Originally posted by TexasNiner:
You and I just see things very differently. As is the case with many fans, and the point of this thread. For example: Reid may eventually be an upgrade over Goldson. I sure hope he becomes the next Ronnie Lott. At this point though, it's basically a push. Hopefully, he continues to improve and it isn't a case of a solid player not being asked to do too much by a veteran team.
Reid is already an upgrade over Goldson, not eventually. I saw a player that has smarter, shows better awareness and didn't have the stupid brainfart's that Goldson was infamous for. It was evident early on with the better communications between him and Whitner. Did things go perfectly, no, but he's already a better performer overall.
This year will tell a lot as he is now the only starter returning in the secondary. Same kind of deal with Bethea vs. Whitner and our two new starters at CB. If Brock was so good, why wasn't he starting over T. Brown and Rogers when everyone was healthy
Sometimes it takes an injury for a guy to get a look and be given a chance, once he gets it, he runs away with the job, is it really that unusual? Why didn't Kaepernick start over Alex Smith from the beginning of 2012 instead of after he was injured? Injuries can be opportunities for guys to show what they can do and Brock made the most of his opportunity.
It's nice to assume Brock and Cully will be as good or better, but both have been on the team for several years, and neither have shown that they are significantly better than what we have had. At best, they are hopefully the same.
Several years? Culliver played in 2 seasons and looked like one of the best CB's in the NFL in his 2nd season, constantly rated as one of the best in the NFL throughout the 2012 regular season. Brock has been a ballhawking cornerback that this team has not had in a long time, Culliver was improving as a young player and he'll get the chance to continue that in 2014.
So, Eric Wright (hopefully), becomes the the Cully/Brock nickle guy and Cook is the Wright low risk/high reward project. Same kind of deal as last year, just less experience, less depth and we are just hoping for equal or better results and that players with poor performance and/or injury issues last year bounce back.
You act as if there isn't a draft coming up where the 49ers will likely add to their CB depth. Brock and Culliver look to be solid as starters, if he wins the nickel job, then Wright is an experienced NFL starter who should do a good job. Bethea is a veteran, smart, experienced safety who won't get penalized the way that Whitner was and is a better tackler. Reid will hopefully take another step forward to become one of the very best safeties in the NFL.
We will see how Patton develops, but Baldwin seems worthless and has on two different teams. That you would mention him as part of the reason we wouldn't persue a vet startles me. He is camp fodder at best.
Rather take a shot on Baldwin developing than a random average veteran. The 49ers have have Crabtree and Boldin, they have their starters, they have a promising young player in Patton, now all they need is depth. Baldwin hasn't been much so far but once again, rather see him getting the opportunity than a guy who won't be around for more than a year or two. Patton certainly should be allowed to develop, if you look at teams like Green Bay and the Giants, they don't go out and blow money signing receivers from other teams. They consistently draft receivers, develop them, let them contribute and if they want more money, they let them walk and....next man up.
Skuta was solid, but we need better than that if we are going to compete for the SB, especially with arguably our best player on D out for at least half the year. Again, to me, this seems like a guy who had a career year benefiting from the system and players around him, not someone you can depend on year in and year out to provide championship level play. And we are taking the same kind of risk with all the young guys, especially the ones coming off injuries.
The 49ers are already competing for the Superbowl, you talk as if this a 7-9 team not a team that has been to 3 straight Conference Championship's and a Superbowl.
For a backup OLB, a guy who was only expected to be a special team's performer, Skuta did tremendously well and was actually effective as a starter. He did a damn good job, not sure how you can argue otherwise. In the modern NFL, no your backup OLB isn't going to be the same as your Pro-Bowl, looking like a future HOF, beastly monster OLB. Skuta as a backup is about as good as it gets.
I hope as much as anyone that they become all pros. But to assume so is asinine. Banking on players with little to no experience and injury issues is a very tough sell to me.
Yes of course, don't develop your younger players, they are too risky, build the team through free agency, because that is how you become successful in the NFL, go out there and sign errrrybody. It has worked so well for Dallas, Washington, Philadelphia, Miami, Tampa Bay...etc.
The only moves, other than Boldin, which was an excellent move, we have made, were basically when we had no other choice. When we had NO kicker, we signed a kicker, when we had NO NT, we signed Dorsey, when we had NO safety and already a very young guy on one side, we signed Bethea.
So you mean when the 49ers have a legitimate need, the front office actually goes and gets it taken care of that? That's just crazy talk.
To me, retaining T. Brown or getting Thurman or getting a solid vet as a 3rd WR, or getting depth/upgrades on the dline should have been a priority, not a luxury. We are not that dominant of a team. And we don't seem to be trending in the right direction. We didn't necessarily need to do ALL of those things, or to get one of the biggest names out there, but to bank on the draft or our corps of young/injured reserve players to fill all those needs seems overly optimistic, especially when it seems the gap between what we want to pay and what contracts are being signed for are nominally different.
Why do you need a "solid vet" as a 3rd WR? I think Patton is fine in that spot and should get all the chances to perform, as with other young receivers they might add in the draft. The only thing you do by signing some average free agent off the street is to delay the development of your own young players. I'm sure for the right price the 49ers would have been interested to add someone but guys were either overpriced or not worth the time. Had Brown accepted the 3 year/10 million deal he was offered, he would be a 49er. His issue is that he didn't want to play nickelback and assumed that he could get more taking a "prove it" deal with a lousy team where he could be a starter so he hopefully could get a huge deal at age 30. He doesn't seem like the sharpest tool in the shed.
We seem to be willing to pay around $3 mil a year. Contracts are being signed for around $3.5 to 4 mil a year on 1 to 3 years deals. If we had to go from 3 to 4 mil a year to get it done to shore up one of these key areas, to me, that seems well worth it. I have much more confidence in a vet that has proven they can do it at the NFL level, then on a rookie or young player with little to no experience to be the difference maker we need to get over the hump.
They have a TOTAL cap space of about $4 million. $4 million, that means money needed to sign rookies as well. Not sure where you're getting this fantasy of them signing like a dozen different players. They took care of their need at strong safety, acquired a swing tackle, took a chance on a talented but underperforming CB in Cook and have a buttload of draft picks to spend. They are sitting pretty damn well right now.
We lost two games last year by the slimmest of margins that would have been the difference between homefield advantage in the playoffs, and with that likely a SB appearance. Last years NFCCG and the SB the year before could have had very different outcomes if we had enough depth at WR that teams didn't know exactly who our QB was targeting on the final play of the game with all but complete certainty.
Coulda, shouda, woulda. In the end, often times it comes down to luck and a bounce of the ball. There's 32 teams in the NFL, only one can win the Superbowl, the 49ers did well enough to win two tough games on the road, they nearly won in Seattle, a place where it is damn near impossible to win games. Instead of panicking like you are, the organization has continued to pound away and be smart, make smart moves, get good value players, plus they are loaded with picks for the draft. This is a team that is smartly building for their future, not trying to blow their wad on a one season Hail Mary.
If now isn't the time to improve our depth/starters at the key positions that could get us over the hump to win a SB, I don't know when will be. We will likely lose more key players in the next year or two, as we can't resign everyone. Now is the time to make an immediate push with players on 1-3 year deals. Then, we may have to reaload in a couple years, but by then we will know something about all these young guys on the roster and can make better decisions about how they factor into the future instead of banking on them to be the answer when they are still unknown commodities and could cost us our SB window.
This "Superbowl window" rhetoric is absolute BS to the highest degree. What Baalke is doing is building this team into a perennial contender, losers worry about "Superbowl windows." Successful organizations continue to compete. Do you ever hear people talk about New England's "Superbowl window." They're basically in the hunt every single year.
In the NFL, if you don't develop your younger guys, if you don't play them, you won't win, that is what will close your "window." Based on how the salary cap is set up, you need young players and a lot of them to contribute to your team, its the only way you can hold a quality team together for any amount of time. As guys walk, you replace them with cheaper younger players and keep building your team into the future.
By the same token, any free agent you sign is "an unknown commodity", you don't know how they will play on your team, how they will fit into your system...etc. Every year we have huge free agent signings that turn out to be massive busts. When a rookie busts, you just wasted a draft pick, when a pricy veteran busts, now you are screwed when it comes to the salary cap.
[ Edited by Phoenix49ers on Mar 16, 2014 at 8:20 PM ]