Are we seeing a horribly managed free agency? Or something bigger?

same thing

[ Edited by Jersey9er on Jul 31, 2011 at 02:05:33 ]

My thing is that honestly im getting tired of this build through the draft crap. I mean dont get me wrong, but it was funny, reading that although we let Clements go, Marv Lewis made the comment that Nate didnt want to be part of a rebuilding project. so i mean i hear what Baalke is saying, but actions are showing otherwise. And honestly i think many F/A's are getting a feeling like thats exactly what we are doing.

Like that old chick saying, u can tell me u love me, but if u dont show me then it means nothing.

With this build through the draft approach, correct me if im wrong, but they are rook's and we say we arent rebuilding, but how many drafted rooks start their first year, and are extremely productive. it takes at least 1 year to get fully acclimated, and for some at least 2-3 years at skill positions.

You cant have a team of mostly rookies and key spots and say you arent rebuilding. I think our biggest issued with finding a starting CB is that we put too much emphasis on NA. WE should of made pushes for the top 3, that way if we didnt get the best we would of got the 2nd best, or 3rd. Now i think we are down to what the 5th or 6th best in the league. At this rate we would probably be better to just keep what we have.

All i know is that yes, i still do have hope, but if you dont add veteran starters to some key spots, its going to be a loooooong year.

Then what happens lets say we tank this season. u really think thats gonna want vets to come to us next year. i think naught. I just hope the front office and baalke really know what they are doing.

once again.

Go niners

We're really smart and the Pats and Eagles are supremely stupid for signing all the free agents. Paraag has a plan, just give it another 10 years. BTW, weren't we going to give priority to keeping our FA's? Guess it didn't much work out.

I don't get stoked anymore by free agency. It's nice to bring in some sexy stud to make your team look pretty but after the sorry experience of watching Nate Clements punked by Roddy White on a regular basis, I'm glad he took his sorry butt elsewhere. Unfortunately for me its only 100 miles from Cincinnatti to Columbus, so I can smell the stench of him stinking up the Benglas all season long. Oh, joy.

Still, as passive as the 49ers have been in free agency so far, you'd think this team had a superstar inked in at every position instead of riddled with holes and about an inch deep at every position.

My anticipation is the 49ers are going to suck and suck HARD this season. Crabtree is already on the shelf (what a shock), Gore is holding out for money he probably doesn't deserve and Alex Smith is back as our starting QB and will be taking snaps from...errr...Eric Heitmann? (nope), David Baas? (nope)...TONY WRAGGE!

The defense will need a new nose tackle, free safety, cornerback and inside linebacker along with the pass-rushing stud we still don't have. I'm starting to think a 7-9 season might be as good as it gets for this team and over .500 would be a gift from the gods.

Oh well, at least we got a new old kicker to replace the old retired kicker.

It's been said the lockout would hurt teams like the 49ers more than most. It hurts even more when the Bengals have made more moves than the 49ers.

In life it is said there are people who watch what happens, people who make things happen and there's the 49ers who get run over by the teams trying to actually put a competititve product on the field who wonder what the hell just happened.

Looks like I picked the wrong time to start getting interested in this season. The 49ers (ha-ha) brain trust seems to not have gotten the memo the lock out is over. It's okay to try and improve your team.

The front office have a plan in place and at the moment are executing it according to the GM. Maybe we start low and build.

Originally posted by jreff22:

Originally posted by classyfan49:

Originally posted by aussieEd9er:
Yeah, I think Harbaugh simply wants to wipe the slate clean and build his own thing from scratch. It will be rough at the start, but will hopefully pay off in the coming years. It is a big risk-reward scenario though, and could easily result in a very good team down the line, or a very average team.
From what I remember, I think Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones pulled similar moves in the late 80s. They didn't try and go out getting name players (granted it was pre-FA). They in fact got rid of some of the "stars" on their team (H. Walker, R. White) in order to build with youth through the draft. They had to endure a 1-15 season early on, but 3 years later won the first Superbowl of their dynasty.

I personally am not that frustrated by the players we have not re-signed in FA.
Some are either on the downside of their careers and wouldn't have much of an impact beyond another year or so (Spikes, Clements).

Others are guys, who are not that old, but we know what we are going to get from them on Sundays, and it isn't anything special (Lawson, Baas, even Goldson).
I'm happy to let these guys walk. They are all "average to good" at best. Similar to our team performances the past 6 years.

I don't think the FA market for this year is even that special. So I'm happy for us not to go splurging money on players who are not elite in the way that their signing alone improve us as a team dramatically.

I say let the man build through the draft. Developing young guys, which is what he has been best at in his coaching career so far.

In wiping the slate clean, why retain Alex Smith?

its a 1 year deal and he coached the O during the offseason

Yeah this.
And also what JustMike said in his opening post "better a vet with little chance to succeed take the lumps during the mass transition." And I assure you, there will be plenty of bumps and lumps.

Originally posted by ace49ers:
The front office have a plan in place and at the moment are executing it according to the GM. Maybe we start low and build.

Or maybe David Akers is going to be our big free agent signing.

They pretty much flat out said we're not signing any top names until the lull in free agency when we can get guys on the cheap who just want to play. Maybe we'll get a lot of'em, maybe we'll concentrate on our own guys, maybe we'll go hard on some late cuts, but people have to be getting tired of getting upset over every free agent signing. At what point to you stop getting your hopes up for overpaying guys and just be patient? Or do you want to drive yourselves crazy?

Originally posted by mug0mug:
They pretty much flat out said we're not signing any top names until the lull in free agency when we can get guys on the cheap who just want to play. Maybe we'll get a lot of'em, maybe we'll concentrate on our own guys, maybe we'll go hard on some late cuts, but people have to be getting tired of getting upset over every free agent signing. At what point to you stop getting your hopes up for overpaying guys and just be patient? Or do you want to drive yourselves crazy?

you know what i agree with you somewhat, however, just like a 49er beat writer said, cant remember who, and even Baalke himself, they aren't all being overpaid. And the most frustrating thing i think is, yes, we dont want to overpay, but if you can get not a good, but great player, and he already has experience, and can solidify one spot for years to come, then it is a shot in the face when we do nothing or enough to try to get them. To be able to say wow, we dont have to worry about that side of the ball and focus on other key areas.

Fangio said himself we are "wide open" on a lot of key positions. And there were a few players we let slip by with this patience crap that could of helped us make a real, and not hopeful run at our division.

NA may have been a lot, but he was literally one of the best at his position, and not too mention a one on one cover guy. And we havent had that since what, Deion. I mean Arizona got Peterson, and do u know how reassuring it is to say u know what we can put this CB on our best guy, and that literally makes it easier as a defense as a whole to defend. Which leaves tons of options to get to the QB if the top WR is shut down all day.

Or even on offense with a WR. We havent had a WR that defenses have to plan around, so that when u spend all day trying to cover him, we have some other gems that unless u have 2 great corners, you'll get burned every time.

I mean I just said f**k it at this point, and will honestly just wait till Pre-season and see who we finally take the field with on starting O and D.

But back to your statement, yeah i mean we shouldnt go crazy every 5 seconds, but when u see a player, that is of a once again, not good, but GREAT need, then u have to do what u have to do to get them. And no disrespect to our team, but we arents the Pats or Eagles, who can just sit back, remotely say their interested and the players ears stand up, like a dog when u call his name.

Bellichek got Ocho for Brady, haynesworth for the D, Eagles got NA, Jenkins i think, and a few others that they know they can bring out the best in.

I agred with not paying big money for a Bass or Franklin and they definitely dont deserve top 5 money, but we have no Great players that are PROVEN, besides P.Willy and Davis. And now it seems like we may overpay for Goldson, just to keep him aboard, and not lose another key player on D. Not too mention we are probably gonna over pay him for years where he really hasnt done that much.
You cant say u want to be great, if u have no one on ur team that has experienced Greatness.

just my two cents.

[ Edited by Jersey9er on Jul 31, 2011 at 04:01:27 ]

Originally posted by SJniner7:
It almost seems as though they are going with the youth movement this year. We have so many "unproven" rookies and second/third year players that may turn into superstars, and they are trying them all out...

-Spikes left, opening the door for Bowman to step up. Had Spikes stayed, we would still be wondering about Bowman next year.
-Franklin is leaving...? Not sure how much they are trying to retain him, but their mind seems made up on the Smith, Soap, RayMac combo with rookies and RJF backups
-Clements cut, which will open door for Culliver, Brown, and Adams (is he still around?). Same as Spikes, if he stayed, we would still be wondering about Culliver and Adams
-Goldson I believe they are trying to keep, knowing the safety position is in trouble with Mays, Smith, and rookie?

-Alex Smith stayed to mentor CK. This is one position where they will likely stay the course with the veteran.
-RB should be the same with adding Hunter. Obviously they didn't anticipate the Gore holdout, but this position really didn't need an upgrade.
-TE needs no upgrades, we are set
-We lost Baas and I am guessing they wanted to keep him too, but not for the price the Giants paid. We brought in rookies to compete for spots, but will likely have the same roster as last season: Staley, Iupati, _____, Rachal, Davis. We will try Snyder at C, and hope that works out. It worked pretty well for us last season, right? We know Snyder sucks at RT, but can backup both G positions and has experience at C. Sound familiar to 2010?
-WR I was hoping they would upgrade, which still may happen.

Overall, it seems as though we are trying out all the youngsters and will target free agents next year with positions of need. Harbaugh and Baalke want to build "their" roster, which may require a year of trimming the fat

Great post. Most fans are upset with our approach this offseason but nobody knows if this plan will/won't work out for us. Just because most of our replacements are unproven doesn't mean they won't be upgrades over what we previously had. On paper, it looks like we got worse...but when does looking good on paper mean anything? We let some of my favorite players go (Lawson, Clements, Spikes) but I'm willing to give their replacements a chance. Its possible that we have good players who just need an opportunity.

Our team is definitely taking a risk by putting unproven players into bigger roles, but its also risky to overpay free agents who may not live up to their expectations. Fans tend to forget that free agents can also become busts. Since roster building isn't an exact science, I'm not in a position to say our plan is right or wrong. However, I do support what we're doing and hope our guys develop into good players.

Originally posted by Jcool:
Probably the most wide open FA period in NFL history and all we have done was sign a kicker. Seems the "plan" was to forget about this year.

It's wide open for teams built for deep playoff runs. Not so much for teams with new coaching staffs who had no off season to implement their systems.

Originally posted by SonocoNinerFan:

Originally posted by Jcool:
Probably the most wide open FA period in NFL history and all we have done was sign a kicker. Seems the "plan" was to forget about this year.

It's wide open for teams built for deep playoff runs. Not so much for teams with new coaching staffs who had no off season to implement their systems.

Most teams do not even attempt to re-build with the number of open spots we have. Our non-performance actually means, if people get hurt (QBs for example---where there are2), no one will be there to step in. We are at least 15 players under the 90 that are supposed to be in camp. This is a debacle.

Good post SJniner7! It has been pretty obvious that the top FAs have not wanted to play for the 9ers, whether because of rebuilding or the upheaval over the past eight years. You can't force them to play here!

There are some key position in need of stabilzation and they may be addressed later in FAcy or by using young guys to see how they fit.

RG: Rachal regressed last year and if the coaches can't help him they need a replacement. They drafted two guys late and both Snyder and Wragge can play the position. I would hope for the latter as experience may help Davis.

Center: Snyder, Wragge and the two rookies can play this position but if the coaches are not seeing what they need this week they will likely bring in a vet...if they can find one willing to come here.

DBs: If they pull a Walsh/Seifert and go with three young guys with a vet next to them (Spencer?), it will be an interesting year. They need a D play caller in the backfield and Goldson/Mays don't seem up to the job. Seifert was a very good teacher and Donatell (Sp.) may be the same type of guy.

NT: They have a couple of guys who can play the position--Sopoaga and RJF, along with two rookies who are promising. So they may stand pat to develop the young guys.

RB: Gore may be back in form this year but he does have an injury history and Dixon has not wowed. If there is a position to bring in a vet FA this is it along with...

WR: Even before Crabtree's injured foot they were short of quality #1's. I think he is a #2 and Morgan may be a #2 or 3. So, if they can bring in someone like a Burress for next year that would be great. He may anxious to show that he is still a player.

I like the idea of giving the young guys a chance to develop together. It will be painful at times but trying to buy a team through FAcy tends to be a disaster (Wash) unless a team is already established (NE).

[ Edited by dtg_9er on Jul 31, 2011 at 07:54:12 ]

Originally posted by SonocoNinerFan:

Originally posted by Jcool:
Probably the most wide open FA period in NFL history and all we have done was sign a kicker. Seems the "plan" was to forget about this year.

It's wide open for teams built for deep playoff runs. Not so much for teams with new coaching staffs who had no off season to implement their systems.

That doesn't fly in our division. This team could take the west this year with the right group of guys. The fact remain that every team in the west has gone out and done what needs to be done to improve their team NOW. If nothing else happens this team is dead last in a horrible division which SUCKS

Originally posted by walker807:

Originally posted by SonocoNinerFan:

Originally posted by Jcool:
Probably the most wide open FA period in NFL history and all we have done was sign a kicker. Seems the "plan" was to forget about this year.

It's wide open for teams built for deep playoff runs. Not so much for teams with new coaching staffs who had no off season to implement their systems.

That doesn't fly in our division. This team could take the west this year with the right group of guys. The fact remain that every team in the west has gone out and done what needs to be done to improve their team NOW. If nothing else happens this team is dead last in a horrible division which SUCKS

If there wasn't a lock-out I'd agree with you. But not with a new staff that hasn't been allowed to communicate with the players since March.