5 mill being the current CB standard set by Darius Slay and Byron Jones, you have to think Ramsey would want something in the ballpark of 5/$85 mill. They are paying Gurley and Cooks $42 million to play on other teams, along with the onerous Goff contract with $110 guaranteed.

Seattle and AZ? They are in decent shape I suppose. AZ looks to be the winner of the preseason though what with their acquisition of DeAndre Hopkins. A major coup for them. They are gonna be a tough row to hoe this season. Fucking Bill O’Brien should have been fired on the spot. O’Brien did such a shitty job coaching that they made him GM.

See below for O’Briens losing his cool during the draft. He had apparently worked out a deal with the Lions that they backed out of at the last minute.

Nothing going on, so here’s some highlights from birthday boy Ronnie Lott.

62 years old today.

The NFL did some kind of hype show around the release of the schedule yesterday that was even a little too obscure for me to get jazzed about, but here you have it. Our 2020 schedule. Whether it comes to pass remains to be seen, but hey, it is proceeding as if it will happen. Curios is the 2-game stretch in week 2 and 3 where we play 2 different teams in the same road stadium. The Gints and the Jets.

Weird at best, but NJ gets a chance to see 2 Niner games in a row. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Another notable game is the return of Jimmy G to Massachusetts to face the Brady-less Patriots.

Anyhow, without further ado . . .

Joe Staley, a stalwart on the offensive line for the past 13 seasons, had his retirement presser Tuesday. The argument is there for his HoF creds, and I think he’s gonna make it. Made the all-rookie team, 6 time pro-bowl player, 3 time 2nd team all-pro, and a member of the all-decade 2010s team. A great player on some not-so-great teams. But a stalwart behind Frank Gore for tons of Frank’s yards with the 49ers.

Everyone in the league has nothing but good things to say about him. And Staley himself credits Frank Gore with instilling the drive to become the best.

“Frank was a guy that I watched. I was a huge sports fan growing up, and he was a guy that I watched and not idolized, but he was a superstar. So I came in the NFL, and he had just got done rushing for 1,600 yards, and he was a guy that was the leader of the team and he was a San Francisco 49er. To watch him work and the way that he approached every single day was special for me as a rookie just being like ‘This is what it takes to be a stud in the NFL.’ ”

Very bummed he didn’t get a Super Bowl victory to cap his excellent career, but so many greats didn’t even reach a Super Bowl. Here’s a nice article on him.

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODN/SanFranciscoChronicle/Default.aspx

2007 seems like a looooong time ago.

Shula? Hey, we all know the accomplishments, and shit, the dude lived to 90 with most of his faculties intact. That’s a pretty damn cool thing. Happy trails, coach.

The 49er roster as of now is full. They signed 11 undrafted free agents to fill out their roster. Their UDFA’s are (thx Winder):

JaMycal Hasty, RB, Baylor
Chris Finke, WR, Notre Dame
DeMarkus Acy, DB, Missouri
Jared Mayden, S, Alabama
Ronnell Perkins, S, Missouri
Chase Harrell, TE, Arkansas
Broc Rutter, QB, North Central
Jonas Griffith, LB, Indiana State
Salvon Ahmed, RB, Washington
Josh Hokit, FB, Fresno State
Darrion Daniels, DE, Nebraska

We should be thanking Daniel Snyder as well, as the 49ers tried to trade for Trent Williams last year, and they wanted a 1st round pick for him. Getting him for a 3 and 5 is relative peanuts, even if for only one year. But I think we’ll be able to work out a deal for a few more seasons.

For all intents and purposes, the 49ers nailed this draft for their particular needs. And I’m not the only one that thinks so.

https://www.ninersnation.com/2020/4/27/21237994/king-no-franchise-manager-of-a-playoff-team-had-a-better-weekend-than-lynch

Granted, Kinlaw could be an injury risk with his knee tendonitis, Aiyuk could flame out a la AJ Jenkins, and Trent could be just a one-year rental, but as of now we are looking pretty good.