What is your biggest priority for improving the 2013 roster?

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
Cully had a BAD Super Bowl experience. All his mouth, immaturity and in-your-face BS got him was a TOTAL butt whipping by Flacco & receivers.

IMO, he needs someone to get his stinkin' thinkin' straight like Singletary did with VD.

Maybe a move to Safety?? But again, IMO, he has too much of an upside to let go of. He needs some personal coaching.

Drop kick Whittner. Goldson is not worth all the $$$ he'll be asking.

DL = NT & DE. Guys, we do NOT have a rotation and our starters are over-worked. We need to DE's [draft & FA or both] and a real NT. Soap has been ineffective.

A top notch cover corner - IMO, Revis will be WAYY too much $. In FA who would be the next best? Also, another Safety.

A BIG, fast WR who can be a BIG target in the red zone would help a lot,

Looking forward to the draft & FA.

Carlos Rogers makes $6 mill/year
Darrell Revis makes $9 mill/year

not a big jump.

I agree though. We need some depth on the DL.... Ray Mac is good, but he could use a rotation guy.... Justin Smith is great but he could use a replacement for the future / if he gets hurt again.... but I think Soap needs to be a depth/rotation guy and not the starter. If we can get an interior pass rush that would be amazing. Obviously aiming high, but a Warren Sapp style player. Big, Occupies the middle on run downs and rushes the pass on pass downs.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by dj43:
I am 50/50 on Sopoaga. Still, the front 7 is the best in the league against the run, hence Sop can't be such a huge negative as some suggest.

The defense was built to stop the run and they are doing it very well. Adding depth by drafting/signing DL who are more pass rush oriented should be a goal if only to give the current starters more rest. However, to the extent you go to more of a pass rush orientation, you tend to give up more of the run stuffing ability.

The back end is clearly an issue. Brown and Culliver just do not get the job done against the better receivers in the league.

He's ranked as one of the worst NT's in football. Having the 2 best ILB's in football almost compensates for having a lousy NT. Stop looking at the statistics and look at the individual performance. Sopoaga has been the weak link in the front 7, stop spouting the media hype BS. If it were true, this team wouldn't have gotten rocked yesterday because the NT is getting locked down by a single blocker.


In a 3-4 defense, the job of the NT is to keep the linebackers clean, to occupy multiple blockers. Soap doesn't do that. In the 49ers defense, Justin Smith has been the guy occupying multiple blockers and causing matchup problems but he has been markedly less effective since his injury, and as a result, the defense has crumbled, less pass rush, less run defense, translation is that this team gets gashed repeatedly. They need an NT that will require more than one blocker to stop, combine that with a healthy Justin Smith and you're opening things up for Aldon and Brooks to run around and wreak absolute havoc and cause mayhem all over the place.

As I said, I am 50/50 on Sopoaga. IOW, I won't care a lot if he leaves. He did not play as well this season as last.

As to needs; gaining depth on the DL is a priority. That can be a better NT or a future replacement for Justin Smith. Either way, I am fine with it.

However, I stand by my priority of CB then WR then DL. However, it doesn't matter to me the order as long as they get it done. I think we all know that Baalke is going to work on all three of those areas in the draft. (I don't see him making any FA signings of note.)

Originally posted by crabtree12:

Originally posted by Rubberneck36:

Is that supposed to be funny? Stop that or you will take a break.

Maybe you should do a better job of policing inciters by Alex Smith lovers in the Kaepernick thread.

You sure are fast to ban people who talk about Kaepernick in the Alex Smith/tolzien thread.

The mods here are a joke.

So I make you laugh?

Cheapest way yo fix the secondary is to draft a pass rusher.

Originally posted by PRIMETIME21:
man i like our hard hitting safeties though... they set the tone even if they can't cover all that great the trade off is nice. just add another corner instead.

In this passing league, there is very little place for a safety that cannot cover...or did both the Seattle game and last night escape notice?

I said it last night but I'll say it again here: John Harbaugh spent a lot of time looking at the 2nd Seattle game where they spread the field once they got into the RZ and just abused Whitner. FWIW, cover is not Goldson's strength either.

In the end, you need safeties that can cover but they must also be good tacklers. Just making big hits is not enough to win in this league.

Originally posted by BobS:
Cheapest way yo fix the secondary is to draft a pass rusher.

Where are you going to put him though?

Thats my question.

Brooks and Aldon are both studs.
Justin Smith is a stud
Ray Mac is very good.

We need to figure out how to get Willis rushing the passer a little more. He has too much athleticism to be just in pass coverage. They blitz him a bit in the Super Bowl... but I dont know. Figure it out Vangio.

If we can get a pass rushing elite DT that would be ideal. I know this draft is stocked with very good NTs..... could be possible.

We need to draft all defense. DE, NT, CB, SS, FS, and a Kicker.

Originally posted by pd24:
We need to draft all defense. DE, NT, CB, SS, FS, and a Kicker.

a WR too in late rounds.... Returner type.

If I were Baalke I would focus heavily on the defense in the offseason.

Areas I would focus on:
Another pass rusher on the outside to rotate with Brooks and Smith.
A productive end to rotate in with Smith and McDonald.
A disruptive NT in the middle
Possible replacement for Goldson.
Possible replacement for Rogers
Possible replacement for Walker
A WR to replace Randy Moss

Originally posted by WINiner:
If I were Baalke I would focus heavily on the defense in the offseason.

Areas I would focus on:
Another pass rusher on the outside to rotate with Brooks and Smith.
A productive end to rotate in with Smith and McDonald.
A disruptive NT in the middle
Possible replacement for Goldson.
Possible replacement for Rogers
Possible replacement for Walker
A WR to replace Randy Moss

Yeah.

I am really curious what Garrett Celek can do catching the football.
He's 6'5. He could be the redzone threat we need if he can catch the ball... ala Dennis Pitta/Kyle Rudolph.

If not, Definitely look for a TE in the draft. There are also a lot of good TE's going into Free Agency. Jared Cook from TEN for example. Dude is a freak.

At Safety, re-sign Goldson and get rid of Whitner. Draft Phillip Thomas S Fresno State in the 2nd round or someone else with his skill set.

At CB, we need a big cover corner to take Rogers place and maybe one other to replace Tremaine Brock who should be gone, too. The second guy should also be able to play special teams.

At OLB, one great pass rusher to rotate in with Aldon and Brooks.

On the DL, at least 2 bodies. One NT who also can provide some pass rush and a rotational DE to supplement Cowboy and McDonald.

Originally posted by m_brockalexander:
At Safety, re-sign Goldson and get rid of Whitner. Draft Phillip Thomas S Fresno State in the 2nd round or someone else with his skill set.

At CB, we need a big cover corner to take Rogers place and maybe one other to replace Tremaine Brock who should be gone, too. The second guy should also be able to play special teams.

At OLB, one great pass rusher to rotate in with Aldon and Brooks.

On the DL, at least 2 bodies. One NT who also can provide some pass rush and a rotational DE to supplement Cowboy and McDonald.

All great points.

Whitner is such a liability in the redzone. He just physically cant cover guys like Kyle Rudolph or Dennis Pitta.

Other spots we need to draft are QB(Unless we sign a back-up),Another runing back(Yes I know we have Hunter and James,but neither is an every down back and Gore going to be 29/30 next season),and a kicker. Akers will be cut.

our needs will be a Kicker... than best player available.

We will have something like 14 draft picks, more than enough to reinforce the D line and secondary and pick up a couple skill positions when there is good value along the way.

The loas sucks but the future is so bright it's hard to stay bummed for too long. Look at the leap Kaep made from year 1 to year 2 as a backup... Now give him a full offseason with all the starter reps and its hard not to get excited. Crabs will break out for 16 games next year, VD is starting to gel with the passing game, good times!