Off-Season Post #1: Thoughts on the Off-Season so far (Pre-draft)...

I think some of you are giving Moss a little too much credit and Q not enough.

Sure, Moss helped take a little bit of pressure off the run but it was pretty apparent, even a couple games into the season, that he did not have the elite speed that he used to and the DC's adjusted to this. So I'm not 100% sold that his presence on the field greatly improved our run offense by loosening up the box.

Most of Moss's contributions came in the mentoring of our younger receivers. IMO, Boldin can fill that role, as well as producing much more on the field. I really think that the addition of Boldin has already greatly improved our WR position. Only time will tell but hopefully I'm right .

Originally posted by capone0:
I think we have had a good off-season. We might be slightly down but we obviously still have the draft and more FA that could happen (Woodson).

We did lose Goldson, Issac, Walker, Akers, Ginn, Moss, Alex, and RJF so far.

With that being said only Goldson is a pretty big loss and got overpaid. Issac, Walker, RJF all got overpaid and we have replaced everyone but Walker with upgrades IMO at lower prices. Dorsey is better than Issac. RJF should be able to be replaced by Ian. Will work on replacing Walker, but it's not that amazing of a loss.

We added Dorsey, Nnamdi, Dawson, Boldin, Colt. While I think Colt is a downgrade from Alex but he's much better value. NNamdi is great value so is Dorsey. Boldin is a little expensive but gotten for effectively nothing.

I'm excited to see what happens. A full year with in off-season drills. You have VD, Jenkins, Crab, and others who will improve. Our losses have been minimal and our gains have been pretty strong and we aren't done yet. I bet we draft a FS in the draft and bring in Woodson for 1 year as a fill in. While Goldson was pretty good, he had his issues b/c he and Whitner are both truly SSs.

Getting a TE who is as good as Walker in the draft should not be tough especially if we use a pick from the first 4 rounds. Walker did bring it on special teams and did work well in the running game but honestly, the guy couldn't catch and we could easily upgrade him in the draft.

I think its actually the other way around, Ian is more just NT middle of the line stop the run type DT similar to Soap, While Dorsey has the ability to play all along the line middle, edges wherever similar to RJF.

I think leadership has done a pretty nice job in free agency in filling holes just enough, where they can go for the best player available in the draft. There are definitely spots where they need to upgrade, but no gaping holes right now. They can use picks to focus on new, young talent.

WR - Boldin comes in and fills the immediate need with Manningham and KW out due to injuries and last year's #1 unknown capability
NT - Dorsey fills the immediate hole and may be thought of as a guy that may thrive in a new system
S - Dahl is capable of starting but should lose his job to better talent
CB - More competition added to make everyone step up their game
TE - Morrah is like Dahl, probably capable but could end up battling Celek for the third spot
K - Dawson closes the gap for this year

Originally posted by Marvin49:

I figured it's been awhile, so what the hell.


1) Kaepernick: I always start with the QB, so I figured I'd be consistent. My initial thought on him is that I love how hard he is taking the loss in the SB. I love that he was in Atlanta a week later. I love that he said yesterday that the final drive wasn't the issue, poor performance in the first half was.


We all got caught up in last season and we had the conversations about who should start, should Alex stay, whose fault were particular losses. I think at some point we kinda lost sight in just how amazing last year was for Kaep. Really young QBs don't just step in mid-season and take their team to the Super Bowl (unless your name is Brady). There are franchises that have been trying for DECADES to find a guy who can do what Kaep did last year. His 10th career start was in the freakin' Super Bowl. It's not like he was just along for the ride either. He was a huge reason WHY they advanced as far as they did. In 2011, the Niners got as far as they did with a "safe" offense, a dominant defense, and the best special teams in the game. Then their special teams let them down when all the marbles were on the table. Last year, the D wasn't so dominant and the ST were FAR from the best. That O had to evolve. It had to become dynamic...and it did. Kaep is a BIG part of the reason why.


Bottom line? Hats of to young Kaepernick. I can't wait to see what you do next.


2) Glenn Dorsey: The further we get away from this signing the more I like it. I don't expect him to suddenly become the guy people thought he would be coming out of LSU, but while people have called him a bust they miss that he did do one thing really well in KC. Stop the Run. That's all we need him to do anyway. I'm not looking at Dorsey as the player he could have been but rather the player he is. He also won't be called on to 2-gap the way he did in KC. I've read online that he'll replace RJF more than Sopoaga, but I'm not so sure about that. Soaps play fell off last year and Dorsey signed for about half of what Soap did in Philly. The Niners struggled last year against teams with big bruising RBs and Dorsey might be a piece of resolving that.


3) Anquan Boldin: I like this move, but I'm not as in love with it as others are. I love Anquan as a player, I'm just not in love with the 6 mil salary and its effect on the rest of the team. Putting him back as the #2 WR like he was in Arizona will help him, but he doesn't stretch the field the way Moss did. Moss wasn't the same guy, but defenses still feared him and gave him huge cushions. Boldin won't see that. I like Boldin as that #2 WR, but they need to make another move on draft day.


4) Colt McCoy: I love this trade and I can't even explain why. LOL. I just trust Harbaugh and Baalke when they make decisions regarding QBs. It's really nice BTW to have a good feeling about the most important position on the field simply because you completely trust the men making those decisions. SOOOOO many teams would die for that. Colt has the ability to be a good pro and Harbaugh will get it out of him.


5) Nnamdi Asomugha: I love this move too, but it isn't because I'm convinced he'll become an All-Pro again. I love it because Nnamdi BADLY wanted to come to SF. He is motivated like never before. He wanted SF so badly he took 1.3 Mil and REQUESTED to guaranteed money. The 49ers can cut him and it wouldn't cost them a dime toward the cap. Can he be an effective player again? We'll find out….and you can be sure we'll get the best of whatever Nnamdi has left.

6) Phil Dawson: Typical Baalke move. Vet Kicker who was just in the Pro Bowl. Got a guy who wants a ring to cap his career.


7) Charles Woodson: I'm including him here because I THINK he'll be in red and gold this year. He just needs to figure out that there isn't a market out there for him with a team with a chance at the title. The draft will take place and he'll see if the market changes. The problem with that is that there are A LOT of safeties in the draft so anyone who needs one will likely get one. Once he sees the market didn't change, I think he'll sign in SF for something close to league minimum. He also won't be guaranteed a roster spot and will compete with whatever safety the Niners will draft. This is just the way Baalke does business. He'll wait. He's patient…and he'll get his man.


8) All of these moves in general: To me, this offseason is a net negative right now. None of these moves are earth shattering. They are just maintenance. They really have yet to address the losses of Walker and Goldson. That's why it's nice to have 13 picks in the draft. ;-) What also cool is that they already have 9 picks next year and will likely get a few good ones for free agent losses. Walker, Goldon, RJF, and Soap all count in the comp pick formula. Gooden and Grant may as well if they sign elsewhere. Dorsey, Dawson, Skuta, and Dahl count against the Niners, but none of those contracts are very big. Add to that the fact that they will likely trade one or 2 picks into next year and we could be looking at this situation again next year.


9) Draft: My favorite time of year…draft season. I expect the Niners to trade und down all over the place. I expect them to select 1 or 2 injured players (Marcus Lattimore?). I expect them to try to find replacements for Dashon, Delanie, and Justin. My guess? Jonathan Cyprien and Margus Hunt. Now that I've said that tho I can almost guarantee it won't happen.


10) "Off-Season Championship": Reports of the Seahawks "passing" the 49ers are greatly exaggerated. The 'hawks are good. Don't get me wrong, but the media is out of control. Harvin is good…but not THAT good. Avril Bennett? There is a reason they're original teams didn't resign them. I do think Winfield is a good move for them tho. Did they have a BAD off-season? No. Not at all…I'm just not buying into the hype. Is Avril better than Clemens? Are they gonna line up 4 DEs on every down? They may have some depth there and that's good, but I'm not buying that they are dramatically better than they were last year.

Perfectly spoken. I couldn't agree more with everything you said.

Defense will not give you that deep throw down field. It only happens on very few. Most of the time it's that short to medium connections, then the receiver makes guys miss to go all the way. When Moss was younger, he had the speed and could out jump the CB and the S over the top -- not any more. He may still have some of his speed, but that jumping for the ball in double team doesn't work anymore. He was essentially a little better than what Ted Ginn could offer with better hands catching the ball.

The guy that really helped us last year was Manningham. He's the 3rd receiver that could moved around outside or in the slot, catching those short and medium, some time outlet underneath of VD and Moss. When he got injured twice, our passing tanked. I think Boldin is another more physical Manningham.

qnn, Boldin is the 3rd down specialist for jumpball passes on the out of bounds line. He perfected that some time ago and then showed us how it worked in SB.
Good news is now we use him against other teams.