reloading a sleeping giant

Originally posted by JR80Forever:
I agree that this team will be retooling and not reloading. Yes the Giant is asleep.

Defensively our biggest ? comes with Cowboy. At LB we are stacked! At Safety we are stacked! CB I actually really like our top 3.

LDE: Tank/Dial
NT: Dorsey
RDE: Cowboy?

LOLB: Lynch
ILB: Bowman & Willis
ROLB: Smith

FS: Reid
SS: Bethea

LCB: Johnson
RCB: Brock
Slot: Ward

If we could get Cox or Cully back on the cheap with a short deal that would be great. If not, I am confident in our CB's on the roster.

One of those 2 guys will get a deal very similar to what we gave Brock, I would love both back but that might not be feasible. We won't lose both though. And I def think we'll see Cowboy return next year.

Wow, I know people get negative during a down season, but some of you just have lost track of the raw talent on this roster when ANYWHERE CLOSE TO HEALTHY. This year, we missed Aldon for 9 games, Willis for 10, and Bowman for all 16. These are 3 of the top 25 or so players in all of football! Just as importantly, for most of the year we have also been without our top 2 of our 3 corners (Brock, Ward) our top 2 NT's (Dorsey and Williams) and our starting C, RT. That means that 8 starters have missed more than half of the season (3 of whom are first team all-pros), which is truly ridiculous. No team survives this! I know AZ has lost a lot of players, but not 8 starters and not the 3 best players on their team. So I am not just being a blind optimist saying that we will be a lot healthier next year.

This off season we have a simple path to becoming a top level team in 2015. Get a coach committed to running the ball who also presents the most impressive plan for Kaep to turn around his career. Yes, he needs a ton of work as a pocket passer, but I really believe we asked him to do way too many things that don't play to his strengths. To Steve Young and Greg Cosell's points he must develop his skills in the pocket to be more than a flash in the pan, but that doesn't mean we should completely abandon the pistol, rollouts, a few designed runs to keep the chains moving and his confidence up during the games against the better defenses when he will struggle from the pocket. We can't let Justin retire which we can't control, but I really think he will be willing to play one more year as healthy as he's been and with another year on his contract. Get the best WR with speed you can find in FA, then draft the best players available with an emphasis on the trenches. If we let Crabtree walk and restructure Vernon, we'll even have a little cash to spend FA if the right opportunity presents itself. This can be fixed without dedicating money or other resources that we don't have.

Originally posted by hondakillerzx:

this year is over for us unfortunately but i feel like we will bounce back strong next year and this year may be a blessing in disguise. I still hope we keep harbaugh but even if he leaves this roster is still loaded and tons of money should be freed up by exiting players to reload an already talented roster.

brooks, crabtree, iupati, possibly justin smith and gore, just cut micdonald. possibly even vernon davis, lloyd and boldin will be cut or traded. those are some sizable contracts. we have some excellent players coming back from IR next year who should be 100% and ready to go, we will have way more cap space after all these cuts to get established players in positions of need if we dont get everything we need through the draft and we have some young players ready to step into starting roles after having a redshirt or understudy year this year. Hyde and hunter will be the backs and possibly another draft pick, ellington and patton will get more playing time with more familiarity with the nfl, kap will hopefully be humbled by how this year went and get to work on his mechanics or else gabbert or the hopefully newly drafted QB we have behind him will push for the starting job (gabbert had the luxury of sitting back and learning from harbaugh all year, a luxury he didnt have in jaxoniville so i wouldnt be surprised if he looks great in the preseason next year). tank, dial and lynch will have much bigger roles next year along with some new friends through the draft.

I think things look bad now but we still have a great roster even after some of these players are gone and we wont have to completely blow up this roster, just retool it a little bit and let some of the youngsters get a shot, something that this coaching staff didnt really do. all im saying is, were gonna be just fine my brothas Go Niners

Thanks for the post ZX. I was bummed about my Niners, but I feel a little better now. If we don't have Harbaugh, who would you like. I would like an offensive coach like Josh Mcdaniels or Pep Hamilton. Those are my top 2.
Merry Christmas GO NINERS!!

Originally posted by blm7754:
If you guys think we can loose guys like Crabtee, Boldin, J. Smith, RayMac, Gore, and VD and still be successful you are delusional.

It's gonna be a down year in 2015 too unless Baalke has a monster offseason.

Crabtree- has been absent all season. Stevie Johnson and Boldin (both under contract are fine replacement)
Boldin- under contract
J Smith- under contract, may retire up to him. If yes two man rotation of Tank and ??
Ray Mac- gone Draft/FA
Gore- RB can be replaced and I think Hyde is an upgrade to Gore (considering age)
VD- absent this year, bad back, needs to be replaced.

Originally posted by 9erred:

Originally posted by blm7754:
If you guys think we can loose guys like Crabtee, Boldin, J. Smith, RayMac, Gore, and VD and still be successful you are delusional.

It's gonna be a down year in 2015 too unless Baalke has a monster offseason.

Crabtree- has been absent all season. Stevie Johnson and Boldin (both under contract are fine replacement)
Boldin- under contract
J Smith- under contract, may retire up to him. If yes two man rotation of Tank and ??
Ray Mac- gone Draft/FA
Gore- RB can be replaced and I think Hyde is an upgrade to Gore (considering age)
VD- absent this year, bad back, needs to be replaced.

Boldin is gone after next season I believe a lot of contracts will be restuctured and some will come back imo

we're not too far off but we need a competent quarterback. If we had a second tier guy like flacco, big ben, or wilson, we would be in much better shape. Also, i think boone should play RT and get a guard that can actually block.

The thing about this years 9ers is that they were missing players... sure; but the bulk of the devastating injuries were on defense and at the end of the day the 9ers defense was still pretty F-ing good. When you look at the offense, the bulk of the top players were there... Gore, Davis, Crabtree, Boldin, Kaep, Staley, Boone. Those guys played the majority of the games and snaps. I agree that the 9ers would be better with Willis in the lineup... and Bowman... and Dorsey... but ultimately this is a top 5 defense even without them in the lineup. The offense is brutal. Terribly brutal. I know they have some guys out now (Gore) and their Oline has been banged up... but this is the worst offensive team I can remember since Alex Smith's rookie year. Maybe I'm overreacting, but I don't think the change will be quick there. They are set at QB for years and I'm cautiously pessimistic about the player they have there. I think he might be too one dimensional as a passer. He's got a rocket arm... and he can run (though not like before seemingly), but he doesn't throw receivers open. It seems like his completions are all 3rd and long hitting a receiver standing still with a defender on his back. He doesn't seem to have those passes that are in the air before a receiver makes his cut. He never seems to touch it into a tight window. And he almost never seems to be able to calmly make a few guys miss to extend the play and hit guys down field (those frustrating 3rd and longs that Wilson seems to connect on). I'm concerned that the 9ers have bet their future on CK and I'm not certain he will be more than a gimmick QB.

The NFC West is by far the toughest in football and will continue to be that way for several more years. The 9ers offense will need to perform at least top 15 (assuming the D continues to be top 5) for them to compete for a playoff spot year in and year out. Believe it or not... but a 'game manager' QB might have got it down this year.

Merry Christmas
Micky
(what am I doing posting in 9er Talk?)

Yeah... this year it seemed like there was no heart. It seems our Vets lost heart bc of the years of getting so close to being Champs but didnt make it. I believe we find that virus and kill it and come back next year and remind the NFL what smash mouth football is all about. Hell is coming and we are the ushers.