Dompernick's EARLY 2015 offseason

Head Coach
I'm predicting Harbaugh is dealt to the Raiders for some sort of draft pick package. I think Baalke and York both want to keep Harbaugh out of the NFC. They then proceed to hire Josh McDaniels. I think that McDaniels learned a lot from his first go around as head coach of the Broncos. Remember at the time he was one of the youngest head coaches in the league. I'm sure he has learned a lot under Belichick as well as from Brady and it has been said that Belichick consults with McDaniels the most out of all his coaches. That has to tell you something there.

Player Transactions
Ex Niners: Crabtree, Iupati, Gabbert, Lloyd, VD, Brooks, Wilhoite, Dahl, Jonathan Martin, Cowboy (don't see him returning under new regime)
Resign: Gore, Cox, Culliver, Skuta, Jerod-Eddie
New Niners: QB Jimmy Clausen, WR Randall Cobb, TE Jermaine Gresham,

Draft
Round 1: Kevin White WR WVU - has size, good speed, vert and natural hands. Reminiscent of a faster Fitzgerald.
Round 2: Stud DL to replace Cowboy
Round 3: Sean Mannion QB Oregon State - some competition to push Kap
Round 4: Speed RB
Round 5: Speed WR
Round 6: Swing OT
Round 7:Raw Height/Weight/Speed/Measurables S

Depth Chart
QB: Kaepernick - Mannion - Clausen
RB: Hyde - Gore - Hunter - rook
FB: Miller - Millard
WR1: Boldin - Cobb - White - Ellington - Patton - rook
WR2: Johnson - Cobb - White - Ellington - Patton - rook
TE: Gresham - McDonald - Carrier
LT: Staley - rook
LG: M. Martin - Thomas
C: Kilgore - Looney
RG: A. Davis - Thomas
RT: Boone - rook

DE: Dorsey - rook
NT: Williams - Dial
DE: Carradine - Jerod-Eddie
OLB: Smith - Skuta
ILB: Willis - Borland
ILB: Bowman - Borland
OLB: Lynch - Lemonier
CB: Brock - Cox - Johnson - Acker
CB: Culliver - Cox - Johnson - Reaser
SS: Antoine Bethea - Jimmie Ward
FS: Eric Reid - LJ McCray - rook

KR: Hunter
PR: Cobb

P: Lee
K: Dawson
LS: Nelson

Not bad. I'm not sure about Clauson, but hey why not? I like Cobb but I would think that would eliminate the need for a speed receiver in the draft, right? Also I'm thinking he's a bit redundant considering we have Ellington who's showing promise and Patton who's shown flashes. Idk I think we can spend our money better. Like that you brought Cully back though! And I approve of the Kevin White pick.

That looks so close to what I had in mind as well for 2015. Bringing Cully and Cox back on modest salaries keeps our secondary fairly solid.

Do you think we will be able to sign Cobb, and could we use him with the same effectiveness as GB?

I would rather the front office play it safe and draft the top O lineman. We have major question marks on what is already an injury prone and inconsistent pass blocking unit. If we absolutely need to we can trade up into the early 2nd or late 1st round to grab a WR.

I do not see us getting Cobb, that dude is going to get paid and Balkee doesn't shell out for FAs

ANY proposal of what next years team looks like without Jonathan Martin on it is a win in my book

Originally posted by Tman:
I do not see us getting Cobb, that dude is going to get paid and Balkee doesn't shell out for FAs

True, but look at where that got us this past off season. He didn't do enough to seal the deal with D. Jax, Emmanuel Sanders, insert other random speed receiver we targeted. Had we gotten some legit speed I think our offense would have been quite a bit better. Teams wouldn't have been able to stack the box on us with the threat of a true deep target and in return that would have opened up more holes for the run game and more routes underneath for Boldin, Crab, Stevie, etc.

Originally posted by LZRD_WZRD:
Not bad. I'm not sure about Clauson, but hey why not? I like Cobb but I would think that would eliminate the need for a speed receiver in the draft, right? Also I'm thinking he's a bit redundant considering we have Ellington who's showing promise and Patton who's shown flashes. Idk I think we can spend our money better. Like that you brought Cully back though! And I approve of the Kevin White pick.

I picked Clausen just because I think he may have some untapped potential. I feel like he never got a fair shot in Carolina because he what played one year than the next year they picked Cam #1. Maybe Clausen could develop into something if Kap fails but if not then Clausen remains a career backup for us. And I agree with you after looking at it again but we either sign Cobb (unlikely but one can hope) or grab a speed receiver later on in the draft (much more likely) but definitely not both since we already got Ellington (who I really like and think should have played a lot more at WR this year).

Originally posted by dompernick53:

Originally posted by Tman:
I do not see us getting Cobb, that dude is going to get paid and Balkee doesn't shell out for FAs

True, but look at where that got us this past off season. He didn't do enough to seal the deal with D. Jax, Emmanuel Sanders, insert other random speed receiver we targeted. Had we gotten some legit speed I think our offense would have been quite a bit better. Teams wouldn't have been able to stack the box on us with the threat of a true deep target and in return that would have opened up more holes for the run game and more routes underneath for Boldin, Crab, Stevie, etc.

I get why you would want to sign Randal Cobb, but why bring in another vet when you have Patton, Ellington, and then will spend a first round pick on a receiver who could realistically, start in 2015? I'm hoping Baalke does not sign any veteran receivers (or trade for any for that matter) and just let the young guys battle it out next season. Based off of your draft alone, we'd already have four behind Boldin and Johnson. Other than that, the premise behind most of your moves is solid. Only other change I'd make is I'd let Vernon remain one more season. I think a fully healthy Vernon with a better coach and better designed plays will do some damage next season. I'm also interested in stockpiling comp picks that certain free agents over the next few years are likely to bring to us (Michael Crabtree and Mike Iupati in 2016 and Vernon Davis and Alex Boone in 2017).

Originally posted by Diaperfan:
That looks so close to what I had in mind as well for 2015. Bringing Cully and Cox back on modest salaries keeps our secondary fairly solid.

Do you think we will be able to sign Cobb, and could we use him with the same effectiveness as GB?

I would rather the front office play it safe and draft the top O lineman. We have major question marks on what is already an injury prone and inconsistent pass blocking unit. If we absolutely need to we can trade up into the early 2nd or late 1st round to grab a WR.

As was stated previously by someone else, Cobb is probably out of our price range but if we did manage to sign him I'm not sure we would use him quite as effectively as GB but I think we would definitely get our moneys worth with him and Cobb would allow us a real opportunity to take advantage of Kap's arm.

And I'm not too worried about the offensive line. Injuries certainly hurt us but I think Staley will bounce back next year, I think Marcus Martin will be moved to LG and will be a good run blocker and better pass blocker then Iupati, Kilgore was our best linemen this year until he got hurt so he will be back at C, Anthony Davis I think would be a beast at RG with the way he gets after it in the run game and Boone shouldn't be holding out next year so he should bounce back not to mention a potential switch to RT would be ideal for him because he has prototypical Tackle size. And we still have Looney who looked good at times, Luke Marquadt coming back from injury and Brandon Thomas who had a redshirt year but had he not gotten hurt would have probably been a 2nd round pick this past year in the draft. Thomas supposedly held up just fine against Clowney their final year of college. Definitely got some interesting pieces on the line.

Originally posted by LifelongNiner:

Originally posted by dompernick53:

Originally posted by Tman:
I do not see us getting Cobb, that dude is going to get paid and Balkee doesn't shell out for FAs

True, but look at where that got us this past off season. He didn't do enough to seal the deal with D. Jax, Emmanuel Sanders, insert other random speed receiver we targeted. Had we gotten some legit speed I think our offense would have been quite a bit better. Teams wouldn't have been able to stack the box on us with the threat of a true deep target and in return that would have opened up more holes for the run game and more routes underneath for Boldin, Crab, Stevie, etc.

I get why you would want to sign Randal Cobb, but why bring in another vet when you have Patton, Ellington, and then will spend a first round pick on a receiver who could realistically, start in 2015? I'm hoping Baalke does not sign any veteran receivers (or trade for any for that matter) and just let the young guys battle it out next season. Based off of your draft alone, we'd already have four behind Boldin and Johnson. Other than that, the premise behind most of your moves is solid. Only other change I'd make is I'd let Vernon remain one more season. I think a fully healthy Vernon with a better coach and better designed plays will do some damage next season. I'm also interested in stockpiling comp picks that certain free agents over the next few years are likely to bring to us (Michael Crabtree and Mike Iupati in 2016 and Vernon Davis and Alex Boone in 2017).

I would love to keep VD (use to be one of my favorite Niners) but he needs to take a pay cut because we can't pay him top 5 TE money or whatever and have him produce like he did this year. And we all know he won't agree to a pay cut because that was the whole reason he held out this year, to get a new contract.

Originally posted by Diaperfan:
That looks so close to what I had in mind as well for 2015. Bringing Cully and Cox back on modest salaries keeps our secondary fairly solid.

Do you think we will be able to sign Cobb, and could we use him with the same effectiveness as GB?

I would rather the front office play it safe and draft the top O lineman. We have major question marks on what is already an injury prone and inconsistent pass blocking unit. If we absolutely need to we can trade up into the early 2nd or late 1st round to grab a WR.

This only makes sense if Fangio is still around. Our secondary held up because of him.

Do you really think Baalke goes out and brings in another tight end in free agency to start over Vance McDonald if they cut Vernon? Personally I think his ego is too big. After all, how does it look on Baalke if he brings in a guy like Gresham after drafting McDonald with a 2nd round pick? It doesn't help Baalke's case that the Seahawks took McDonald's team mate Luke Wilson 3 rounds/103 picks after Vance.

Notable Tight ends taken after Vance McDonald

Travis Kelce
Jordan Reed
Luke Wilson
Mychal Rivera

Every time I look at that 2013 draft I imagine what could have been. And I'm not even talking about tight end. Just looking at the runningbacks in that class makes me vomit!

I have misgivings about McDaniels, he was way over his head in Denver. I could be good OC with Brady as QB. He reminds me of BIg Hat in the movie Spaceballs.

Originally posted by SisterFister:
Do you really think Baalke goes out and brings in another tight end in free agency to start over Vance McDonald if they cut Vernon? Personally I think his ego is too big. After all, how does it look on Baalke if he brings in a guy like Gresham after drafting McDonald with a 2nd round pick? It doesn't help Baalke's case that the Seahawks took McDonald's team mate Luke Wilson 3 rounds/103 picks after Vance.

Notable Tight ends taken after Vance McDonald

Travis Kelce
Jordan Reed
Luke Wilson
Mychal Rivera

Every time I look at that 2013 draft I imagine what could have been. And I'm not even talking about tight end. Just looking at the runningbacks in that class makes me vomit!

Baalke hasn't shown any ego problems with managing mistakes and under performing players in the past, I have no idea why you should suggest he would start now. That being said, I think we need a decent tight end coach and some better playcalling and we will see much more from McDonald.

Originally posted by English:

Originally posted by SisterFister:
Do you really think Baalke goes out and brings in another tight end in free agency to start over Vance McDonald if they cut Vernon? Personally I think his ego is too big. After all, how does it look on Baalke if he brings in a guy like Gresham after drafting McDonald with a 2nd round pick? It doesn't help Baalke's case that the Seahawks took McDonald's team mate Luke Wilson 3 rounds/103 picks after Vance.

Notable Tight ends taken after Vance McDonald

Travis Kelce
Jordan Reed
Luke Wilson
Mychal Rivera

Every time I look at that 2013 draft I imagine what could have been. And I'm not even talking about tight end. Just looking at the runningbacks in that class makes me vomit!

Baalke hasn't shown any ego problems with managing mistakes and under performing players in the past, I have no idea why you should suggest he would start now. That being said, I think we need a decent tight end coach and some better playcalling and we will see much more from McDonald.

He drafted LaMichael James in the 2nd round then took Carlos Hyde in the 2nd 2 years later. If the player isn't cutting it Baalke doesn't hesistate to admit error. He also shipped Taylor Mays after Singletary left for a 7th rounder. I still have hope McDonald can turn into a good pass catching tight end but he really needs to hit the Jugs machine much like VD did early in his career.