Is David Akers the best kicker we ever had?

Originally posted by lamontb:

He was better off not even commenting on the subject. Props for trying to boosts Smith's confidence but we all know they were doing way more than evaluating. This is just coach talk. .

Exactly.

Harbaugh is protecting his players. I don't think anyone is faulting him for that.

Did peyton work out for the Niners? Did he throw any passes to any Niners receivers? No. Harbaugh went to watch/evaluate him. You don't make an outrageous offer to a single player, no matter who he is, by just watching out of a car window and the sidelines. How much of a test is that? Especially, with the money peyton was commanding, the Niners would have had to lose about 7 proven players. You don't bust up a Superbowl contending team for just a single questionable player. This move would have sent them back at least 5 years, if not more. The only weakness they have are redzone offense, and wide receiving corp, which they have addressed with multiple players competing, and not breaking the bank. The right move was made. Now they will be in contention for years to come. They are not just gambling for one Lombardi, but are making a realistic attempt in going for mutiple Lombardis.

Originally posted by 49erRider:

Originally posted by BayArea:
Doubt it... just think what the 49ers would have had to sacrifice to sign a gamble like Peyton. We sign Manning then we most definitely cant afford to keep some of our own guys.

Like who? We had cap room. We may have lost some players, but none that Peyton wouldn't make up for. Bottom line: you don't bother to show up to Peyton's workout if you're not interested. And, if they truly weren't interested, why did they not come out and say so right off the bat?

Anyone who believes this is being gullible.

Naw can't blame him for that. He knows better than anybody about keeping a qb's confidence up. He put all the pressure on him instead of Alex and it definitely quieted down the Smith/Panthers garbage.

Originally posted by 49erRider:

Originally posted by BayArea:
Doubt it... just think what the 49ers would have had to sacrifice to sign a gamble like Peyton. We sign Manning then we most definitely cant afford to keep some of our own guys.

Like who? We had cap room. We may have lost some players, but none that Peyton wouldn't make up for. Bottom line: you don't bother to show up to Peyton's workout if you're not interested. And, if they truly weren't interested, why did they not come out and say so right off the bat?

Anyone who believes this is being gullible.

Sign PM, lose four or five defensive starters or key backups, have PMs neck injuried in the first full-contact drill, and what have you gained? It was fine for them to evaluate and even sign PM if they thought he could be the difference, but it would also have been a huge risk. Can you imagine the nearly immobile PM behind the 9er line?

Do you recall PM spiking the ball rather than take a sack and then yelling at his elite linemen a few years ago. Huge risk. And they would have had to outbid Denver.

First off, I don't think the Niners were willing to throw money at Manning like the Broncos. But they still have to pay a hefty price for him. So the evaluation makes a lot of sense. And I'm sure they must have talked to Manning too. To see if he really wants to be with the Niners. Goes back to what I've said before. Any GM with any common sense will want to make sure he's committed to the team before putting millions and cap future on an older Manning.

I think once they talked to Manning and got the idea that he's leaning more towards the Broncos, they rightly let it be. And I really don't think Manning is the type that would string the Niners along. I think the Niners FO knew quite early on after the evaluating process that Manning wasn't going to go to them. It's the media that ran with it and gave it more legs then it was.

I think Harbaugh was probably speaking mostly the truth when he termed the process as an evaluation of p.manning

assuming niners needed to match broncos salary offer to get manning, $18 million a year (and subtract a.smith's $8 million a year) where do the Niners get the extra $10 million a year needed to get manning--cut ties with goldson (saves $6 million, leaving another 44 million a year to find on the books to fit manning in)
...i just see how the niners make that work

I don't think Harbaugh or the FO did anything wrong or dishonest here. Alex had a contract on the table WEEKS before the whole Peyton Manning thing started. He has no one but himself to blame that he wasn't signed. Two, considering that he was a free agent at the time, no one owed him anything. I think for Alex, all this is a case of sour grapes. He thought that having a good year gave him a lot of leverage in contract demands, then found out quickly that he didn't have many suitors and SF was his best, and only viable choice.

I thought that while we gave Manning the best shot at a title, the chances of him coming here were pretty slim. He wouldn't get the money that Denver or Tennessee promised him. Hell, Bud Adams even offered him an ownership stake in the team. Also, he wouldn't get complete control of the offense like he wanted and it was widely reported that he preferred to stay in the AFC. Like qnnhan7 said above, the rest was just media hype.

Originally posted by baltien:
I think for Alex, all this is a case of sour grapes. He thought that having a good year gave him a lot of leverage in contract demands

Tell me something then. If your theory were accurate, what on Earth would possess Alex to state that he was happy with the offer? Wouldn't that alone kill any leverage he could have possibly wanted to have? Wouldn't that be like telling the world that he is dishonest and actually trying to make himself later look like the greedy and entitled jerk?

What I am saying is.. if Alex was really unhappy with the offer, he would (if stating anything) state that SF is low-balling him and make THEM out to be "the bad guys" in that situation.

Doesn't that make sense? It's just far more reasonable to believe that the offer was made... Alex accepted it vocally... and before he had a chance to sign it? Baalke put some brakes on it for whatever reason. Better fits the timeline when late in the game, Alex took his trip to Miami. He was irritated at his agent and Baalke for halting the signing process (for whatever that reason).

I do believe that Harbaugh had genuine interest in Manning. I have no doubt that had Manning called up Harbaugh rather than Elway/Fox, that some reasonable contract would have been developed.

I think Harbaugh is just expressing the statements that he's making to bolster the confidence of Smith.

Originally posted by 9erfanAUS:
I do believe that Harbaugh had genuine interest in Manning. I have no doubt that had Manning called up Harbaugh rather than Elway/Fox, that some reasonable contract would have been developed.

I think Harbaugh is just expressing the statements that he's making to bolster the confidence of Smith.

Yeah, it just shows how far Harbaugh is willing to go just because a Panthers player reminded everyone that we wanted Manning.

Coach talk. Pump up your own guys talk. I do believe that Jim thinks Alex is his guy, but that doesnt mean he is stupid/naive enough to think that his guy is better than other guys.

They checked him out worse than a brother walking through a female fat camp.

Originally posted by baltien:
I don't think Harbaugh or the FO did anything wrong or dishonest here. Alex had a contract on the table WEEKS before the whole Peyton Manning thing started. He has no one but himself to blame that he wasn't signed. Two, considering that he was a free agent at the time, no one owed him anything. I think for Alex, all this is a case of sour grapes. He thought that having a good year gave him a lot of leverage in contract demands, then found out quickly that he didn't have many suitors and SF was his best, and only viable choice.

I thought that while we gave Manning the best shot at a title, the chances of him coming here were pretty slim. He wouldn't get the money that Denver or Tennessee promised him. Hell, Bud Adams even offered him an ownership stake in the team. Also, he wouldn't get complete control of the offense like he wanted and it was widely reported that he preferred to stay in the AFC. Like qnnhan7 said above, the rest was just media hype.

It was also reported the contract was never on the table for signing. It was reported Smith was happy with the terms, just ironing out the details. He said he was leaving it up to his agent.... who just so happens to represent Manning. Go figure.
People like to forget those things. Doesn't suit their agenda, I suppose.
I think the team had sincere interest in Manning, but the circus that followed was ridiculous. A media-fueled crap storm. The whole thing undermined the leadership built into Smithlast season. Manning is a better QB than Smith, absolutely, but I don't think he ever had any intention of signing witht he 49ers at any point during that fiasco. It was a mess, that still clutters things up now. Harbaugh is trying to clean some of it up.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
First off, I don't think the Niners were willing to throw money at Manning like the Broncos. But they still have to pay a hefty price for him. So the evaluation makes a lot of sense. And I'm sure they must have talked to Manning too. To see if he really wants to be with the Niners. Goes back to what I've said before. Any GM with any common sense will want to make sure he's committed to the team before putting millions and cap future on an older Manning.

I think once they talked to Manning and got the idea that he's leaning more towards the Broncos, they rightly let it be. And I really don't think Manning is the type that would string the Niners along. I think the Niners FO knew quite early on after the evaluating process that Manning wasn't going to go to them. It's the media that ran with it and gave it more legs then it was.

why do people think the 9ers backed away?

The Weekend before Decision Monday it was Three Teams (9ers,Tenn, Den) No contract terms or $$ was said or written on how much PM/Agent wanted. (Tenn/Den offered and threw out numbers)

That whole weekend everyone one was waiting including the 9ers

When PM made his decision, Shortly after that he had his agent start working on a contract.

I think that the FO would have let Peyton come to them at the right contract price / terms, but they weren't about to get into a bidding war.

The team is pretty disciplined about staying out of bidding wars and over paying for talent. I see the Peyton Manning evaluation as an opportunity that was extended to him for the chance to join a championship caliber team at a discount.

Peyton decided that he wanted full market value, and to work with John Elway ... which nobody can fault him for.

In the end, I think it's over-reaching to say that the Niners were "pursuing" Manning and over-reaching to say that they were "uninterested" in Manning.

The team took a shot to see if they could get a HOF QB for a discount price, and lost out to somebody who was willing to pay full price.