Who would you resign Crabtree or Iupati ?

Yeah, that would be a match made in heaven and Spargo(sp?) isn't going to make it past this yr. The principle itself is really pretty simple. Eli staggered out of the gate, worked on getting it gone in the time the OL gave him and got his mojo back. Not recognizing your OL is not good for anything over 2.5 seconds seems kind of elemental.

Neither. f**k them both.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
Yeah, that would be a match made in heaven and Spargo(sp?) isn't going to make it past this yr. The principle itself is really pretty simple. Eli staggered out of the gate, worked on getting it gone in the time the OL gave him and got his mojo back. Not recognizing your OL is not good for anything over 2.5 seconds seems kind of elemental.

Speaking of Sparano not sure if he would consider being an OL coach after being an OC and HC but I would love to have him replace Solari. I believe he is a power run guy too. As for Iupati he always has some sort of injury. I don't see us re-signing either as we have tried and clearly these guys think they are 5 year 40-50+ million dollar players when in reality they are 5 year 30 million dollar guys. Once Aldon comes back if he can stay out of trouble extending him should be our main priority. Other than that Gore, Cox, Nelson and maybe Skuta, Hunter and Culliver after this year but everyone else can go. Hopefully we start cleaning house getting some more young talent in here and start getting younger and cheaper while not losing too much in play. Too bad for us at one point we thought how could we keep Crabtree, Boone and Iupati now most dont want any of them re-signed long term.

The grass is always greener - so since they both will probably want to test the FA waters.

If they want to test tem - YEA!

So will we and Trent has a pretty good track record w/FA.

Depends on the contract and replacement. They have Boldin and Johnson signed through next year. Both those guys are very good receivers. On the other hand they have Kilgore, M Martin, Thomas and Looney signed through next year. Which of those positions seems best able to weather the loss of a very good player? I would say WR is in better shape, particuarlly if they can resign Lloyd. I guess it comes down to the third and fourth guy in each group--Patton/Ellington vs Kilgore/Thomas. Thomas is a totally unknown and Kilgore will be a main C back up as well.

Boldin
Johnson
Patton
Ellington
(maybe Lloyd)

vs

Boone
Looney
Kilgore or M Martin
Thomas

Edit: if they can get a WR in round 1 or 2 with speed and hands I really hope they jump. How good would Benjamin or Matthews look in a niner uniform this year?

We might wait on Lloyd and after Crabtree leaves and after how the draft goes we could re-sign him then if we feel we need the help. Could also take a look at Patton and Ellington this offseason, maybe even pre-season before bringing in Lloyd. We could probably bring him in late in the preseason if we wanted too. He might have other offers but if he wants to play here he might agree to just sit on the back burner. If Crabtree is gone would kind of be nice to have him back but it would probably kill Pattons career the rest of the way and hinder Ellington's even further. Part of me says let those guys play and show what they got good or bad. Then another part says play it save re-sign Lloyd for insurance.

Originally posted by Gore_21:
We might wait on Lloyd and after Crabtree leaves and after how the draft goes we could re-sign him then if we feel we need the help. Could also take a look at Patton and Ellington this offseason, maybe even pre-season before bringing in Lloyd. We could probably bring him in late in the preseason if we wanted too. He might have other offers but if he wants to play here he might agree to just sit on the back burner. If Crabtree is gone would kind of be nice to have him back but it would probably kill Pattons career the rest of the way and hinder Ellington's even further. Part of me says let those guys play and show what they got good or bad. Then another part says play it save re-sign Lloyd for insurance.

Moments like these are where you really wish you had an idea of how Patton looks in practice. I don't consider him a starter at this point, but I think he'd be a decent number 3 based off of the little we saw last season. Sometimes you have to just put them out there and let them play. I think we have enough talent at other positions (our potential starters at receiver in 2015, Boldin and Johnson), at TE, and at running back where we can afford to let Ellington and Patton play and let the chips fall where they may. People talk about how great the 2011 class was, but one of the things that aided the development of the later picks was that they got a chance to play extensively. That hasn't been the case for many of the later picks since then, so with many of them, we really don't know what we have.

Unless we can get Crabtree for 6 million a year, I'm ok going with Boldin, Johnson, Ellington, Patton, and a rookie to two next season.

Originally posted by LifelongNiner:

Originally posted by Gore_21:
We might wait on Lloyd and after Crabtree leaves and after how the draft goes we could re-sign him then if we feel we need the help. Could also take a look at Patton and Ellington this offseason, maybe even pre-season before bringing in Lloyd. We could probably bring him in late in the preseason if we wanted too. He might have other offers but if he wants to play here he might agree to just sit on the back burner. If Crabtree is gone would kind of be nice to have him back but it would probably kill Pattons career the rest of the way and hinder Ellington's even further. Part of me says let those guys play and show what they got good or bad. Then another part says play it save re-sign Lloyd for insurance.

Moments like these are where you really wish you had an idea of how Patton looks in practice. I don't consider him a starter at this point, but I think he'd be a decent number 3 based off of the little we saw last season. Sometimes you have to just put them out there and let them play. I think we have enough talent at other positions (our potential starters at receiver in 2015, Boldin and Johnson), at TE, and at running back where we can afford to let Ellington and Patton play and let the chips fall where they may. People talk about how great the 2011 class was, but one of the things that aided the development of the later picks was that they got a chance to play extensively. That hasn't been the case for many of the later picks since then, so with many of them, we really don't know what we have.

Unless we can get Crabtree for 6 million a year, I'm ok going with Boldin, Johnson, Ellington, Patton, and a rookie to two next season.

Good comments! I would love to know where Patton stands with the coaches. Ellington looks better because he's evidently more explosive, but they both need to gain strength. It would be nice if they both turned into starting caliber WRs.

Patton struggles with separation.

I would resign Iupati over Crabs. Iupati might not be the greatest pass blocker but he's easily top 3 in the NFL in run blocking.

Originally posted by jcs:

I would resign Iupati over Crabs. Iupati might not be the greatest pass blocker but he's easily top 3 in the NFL in run blocking.

I think he's top 1 in run blocking as a guard. And the running game is what makes the Niners' offense go.

Without a dominant running game the Niners' offense has nothing. Iupati is one of the most important players on the entire offense, and when he goes down the offense almost always stinks.

It's like asking about picking between a perennial All-Pro G or a #2 WR

Originally posted by jcs:

It's like asking about picking between a perennial All-Pro G or a #2 WR

Possibly a #3 WR this year.

Originally posted by NinerSickness:
I think he's top 1 in run blocking as a guard. And the running game is what makes the Niners' offense go.

Without a dominant running game the Niners' offense has nothing. Iupati is one of the most important players on the entire offense, and when he goes down the offense almost always stinks.

The niners played poorly against the Broncos but I believe the last game Iupati missed was Washington last year--score SF 27 Wash 7. Not that the niners don't miss any starter when out but I believe between Looney, Thomas, Kilgore or M Martin Iupati could be replaced. Run offense may suffer a bit but pass protection would make up for it. So tired of seeing guys blitz up the middle!

I am wondering if he is completely recovered from his broken leg last year...perhaps that is a reason for the aparent drop off I see...or playing beside a new center. Luckily, the coaches have a better idea about this than we do...so if they resign him you are correct, if they let him go...

Iupati especially and the others have always struggled with blitzes and communication in pass pro. What good is one of the best run blocking OL in the league if other teams stack the box? If we could pass block we'd be able to pass a lot better and we wouldn't need elite run blockers because the other teams would back off more. I mean as good of run blockers as we are look how many times we get stopped on 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1 or on the goal line. Look at how many 1 to negative yardage carries we have due to the play calling predictability and teams stacking the box. Anyways, like I said many times before we have 5 years 30 (35 maybe) players who are looking for 5 years 40-50+ mil. Just wont happen with Baalke and I hope it doesn't. I'd rather overpay Aldon than overpay Crabtree, Iupati, Boone, Culliver, etc, etc.