An alternative strategy to focusing on WRs

Someone mentioned here the idea of going after LeGarrette Blount to be a 1A/1B with Gore, and not going after the creme da le creme of WRs. As most have pointed out, Larry Fitzgerald nor Calvin Johnson are part of free agency this season so there's no such thing as a receiver to die for.

Still I think with some minor tweaks at WR we could be strong. Would love to have another proven beast at RB to go along with Frank.

I think it will be interesting if we do not land the big names like Bowe or one of the Jacksons, if we take a lesser name and supplement our running game a bit.

I love being DIFFERENT from the rest of the league. The one thing that I have noticed from the forums of pass happy teams (Saints, Giants, Packers) is the notion that top running backs are not even worth as much as top pass rushing DEs. This came up in the Arian Foster/Mario Williams debate....who was worth keeping more, and 90% feel Williams is more important. And we all know Foster is sickKk!

We might get another RB at a good deal given the state of the NFL plus the 49ers strength. It would have to be 1A/1B of course, and believe me I don't think Frank would protest.

I agree.

Once upon a time Cedric Benson was the 4th pick in the draft. Last year Mark Ingram (a better prospect imo) went 28th. RBs just aren't valued like they used to be and can be had at a discount. I don't see us getting a guy like a Trent Richardson but if you just imagine a guy like that on our team I don't think anyone would stop our ground game.

I'd be fine with signing Mario Williams and drafting Coby Fleener. Picking up a RB in FA or the Draft would be good too...

RB aren't as highly valued now that we have such a pass happy league, except to teams/coaches that still coach with old school values. Such as us. But still we need an addition to our WR core without a doubt, and we need our most recent 1st round pick to show up to training like he actually wants to play in the NFL, and scouting for a replacement for Gore sometime soon is something to be taken into consideration. I don't want to bench Gore or replace him just yet (I think he still has a little bit left in his motor) but it is something I hope Harbaugh and Baalke are thinking about for the near future.

I can see us snagging Mario Manningham at a decent price. Hes a guy who can I think could add a lot to this team.

As for the draft, I have a pretty good feeling Trent Richardson is going to fall. Looking over the draft order, its possible he gets to the 16, 17, 18 range. I think hes a top five guy, but I just have a feeling hes going to be the one who falls. If he does get to that range, it would be much easier to trade up and get him. He reminds me of Frank Gore if he never blew both ACLs in college. It would be a nice two back power punch with Hunter complimenting them. Gore rides off into the sunset and we have our replacement.

I also like Lamar Miller, Miami U. A real shifty runner with good vision and burst.


Grab one of those tall, raw receivers in the later rounds. Tommy Streeter, Brian Quick, etc.

Eh, the thing is not only are RBs less valuable in today's pass happy league, you can get awesome RBs all throughout the draft. The first guy you mention, Blount, didn't even get drafted. Hunter will only get beastlier with an offseason of conditioning. We could definitely use someone better than Dixon but the gore replacement shouldn't be rushed.(and may well end up being Hunter as a MJD type of back)

It's good to think of different strategies, but this is probably the last position I would spend a 1st on.

As for a RB I wouldn't draft one in the first. There's always so much depth in the draft and Hunter is solid. I think we could upgrade depth by replacing Dixon, but he's really not that bad either. I'm jealous everytime I see Sproles catch the ball, evade defenders, and bail NO out. He's such a weapon. I'm hoping Hunter can fill that role for us.

Anyway, we can add another RB later in the draft, possibly even an UDFA. We need help in the passing game now. Teams focused on our running game 90% of the time. We need some weapons that can keep secondaries honest, which will help out our RBs tremendously. Right now, safeties either played up for the run or blanketed Vernon. Having a WR on the outside with playmaking ability will force safeties to cheat to his side, taking him away from the Vernon and the running game. Plus, if the safety cheats up or bites on a play action, we have a guy running deep that can make a big play for us.

More than anything, our team has lacked a scoring threat. We don't score quickly and we're awful at gettin the ball in the endzone. Our running attack is progressing nicely. The biggest weakness on our team is the passing game.

Originally posted by JTsBiggestFan:

Someone mentioned here the idea of going after LeGarrette Blount to be a 1A/1B with Gore, and not going after the creme da le creme of WRs. As most have pointed out, Larry Fitzgerald nor Calvin Johnson are part of free agency this season so there's no such thing as a receiver to die for.

Still I think with some minor tweaks at WR we could be strong. Would love to have another proven beast at RB to go along with Frank.

I think it will be interesting if we do not land the big names like Bowe or one of the Jacksons, if we take a lesser name and supplement our running game a bit.

I love being DIFFERENT from the rest of the league. The one thing that I have noticed from the forums of pass happy teams (Saints, Giants, Packers) is the notion that top running backs are not even worth as much as top pass rushing DEs. This came up in the Arian Foster/Mario Williams debate....who was worth keeping more, and 90% feel Williams is more important. And we all know Foster is sickKk!

We might get another RB at a good deal given the state of the NFL plus the 49ers strength. It would have to be 1A/1B of course, and believe me I don't think Frank would protest.

The idea has merit, but I would get another RB besides Blount. He definitely is a bruiser when running the ball, but he isn't a great pass catcher or pass protector. Mike Tolbert Would be a better choice than Blount IMO.

I would hope the Niners still try to sign Bowe or VJax at a reasonable rate while supplementing the passing game in the draft with another TE and a slot WR/KR to replace Ginn..

Pead out on cinncy will be a very good pro.

Originally posted by JTsBiggestFan:
Someone mentioned here the idea of going after LeGarrette Blount to be a 1A/1B with Gore, and not going after the creme da le creme of WRs. As most have pointed out, Larry Fitzgerald nor Calvin Johnson are part of free agency this season so there's no such thing as a receiver to die for.

Still I think with some minor tweaks at WR we could be strong. Would love to have another proven beast at RB to go along with Frank.

I think it will be interesting if we do not land the big names like Bowe or one of the Jacksons, if we take a lesser name and supplement our running game a bit.

I love being DIFFERENT from the rest of the league. The one thing that I have noticed from the forums of pass happy teams (Saints, Giants, Packers) is the notion that top running backs are not even worth as much as top pass rushing DEs. This came up in the Arian Foster/Mario Williams debate....who was worth keeping more, and 90% feel Williams is more important. And we all know Foster is sickKk!

We might get another RB at a good deal given the state of the NFL plus the 49ers strength. It would have to be 1A/1B of course, and believe me I don't think Frank would protest.

i agree, i dont think gore has much left in the tank

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
I'd be fine with signing Mario Williams and drafting Coby Fleener. Picking up a RB in FA or the Draft would be good too...

You'd be fining with just signing the most expensive defensive player to ever hit the FA market?

How generous of you!

Re: WRs, we could grab someone like Laurent Robinson (cheaper than Manningham, and better IMO) for probably 3 mil per, let Delanie walk, and then draft Fleener. I'd be really excited about that.

Originally posted by DaveTheShocker:
I can see us snagging Mario Manningham at a decent price. Hes a guy who can I think could add a lot to this team.

As for the draft, I have a pretty good feeling Trent Richardson is going to fall. Looking over the draft order, its possible he gets to the 16, 17, 18 range. I think hes a top five guy, but I just have a feeling hes going to be the one who falls. If he does get to that range, it would be much easier to trade up and get him. He reminds me of Frank Gore if he never blew both ACLs in college. It would be a nice two back power punch with Hunter complimenting them. Gore rides off into the sunset and we have our replacement.

I also like Lamar Miller, Miami U. A real shifty runner with good vision and burst.


Grab one of those tall, raw receivers in the later rounds. Tommy Streeter, Brian Quick, etc.

What is a #3 receiver going to add to this team they already don't have? Don't understand the infatuation with Manningham. He's not particularly fast, not particularly great at creating separation, he's basically Josh Morgan who played in a pass-happy offense with one of the better QB's in football.

Originally posted by PopeyeJonesing:
You'd be fining with just signing the most expensive defensive player to ever hit the FA market?

How generous of you!

Re: WRs, we could grab someone like Laurent Robinson (cheaper than Manningham, and better IMO) for probably 3 mil per, let Delanie walk, and then draft Fleener. I'd be really excited about that.

Keep Delanie.



If they draft Fleener, they can trot out that 3 TE formation they used at times last year except now it will be scary as f**k with VD, Fleener and Walker out on the field at the same time, you can run, you can pass, the defense really has to be prepared for both, they can't double VD....it'll be tough.

True but we need a number one wr, smith is not good enough to win a sb with our ol with a bunch of number 2 Wrs and even number 3s. Brady was but he had a great ol and branch was a borderline number one back then. We all saw in the playoffs that we need another wr. We saw this in the regular season for 3rd down conversions as well.

A RB will not help much at all, teams will just stack the line again like they always do and we will be struggling to convert third downs like always.

Put me down with Phoenix in that a #3 WR isn't going to help us that much. Shefter is on the money, we are looking for 2 top tier WRs, one in FA and one in draft. IF we could pull it off this team has SB written all over it, but we would HAVE TO resign virtually all our FA Defense. Exactly HOW we pull it off remains the question. Due to Cap $$, whatever we do will have to involve a player of ours who gets traded...if we are to get both our WR needs( i am including a TE like Fleener counting for a WR need, for reason noted by Phoenix).