Look at the Ravens and Joe Flacco. They gave him a big $20 million a year contract and the team imploded. Lost all their key FA's, can't afford salaries anymore of supporting players and they did a nose dive into mediocrity.
This 49ers team is built for DEFENSE, O LINE, and RUNNING GAME. That's how we made the NFC Championship game 3 years in a row with 2 different QB's I might add. The 49ers will decline massively if the D goes. Just like the NFCCG it was the only thing holding us in the game. A good special teams will always help this team too and should be emphasized. We need better kick coverage.
Justin Smith is getting older. Ray Mac tore his arm and was less effective. We lost or NT to injury early in the year. Navorro Bowman perhaps one of our most instinctive players got his knee shredded. He may or may not be ready for the year when it starts. He may or may not be the same ever. Our CB's are a little suspect IMO. Rogers is making way too much and will be gone as a cap casualty. Brown may leave in FA. Culliver is coming off injury. I like Brock a lot and he is very instinctive and aggressive with the ball in the air but he doesn't do everything perfect. Plus he needs help out there. I like Reid a lot and he has a great future but Whitner who played really well may leave.
We have big needs at DL, ILB, S, CB. We should build that out with some fast, big, younger players who are cheaper on the cap and are the future for the long term. This team will go as far as the DEFENSE carries it. That has been proven out by 2 different QB's for 3 seasons now. This is not an offensive driven team. Certainly not an air attack which ranks near the bottom routinely.
The WZ wants a WR in FA or draft every year for the last 10 years. They are Matt Millen. But it doesn't matter who your WR's are if your QB will just look at 1. And when the game is on the line he will throw to Crabtree who is covered like a glove by Richard Sherman while ignoring all other aspects of the field including wide open WR's. It doesn't matter how many WR's you have on this team.
A defense holding the other team down is this teams best chance to win. No way in the world Kaep wins with an average defense. He's just not capable of it right now. Will he be in the future? Who knows? He's not right now. That is for sure.
[ Edited by SanDiego49er on Jan 26, 2014 at 11:00 AM ]