Baalke made 2 errors this offseason

11 safeties in the league had more interceptions
7 safeties in the league had more passes defended
36 safeties in the league had more total tackles

Why would you apply a franchise tag to a Safety who is not even close to being the most effective in the league at his position? Just sayin. Can we all take a look at those numbers and think about what being a "pro bowler" actually means?

Originally posted by truekingcarlos:

Originally posted by SanFranFanfrmVa:
Baalke has been great and getting 2 good draft picks for Smith was incredible but he's made 2 mistakes this offseason. The first was letting Tom Gamble leave and take a lateral position with the Eagles. The 2nd was not placing the franchise tag on Goldson. It's fine if he didn't want to give Goldson a longterm commitment but with a team ready for another super bowl run you don't start to go with rookies or players who don't know your system. Should've franchised Goldson and drafted his repacement to learn for a year. Goldson is as good as gone and Baalke let the wrong safety get out of town.

I'm not sure this team will be ready for another superbowl run if things go the way I'm suspecting. We are letting some of our best players go. We were fortunate our run to the superbowl was against lesser opponents, and that's why we got there, but if we just let players go and think we can rebuild from the draft and run the table next year, we are in for a rude awakening. I think our best chance has passed.

You mean they are letting go of ONE of our best players..........

In case you didn't notice, the Niners will still have Kaep, Gore, Crabtree, V. Davis, Willis, Bowman, A. Smith, J. Smith, and the entire offensive line.

And where are you coming up with this run against lesser opponents BS? The NFC West is now one of the best divisions in football and they beat the Packers, Patriots, Saints and Falcons on the road. This is not a "missed window" team.

Originally posted by GNielsen:
11 safeties in the league had more interceptions
7 safeties in the league had more passes defended
36 safeties in the league had more total tackles

Why would you apply a franchise tag to a Safety who is not even close to being the most effective in the league at his position? Just sayin. Can we all take a look at those numbers and think about what being a "pro bowler" actually means?

the only reason he is a top six or 7 free agent overall this year is because the overall class of free agents after you get past mike wallace is a mangy crowd in my opnion

Originally posted by GNielsen:
11 safeties in the league had more interceptions
7 safeties in the league had more passes defended
36 safeties in the league had more total tackles

Why would you apply a franchise tag to a Safety who is not even close to being the most effective in the league at his position? Just sayin. Can we all take a look at those numbers and think about what being a "pro bowler" actually means?

Yep. It's called success by commitee. As the overall defense went, so did Dashon. Was a lot more impactful when Aldon was racking up the sack numbers and Willis/Bowman were holding their own early in the season. Didnt see him accomplish much when we were giving up 30+ points in the last 2 months.

I admit he's a good safety, but not worth that kind of money. Only a half assed pimp like Dan Snyder would give him that amount (although I wouldnt count out Jerry Jones in that mix).

Originally posted by Magzarillious:
Wrong they respect Goldson too much to do that and they are waiting to see if they can match interests out there. The guy doesn't want the tag so your asking for trouble giving away close to 8 mil for him.

Agreee 100%

Originally posted by baltien:

Originally posted by GNielsen:
Again, a lot of you guys are placing too much value on Dashon Goldson, especially considering the obvious trend in the NFL away from allowing vicious hits on receivers. I like him a lot, but IMO he is not worth what he will probably get. You should have noticed this last season that often when he did what he does best, blow up the receiver, it just amounted to an extra 15 yards and an extended drive. What the team needs is better coverage skills.

Listen to this man.

Yes. The only way you pay $8M a year to a FS is if he can cover like a very good corner and also be a ballhawk. Think Ed Reed a few years ago. Knocking people's head's off isn't going to be a part of the future of the NFL with the concussion issue. The weakness was coverage from our safeties in particular. Improve the coverage abilities of the safeties and get the pass rush solved and we're back as a top 5 defense.

I like Goldson but he can't cover for s**t. Our pass rush needs to be addressed more than anything. If the line is getting to the QB, it covers a lot of the holes in the secondary. The secondary is built off the pass rush.

Originally posted by JamesGatz83:

Originally posted by Squidp:
"Cool dog picture, but no coherent argument."

Football is, and has always been, about the guys in the trenches. The best QB in the world is worthless without protection, and the best DBs in the world are worthless without a pass rush. Ever watched or participated in a 7-on-7 before? Offense dominates.

The Giants won two Super Bowls with a god awful secondary and a dominant pass rush. Corey Webster looked like a shutdown corner at times in 2011 and looked absolutely helpless in 2012 when the Giants' pass rush faltered. Aaron Ross went from a Super Bowl starter at CB with the Giants to being cut by the Jaguars after one season due to lack of effectiveness.

This isn't rocket science. If even an average NFL QB can throw with no one in his face, he's going to put the ball wherever he wants it, and there's really no defending a perfectly thrown ball. I guess you think it's a coincidence that our secondary fell apart the very instant Justin Smith got hurt.

Bravo..Look what the Giants did to Tom Brady and the Pats who were undefeated, virtually unstoppable. Tom Terrific became Tom the Terrified in the SB even with mediocre DB's because of that amazing pass rush. It was the front 4 that took them to the SB that year. I only wish we could come up with someone like J. J. Watt and get Fangio to scheme blitzes like Baltimore.

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
One thing for sure, JH/Baalke won't leave a stone unturned.

Soapoaga, Staley catching passes. DLine people playing in Jumbo packages.

If Cully can play S then they'll figure it out.

Agreed. If we can find a CB in FA or the draft that is better than Cully, and he is a better FS which a few good arguments have been made to support, then having a player that can work at both positions plus provide better overall coverage in the secondary makes a whole lot of sense. Harbalke like versatility for obvious reasons. This could be a real sleeper way to solve the DB issues we have.

Originally posted by GNielsen:
I wouldn't be so sure. Safety is his most natural position. It's where he played in college. The corner thing has been an experiment. They took a safety and since he had size and speed, they've been seeing if he can play corner.

Originally posted by Wrathman: Culliver was a good FS at South Carolina. When SF drafted him he was able to play both, but FS might be his more natural position.

He hasn't played FS in 4 years!!!! He was a CB not a FS as a draft prospect. Harbaugh: "Chris come on in here, i know we have been coaching you for the past 2 years to be a CB, but we would like you to play FS now because we feel its your more natural postion and have just been wasting time using you as a CB"
Like i told a previous poster should we move Bruce Miller back to DE or Joe Staley back to TE because they played their in college doesnt always mean its right.

Originally posted by NinerFan408:

Originally posted by Wrathman: Culliver was a good FS at South Carolina. When SF drafted him he was able to play both, but FS might be his more natural position.

He hasn't played FS in 4 years!!!! He was a CB not a FS as a draft prospect. Harbaugh: "Chris come on in here, i know we have been coaching you for the past 2 years to be a CB, but we would like you to play FS now because we feel its your more natural postion and have just been wasting time using you as a CB"
Like i told a previous poster should we move Bruce Miller back to DE or Joe Staley back to TE because they played their in college doesnt always mean its right.

Sorry, but your logic doesn't work here. The move would not be BECAUSE he played safety in college. That is only relevant to explain why he might be fine with a move to safety. There is no reason to move Miller to DE - he's one of the league's best Fullbacks. There is no reason to move Staley to TE - he's one of the league's best left tackles. The defensive backfield, on the other hand, has a couple problems. They need better coverage skills. If you've got a corner who has played safety and is good in coverage and you're problem is bad coverage from the safety, it makes sense to consider making that corner a safety. I suppose if you'd been around at the time you would have been against moving Ronnie Lott to safety. Sometimes corners with good size become good cover safeties.

Originally posted by SanFranFanfrmVa:

Baalke has been great and getting 2 good draft picks for Smith was incredible but he's made 2 mistakes this offseason. The first was letting Tom Gamble leave and take a lateral position with the Eagles. The 2nd was not placing the franchise tag on Goldson. It's fine if he didn't want to give Goldson a longterm commitment but with a team ready for another super bowl run you don't start to go with rookies or players who don't know your system. Should've franchised Goldson and drafted his repacement to learn for a year. Goldson is as good as gone and Baalke let the wrong safety get out of town.

Baalke's BIGGEST mistake is actually deciding to give Dashon Goldson money to a 30yr old cornerback coming off a his first probowl in a contract year: Carlos Rogers. He paid this over the hill player 7 mill per year and decided to franchise Goldson. The correct move should have been locking up the hawk and franchising Rogers or letting him walk, then we probably would have drafted Janoris Jenkins, not AJ Jenkins (another Baalke flop) ...hindsight is a b!#%^

Originally posted by J49er:
Baalke's BIGGEST mistake is actually deciding to give Dashon Goldson money to a 30yr old cornerback coming off a his first probowl in a contract year: Carlos Rogers. He paid this over the hill player 7 mill per year and decided to franchise Goldson. The correct move should have been locking up the hawk and franchising Rogers or letting him walk, then we probably would have drafted Janoris Jenkins, not AJ Jenkins (another Baalke flop) ...hindsight is a b!#%^

Carlos' deal really has no bearing on Dashon. We offered Goldson 5 yr, $25 mil and he rejected it. Baalke didn't make a mistake. Even now, we're not going to give Dashon $8 mil per year. That's not going to happen. Carlos accepted our offer, Dashon didn't. Simple as that.

Originally posted by GNielsen:
Sorry, but your logic doesn't work here. The move would not be BECAUSE he played safety in college. That is only relevant to explain why he might be fine with a move to safety. There is no reason to move Miller to DE - he's one of the league's best Fullbacks. There is no reason to move Staley to TE - he's one of the league's best left tackles. The defensive backfield, on the other hand, has a couple problems. They need better coverage skills. If you've got a corner who has played safety and is good in coverage and you're problem is bad coverage from the safety, it makes sense to consider making that corner a safety. I suppose if you'd been around at the time you would have been against moving Ronnie Lott to safety. Sometimes corners with good size become good cover safeties.

Bingo. Nicely done with the Ronnie Lott reference. Having someone at FS with the range and coverage ability of Culliver would be ideal in the modern NFL. The trend in that direction has already started.

Originally posted by SofaKing:

Originally posted by J49er:

Baalke's BIGGEST mistake is actually deciding to give Dashon Goldson money to a 30yr old cornerback coming off a his first probowl in a contract year: Carlos Rogers. He paid this over the hill player 7 mill per year and decided to franchise Goldson. The correct move should have been locking up the hawk and franchising Rogers or letting him walk, then we probably would have drafted Janoris Jenkins, not AJ Jenkins (another Baalke flop) ...hindsight is a b!#%^

Carlos' deal really has no bearing on Dashon. We offered Goldson 5 yr, $25 mil and he rejected it. Baalke didn't make a mistake. Even now, we're not going to give Dashon $8 mil per year. That's not going to happen. Carlos accepted our offer, Dashon didn't. Simple as that.

Not as simple. Baalke lowballed Goldson and decided Rogers was more valuable thus getting a larger contract. Baalke was wrong there is no debating that when you compare who deserved the higher deal.