According to Adam Shefter, the 49ers are tryin to get 2 Top WR's

We lost the nfc championship in overtime with a fumble

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

We are not "so" close to the superbowl trophy. our secondary and Oline need a bit of work.

And you saw how our defense took a few steps back when Ray Mac was injured, and when justin smith was out for plays we lost a lot.

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:

Originally posted by mike:

Originally posted by NickSh49:

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by Squidp:

Meachem and Randle!!

Meachem is a product of Drew Brees. No thanks.

Agreed. Meachem is really no better than Devery Henderson. Also has the worst hands on that team at the WR position.

Meachem= brees
Wayne/Garcon=manning
Manningham= other manning
Vjax= Rivers
Djax= vick

f**k man chances are all these receivers won't do s**t here compared to the stats they put up in their previous offenses lol..

Robert Meachem is garbage.

This and DeSean was good well before Vick became the starting QB for the Eagles. Yeah.

Desean had Mcnabb? Mcnabb was pretty decent himself.

The only FA WR who isn't really QB made is Bowe, his Qb's are hot garbage.

Garcon and Wayne just managed to do pretty well without Manning.

I see it differently. They managed "#2" stats with a worse QB. Stats that Tree got and Morgan was on pace for...#2 stats. They will get "#2" stats with Alex also.
But dont worry, they will get elite receiver numbers because Alex is a top 5 QB.

Whoever it is, whether it's through the draft or through free agency, I'm hoping for someone with serious speed. If you have a wideout with serious speed along with Vernon Davis, there is just no way a defense can keep those safeties up. That opens up shorter and intermediate routes for Crabtree and a slot receiver as well as making the running game work better. Wallace would be great - serious burner. Even Deshaun Jackson, if he can act like an adult with Harbaugh's guidance could be a real asset. And, Jackson would be a serious punt returning threat as well. Coming back to the Bay Area could appeal to him. We'll see.

Originally posted by GNielsen:
Whoever it is, whether it's through the draft or through free agency, I'm hoping for someone with serious speed. If you have a wideout with serious speed along with Vernon Davis, there is just no way a defense can keep those safeties up. That opens up shorter and intermediate routes for Crabtree and a slot receiver as well as making the running game work better. Wallace would be great - serious burner. Even Deshaun Jackson, if he can act like an adult with Harbaugh's guidance could be a real asset. And, Jackson would be a serious punt returning threat as well. Coming back to the Bay Area could appeal to him. We'll see.

Jackson won't happen.


Wallace is also a long shot because there's several other teams interested in him, some with a lot more cap space than the 49ers, especially considering dude will be looking at anywhere from 8 to 10 million a year.

Robert Meachem = Alvin Harper

I really think we need to throw numbers at this problem.

In addition resigning some of our own guys (Ginn and Morgan) we should sign 2 new FA WRs and draft 2 or 3 more.

I know you're thinking that adding 5 new WRs is crazy. But think about it, in camp we're going to have like 8 WRs anyway. So we may as well get the best 8 we can and figure that whichever 5 or 6 make the team will have really earned it.

Imagine we go into camp with Crabtree, Williams, Ginn, Morgan, Wayne, Jerome Simpson, Sanu (1st round), McNutt (mid round), and Keyshawn Martin (7th round). Sure they won't all make it. But make Morgan have to beat out Simpson for a job. Maybe Williams have to out perform McNutt and Martin. Let Martin be on the practice squad, ready to get called up if there's an injury, instead of Hastings and whoever else.

The bottom line is we need to get enough good WRs in here so that even the guys that don't make the team are still good. We can't just end up with 5 guys that win the job be default because they're better than the rookies from D2 schools that nobody has every heard of. And luckily, this is the best year possible to add WR talent, because the FA pool and draft are both as deep as we've seen in a while.

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:

Originally posted by mike:

Originally posted by NickSh49:

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by Squidp:
Meachem and Randle!!

Meachem is a product of Drew Brees. No thanks.

Agreed. Meachem is really no better than Devery Henderson. Also has the worst hands on that team at the WR position.

Meachem= brees
Wayne/Garcon=manning
Manningham= other manning
Vjax= Rivers
Djax= vick

f**k man chances are all these receivers won't do s**t here compared to the stats they put up in their previous offenses lol..

Robert Meachem is garbage.

This and DeSean was good well before Vick became the starting QB for the Eagles. Yeah.

Desean had Mcnabb? Mcnabb was pretty decent himself.

The only FA WR who isn't really QB made is Bowe, his Qb's are hot garbage.

Dude, throwing to open WRs 40-50 yards down the sideline doesn't make 'em QB-made. This is a ridiculous argument. DeSean Jackson, Vincent Jackson, Bowe, Reggie Wayne are damn good Wrs and it will be a huge upgrade for us to land anyone. I'd LOVE to get Bowe or DeSean this summer - that will make our offense explosive.

Kind of just thought of this, but I hope this team goes for one big name WR, whether through FA or draft, and another lower ranked WR to push some guys in the depth chart (Williams, Morgan and Ginn). Everyone's worried about the big names, but we need DEPTH too. We've already seen how depth has hurt this team, leaving us to signing undrafted free agents to #2 and #3 spots on the depth chart.

I want to see Williams challenged to see how he bounces back against his gaffs in the NFCC. Some players break when they humiliate themselves on the big plays. It makes some players stronger. I want to see if he comes hungry next year and can push himself to succeed. Not to mention, Williams ran a few good fly sweeps this season, and if Ginn gets lowered on the depth chart in the WR position, I could see him running this quite successful play.

I want to see how Morgan comes back from his injury. Morgan has been our most productive and consistent WR over the past few seasons, but this is his first major injury. I want to see him pushed and challenged and see if he can overcome his injury.

I want to see Ginn's value outside of just a KR/PR. He's getting older now, but he's great to have on the offensive side of the ball too. I'd love teams to have to keep him in check because he's a duel threat; he has top notch speed spreading out defenses and his fly sweeps have been killer. I just hope the coaches coach his hands up and he can come in with his speed as a #3 or #4.

I'm pretty sure we'll have Crabtree and a big name WR as a #1 and #2. If the big name WR is a rookie, we might have to go with Morgan with #2 for awhile, which I'm cool with. I just want depth addressed to this position. We need to acquire at least 2 players with potential, if not 3 or more.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by CRABTREE:
Pittsburgh has no money left under the cap

Um, here's the other issue, the Bengals have WAY more cap space than the 49ers and they're interested in Wallace. Cincy also has 2 1st rounders, so they can afford to give up one. The Patriots are the other team that supposedly are interested, they also have multiple first rounders.


The Steelers won't be able to franchise Wallace, but there's going to be considerable competition for him from other teams.

Of course there will be competition for him but not every team has good playoff chances and can pay him. We can do both. Now I agree New England
might do it but they don't often pay big money and If you got a choice between Cincy and San Francisco I think most would choose SF. Who the hell
really wants to play for Mike Brown and the jailbird bengals except Nate Clements and Manny Lawson. Good Riddance!!

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by Marvin49:
Schefter knows zilch.

He is just guessing like the rest of us.

I don't necessarily think he's wrong, but he doesn't have any insider info on this one.

"f**k....ESPN is bugging me to post more updates....hmmm.............do the Packers need a new QB yet? Nope, okay, what else....oh yeah, the 49ers are probably going to be looking for receivers, in fact they'll be looking for receivers in free agency and the draft..............HOLY s**t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "

I heard the niners looked at Qb, Holy s**t it was andrew luck!

Originally posted by GNielsen:
Whoever it is, whether it's through the draft or through free agency, I'm hoping for someone with serious speed. If you have a wideout with serious speed along with Vernon Davis, there is just no way a defense can keep those safeties up. That opens up shorter and intermediate routes for Crabtree and a slot receiver as well as making the running game work better. Wallace would be great - serious burner. Even Deshaun Jackson, if he can act like an adult with Harbaugh's guidance could be a real asset. And, Jackson would be a serious punt returning threat as well. Coming back to the Bay Area could appeal to him. We'll see.

Ted Ginn has serious speed. Might be the fastest WR in the league. Do you mean quickness?

Originally posted by 49ersalldaway126:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Draft Fleener in the first round, now you've got a 6'6" target in the red-zone and you save about 6-7 million per year.

for an unproven guy though

we are already strong at TE TE is a luxury pick at this point (VD may be the best playmaker TE in nfl- if only worked on his hands)

we need a guy to take attention of him and a #3 TE hell even a #2 TE may not do the job as efficiently as a #1 WR

You know, I know most in The Zone here are salivating over drafting Fleener in the first, as if he'll actually be there at pick 30. And perhaps I am one of the very few that wouldn't take him even if he is there at 30. But I don't care. THIS TEAM DON'T NEED ANOTHER TE!!! , and that's the square I'll continue to stand on. This team isn't going to feature 2, 3, and 4 TE sets as our base look. I know there are some here who desire to minimize the WR position but, via the shameless rules of the NFL, this is a pass happy, offense favoring, QB driven, points scoring, get-the-ball-down-the-field fast league. And we cannot get the ball down the field or score more points with a bunch of in-fluid TE's running a bunch of underneath routs and the occasional seam rout all game. We can have all the blue-chip TE's we want but if we don't have a real #1 WR for the defense to contend with those TE's will go for naught. TE's don't, and won't, consistently stretch and pressure the defense like WR's do. Now, I've been told that I lack imagination on TE thing, and that's fine. But I do know this team's need is not at TE, but receiver. So we need to get 2 WR in the draft (one in the first for sure) and at least 2 in FA. Re-sign Ginn and Morgan, throw them all in the camp pot and let competition sort out the WR hierarchy.

Originally posted by 9ersLiferInChicago:
You know, I know most in The Zone here are salivating over drafting Fleener in the first, as if he'll actually be there at pick 30. And perhaps I am one of the very few that wouldn't take him even if he is there at 30. But I don't care. THIS TEAM DON'T NEED ANOTHER TE!!! , and that's the square I'll continue to stand on. This team isn't going to feature 2, 3, and 4 TE sets as our base look. I know there are some here who desire to minimize the WR position but, via the shameless rules of the NFL, this is a pass happy, offense favoring, QB driven, points scoring, get-the-ball-down-the-field fast league. And we cannot get the ball down the field or score more points with a bunch of in-fluid TE's running a bunch of underneath routs and the occasional seam rout all game. We can have all the blue-chip TE's we want but if we don't have a real #1 WR for the defense to contend with those TE's will go for naught. TE's don't, and won't, consistently stretch and pressure the defense like WR's do. Now, I've been told that I lack imagination on TE thing, and that's fine. But I do know this team's need is not at TE, but receiver. So we need to get 2 WR in the draft (one in the first for sure) and at least 2 in FA. Re-sign Ginn and Morgan, throw them all in the camp pot and let competition sort out the WR hierarchy.

You do realize that a first round wide receiver is more likely to bust than any other position, right? Its the reason why most of the top performing wide receivers, outside of the true stud guys taking in the first 5 picks, aren't from the 1st round. This year you can draft a guy in the 1st....or a guy in the 3rd, and there's not much drop off in talent, the draft is extremely deep in Round 2-4 WR's whereas with TE there's three major prospects and then a bunch of developmental prospects.

Also, the 49ers didn't really have THAT much trouble moving the ball down the field. Their biggest issues were closing the deal once they got close to the end-zone. They were pathetic in the red-zone and even just slightly beyond, resulting in a lot of kicks for a guy like Akers. With another dominant tight-end, teams have to really choose their poison. They have to either commit to a nickel package and be susceptible to the run(those two big TE's might be in there for blocking purposes) or they have to stay in their base set and end up with an ultimate mismatch, such as 6'6" Fleener on a safety or VD on a linebacker 1-1.

A second WR you can simply shutdown with good cornerback play with no necessary adjustment to your defense. Unless a WR is truly exceptional such as Fitzgerald or Calvin Johnson(not finding either one at Pick 30) or the QB is extremely exceptional (Brady, Brees...), a singe CB can get the job done, allowing the team to play its normal defensive set. You can't do that with a big, Gronkowski like TE on the field at the same time as VD, that's an auto-mismatch, you can also no longer double team VD, otherwise something has to give.

The way I look at it, unless you can create a major mismatch, say have an ultra-explosive guy like Kendall Wright(who'll be gone before the 49ers pick), find some way to make the defense adjust, all you'll have is more of Gore running into 8 man fronts and Alex throwing the ball at the feet of a second wide receiver.


Secondly, Alex has shown a preference to throw to TE's, period. You could bring in Andre Johnson, but unless Alex is going to stop being conservative and make passes into tight windows, it won't work. So rather than fighting your QB's tendencies, you give them a HUGE target, and in case the ball is overthrown, or thrown too high, you've got a guy with tremendous size and long reach who can just go up and get it.


WR in itself isn't a need for the 49ers. Third down conversion percentage and red-zone scoring are needs, that is what wins games. The talent Fleener represents at 30 is better than any WR you'll find at that spot, not to mention Fleener already knows the system and is the most ready to step on the field and play tomorrow. Other than Blackmon, Wright and possibly Floyd, every WR is going to require developing and will typically take some time to get up to speed. Most WR's usually require a year or 2 to truly understand the system...etc.

Fleener already runs outstanding pro-style routes, has very good hands, catches WITH his hands and not using his body which is actually an upgrade over some of late 1st round/early 2nd round receivers. He can split out to WR if needed and still has room to grow and get bigger.

However, how often does a team get a chance to draft a guy who would fill in a major area of need and he's already familiar with the offensive system and knows the coach? Harbaugh knows Fleener better than anybody, if Fleener is still available at 30 and Harbaugh passes him up, then its clear that he doesn't believe the guy can get it done considering how much he loves his tight-ends.


In anycase, he's got Fleener better scouted out than anyone else can hope to do over the next few months so we'll see what happens.

Agree 100% with everything Phoenix just said about Fleener. Another dynamic TE allows us to do what Harbaugh really wants to do. Pound the football repeatedly in heavy sets, and then throw it over the top of the defense with play action out of the same sets. Imagine 3 TE sets with Davis and Fleener on the LOS and Walker on the wing in more of an H-back role. Teams will have no choice but to load up the box, and when they do we have 3 TEs who can beat them down the field.

As far as WR, I see free agency breaking down like this...

Desean Jackson and Stevie Johnson return to their respective teams, leaving us with the following options:

Tier 1 (Legitimate #1 WRs. Don't need to explain why we need one.)
Vincent Jackson: Too much of a character risk.
Dwayne Bowe: Too expensive. Might be tagged by KC.
Marques Colston: Knee issues. Product of the system?
Reggie Wayne: Obviously advanced in age, but could be a bargain. A reliable veteran WR would be nice to have, and he'd be a good influence on Crabtree.

Tier 2 (Guys who have the potential to be #1 WRs, or at least play alongside Crabtree and Morgan and make a big impact.)
Mario Manningham: Would love to have him at the right price, but I think his postseason will artificially inflate his value.
Pierre Garcon: Speed and productivity (even with Orlovsky and Painter) make him ideal, I think.
Robert Meachem: Great downfield threat due to size and speed. People will argue he's a product of Brees and the system, but he's also had to compete for targets.

Tier 3 (WR/RET types. I like Ted Ginn as a returner, but he's fragile and provides next to nothing as a WR. If we can get someone who does both, we should jump at the chance.)
Eddie Royal: Reliable WR and a very solid return man.

Originally posted by JamesGatz83:
Agree 100% with everything Phoenix just said about Fleener. Another dynamic TE allows us to do what Harbaugh really wants to do. Pound the football repeatedly in heavy sets, and then throw it over the top of the defense with play action out of the same sets. Imagine 3 TE sets with Davis and Fleener on the LOS and Walker on the wing in more of an H-back role. Teams will have no choice but to load up the box, and when they do we have 3 TEs who can beat them down the field.

As far as WR, I see free agency breaking down like this...

Desean Jackson and Stevie Johnson return to their respective teams, leaving us with the following options:

Tier 1 (Legitimate #1 WRs. Don't need to explain why we need one.)
Vincent Jackson: Too much of a character risk.
Dwayne Bowe: Too expensive. Might be tagged by KC.
Marques Colston: Knee issues. Product of the system?
Reggie Wayne: Obviously advanced in age, but could be a bargain. A reliable veteran WR would be nice to have, and he'd be a good influence on Crabtree.

Tier 2 (Guys who have the potential to be #1 WRs, or at least play alongside Crabtree and Morgan and make a big impact.)
Mario Manningham: Would love to have him at the right price, but I think his postseason will artificially inflate his value.
Pierre Garcon: Speed and productivity (even with Orlovsky and Painter) make him ideal, I think.
Robert Meachem: Great downfield threat due to size and speed. People will argue he's a product of Brees and the system, but he's also had to compete for targets.

Tier 3 (WR/RET types. I like Ted Ginn as a returner, but he's fragile and provides next to nothing as a WR. If we can get someone who does both, we should jump at the chance.)
Eddie Royal: Reliable WR and a very solid return man.

Garcon is the guy I really want. He's 25, runs terrific routes, has decent speed(4.4 40), can make plays downfield, also had a very good year with Painter throwing to him. He's not the "6-4, 220" ideal but he's young and a damn good receiver and will be more affordable than some of the other guys out there. Having him along with Crabtree, Morgan and a rookie from Rounds 2-4 would be a pretty nice WR corps altogether.

Also, the depth if this draft for WR's in Rounds 2-5, there's lots of talented prospects out there. As an aside to the "we need a WR in the first round" hysterics, the only top free agent WR this year that was drafted in the first round is Bowe, otherwise...

Desean Jackson-2nd Round
Vince Jackson-2nd Round
Mike Wallace-3rd Round
Marques Colston-7th Round
Stevie Johnson-7th Round
Pierre Garcon-6th Round
Mario Manningham-3rd Round



That pretty much puts the truth to the lie that "OMG, OMG, OMG, LIKE WE NEED A RECEIVER, LIKE IN THE 1ST ROUND."