2012 vs. 2015 Rosters - Are we REALLY in much trouble at all personnel-wise?

Originally posted by GoForGold:

One things for sure, I think we would ALL take this current group of recievers over the bunch in 2012!

Same

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
We have talent but It'll prolly take us time to gel.

We have holes on the Oline and at WR as usual, CB and and MLB that need to be filled. Guys need to step up.

I just hope these coaches can put it together.

I agree with OL and MLB - OL d/t the new scheme and new personnel and the quality there plus depth - MLB only d/t to Bowman's health but Wilhoite in year 2 and a healthy Bowman should be very good and I like the depth (veterans and developing talent for years now in Moody/Skov) and I'm excited about seeing more Tartt/Moody at the robber roles during passing downs and either Wilhoite or Bowman sub'd out for a breather (keeping them fresher) and making us better in coverage.

Not worried at all re: WR and CB at all...all great fits now for this offense and defensive scheme. WR we have perfect speed fits with T.Smith/J.Simpson, Elllington/White/Patton in the slot (could even run them out of the backfield) and Boldin/Smelter/Anderson; all great fits for the X, Y & Z positions. CB? Same concept...lots of experience with Wright and Brock and Cook, or can go big with Cook and Johnson or go with speed and youth in Acker and Reaser, etc; all great fits for a flexible backfield.

We're a better and more balanced squad than in 2012 and the coaches are better too. Before you talk about "failed" coaches that was what Pete Carroll was before he came to Seattle. We really don't know squat. Tomsula could be the next Bill Walsh for all we know.

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
We have talent but It'll prolly take us time to gel.

We have holes on the Oline and at WR as usual, CB and and MLB that need to be filled. Guys need to step up.

I just hope these coaches can put it together.

I understand the oline, and maybe cb cause their is a lot of guys but they are unproven. But MLB is returning a 16 game starter last year and a former DPOY candidate.

Wide receiver is a hole, with Boldin and Torrey Smith? What do you expect three awesome receivers(still have jerome simpson, patton, and ellington as well.

Originally posted by philosoraptor:

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
We have talent but It'll prolly take us time to gel.

We have holes on the Oline and at WR as usual, CB and and MLB that need to be filled. Guys need to step up.

I just hope these coaches can put it together.

I understand the oline, and maybe cb cause their is a lot of guys but they are unproven. But MLB is returning a 16 game starter last year and a former DPOY candidate.

Wide receiver is a hole, with Boldin and Torrey Smith? What do you expect three awesome receivers(still have jerome simpson, patton, and ellington as well.

Agree here. The only "hole" I see is the O-Line and that is simply because it is the one position group that I can't say with any degree of certainty who will be starting at 4 of the 5 positions. You could see:

Staley Boone Kilgore Thomas Pears

or

Staley Looney Martin Thomas Boone

or

Staley Boone Kilgore Thomas Pears

or

Staley Thomas Kilgore Looney Boone

And on and on.

Most other position group are set and I certainly don't see holes in WR, CB or MLB. Brock, Wright and Johnson will man the CB position. Pro bowl cast? No, but certainly not holes. I don't think this position will be any weaker than last year with Cox and Culliver. MLB with Bowman and Wilhoite? Again, not the same as having two healthy All-Pros that we have been used to for a while, but Wilhoite and Bowman running at 85% do not define holes. If Bowman is 100%, you have a better MLB duo than 90% of the league. And WR? Smith and Boldin are far from a hole, not to mention the supporting cast that offer unique skill sets different from the starters.

I read through Matt Maiocco's early look at the 53 man roster prediction.

http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/early-odds-make-49ers-53-man-roster

Gonna be some tough cuts in almost every position. OL is likely the biggest concern - seems like there are too many question marks either due to lack of experience, position changes, or little depth. I think that it could work out though. Most of the projected starters are at least above average NFL lineman.

Rest of the positions on the roster look pretty good to great IMO.

Originally posted by NinerGM:

Originally posted by NCommand:
I agree with OL and MLB - OL d/t the new scheme and new personnel and the quality there plus depth - MLB only d/t to Bowman's health but Wilhoite in year 2 and a healthy Bowman should be very good and I like the depth (veterans and developing talent for years now in Moody/Skov) and I'm excited about seeing more Tartt/Moody at the robber roles during passing downs and either Wilhoite or Bowman sub'd out for a breather (keeping them fresher) and making us better in coverage.

Not worried at all re: WR and CB at all...all great fits now for this offense and defensive scheme. WR we have perfect speed fits with T.Smith/J.Simpson, Elllington/White/Patton in the slot (could even run them out of the backfield) and Boldin/Smelter/Anderson; all great fits for the X, Y & Z positions. CB? Same concept...lots of experience with Wright and Brock and Cook, or can go big with Cook and Johnson or go with speed and youth in Acker and Reaser, etc; all great fits for a flexible backfield.

There will be options here with UFA and camp cast-offs if this doesn't look good. 49ers still have cap space and Baalke will not wait to act if he feels any part of the team needs to be bolstered.

No question about it. I'm sure Baalke is in constant contact with JT, Geep, Foerster and Wolford regarding their feelings on "talent" to run more of the ZBS. Since Baalke didn't make a move for Battle, perhaps that's a solid sign they are feeling secure there?

Great post. This is a point I've been making. I've come to think that much of the negativity (from the fans) has more to do with the retirements and the huge turnover from the coaching staff, and the unknown from both. But from the non-fan (not 49er rivals) I honestly believe the negativity is more reflective of their wishes than anything. Anyone honestly evaluating this roster can't possibly think this team is gonna finish last in the division unless that's what they want to think. Personnel wise, this team has been among the most stable. And as much as the coaching has been the winning difference between pre-Harbaugh and during Harbaugh, it was the difference in our 8-8 record in 2014, IMHO.

All this manufactured negativity is gonna make winning sweeter. . .

Originally posted by 9ersLiferInChicago:
Great post. This is a point I've been making. I've come to think that much of the negativity (from the fans) has more to do with the retirements and the huge turnover from the coaching staff, and the unknown from both. But from the non-fan (not 49er rivals) I honestly believe the negativity is more reflective of their wishes than anything. Anyone honestly evaluating this roster can't possibly think this team is gonna finish last in the division unless that's what they want to think. Personnel wise, this team has been among the most stable. And as much as the coaching has been the winning difference between pre-Harbaugh and during Harbaugh, it was the difference in our 8-8 record in 2014, IMHO.

All this manufactured negativity is gonna make winning sweeter. . .

Exactly this. People need to actually look at this roster and coaches lime Greg Cosell did. We have plenty of potential for good things to happen. Sure bad can as well but we've got a fighting chance!

The scary element of this team is the o line. They are scrambling around to fill holes and we haven't reached preseason yet. If the o line stinks the whole offense stinks. On the other side, the d line is a big question mark. How good is Dial or Tank? They haven't shown much up to this point in their careers. Is Dockett back from his injury? How many snaps will he get? At some point we will have Tank, Dial, Dorsey or Williams on the line. Those guys don't really scream dominance.

Originally posted by NinerGM:

Originally posted by fister30:
The scary element of this team is the o line. They are scrambling around to fill holes and we haven't reached preseason yet. If the o line stinks the whole offense stinks. On the other side, the d line is a big question mark. How good is Dial or Tank? They haven't shown much up to this point in their careers. Is Dockett back from his injury? How many snaps will he get? At some point we will have Tank, Dial, Dorsey or Williams on the line. Those guys don't really scream dominance.

Fister bud, there's no "scrambling" going on. There is a clear method to the madness on the OL. If anything, I like that they are trying to a "best fit" approach with scheme and talent. No use asking someone to play a role someone else on the roster might be better suited at filling for political reasons.

There could be more tinkering, or what offensive coordinator Geep Chryst termed "probing," to find the right combinations of players. But it stands to reason that the coaching staff wants to provide a maximum amount of time for the new line to congeal and get used to playing with one anther. After all, only one player -- Staley -- is in the same position he was in at the end of the 2014 season.

One of the things the offensive coaches asked during the spring practices was, 'Who has the athleticism for the up-tempo style the team hopes to use in 2015?'

"We feel great. Now can we feel good in October and November?" Chryst said. "But we feel great right now and the next step right now is to put the pads on and find out if we can keep that. Because the collisions will be a little more violent and the frustrations will bubble up. But I really believe that we set a real nice fundamental framework that we can start to fill in."Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/article24630130.html#storylink=cpy

Yeah I figured they felt good since they didn't go after Battle. You should post this in the OL thread too.

Originally posted by fister30:
The scary element of this team is the o line. They are scrambling around to fill holes and we haven't reached preseason yet. If the o line stinks the whole offense stinks. On the other side, the d line is a big question mark. How good is Dial or Tank? They haven't shown much up to this point in their careers. Is Dockett back from his injury? How many snaps will he get? At some point we will have Tank, Dial, Dorsey or Williams on the line. Those guys don't really scream dominance.

Well, I agree that it is scary because there is questions as to what the final starting lineup will be, but I'm not exactly scared about the personnel. One thing I feel confident about is that this group (in whatever configuration wins out) will be better at pass protection. Iupati and Davis were road maulers and were great at run blocking, but both were liabilities in pass protection. I think with the implementation of zone blocking and players more suited for pass protection, there is a good possibility that the line this year may seriously outplay the line of last year. It all comes down to scheme and execution.

On the DL, I think you are selling these guys a little short. Dorsey and Williams, when not injured, have both been exceptional at the nose. Moving them outside on the line at times may also bring something to the table as neither are classic NTs. Dial and Carradine are still young players who have been slowly worked in and both started looking pretty solid towards the end of last year when they were given more playing time due to the release of RayMac. The problem under Fangio, for whatever reason, is that he did not sub for Smith and RayMac. They played constantly. This probably led the the expedited retirement of Smith. Anyway, the DL has a lot of young talent that is ready to blossom.

Just because the talent is unproven due to lack of chances does not mean that is is not quality talent. The OL success will be dictated by scheme and play calling. The DL will be a rotational effort, and there are a lot of guys that are looking pretty interesting to me this year.

I am really excited for this season. The more I hear the talking heads dog on us the more I like our season. We had more talent on offense last year than the last decade+ and they were horrible...I blame Harbaugh. And all the heads had us in the top three teams in the NFL last year...this is why they play the games.

But I would take Kap, V. Davis, J. Staley, Bethea, Aldon Smith, N. Bowman, T. Smith. A. Boldin over the best eight players on like 20 other teams in the NFL.

I am really excited for Hyde, Lynch, Tartt etc. I think we are going to find at least three new players that will be future stars and emerge this year.

Our OL will not be as big of a problem as people think. For one, they were complete garbage last year so that is our reference point. Two, the zone blocking scheme is way easier to run than what we were running...Seattle's OL is garbage too and look how that turned out. Despite our issues we still have better players than they do. The OL's success will really turn on the coaching staff and whether they can fashion a sound offense like Seattle has done with garbage talent on the OL.

I don't think a lot of people appreciate how horrible a coaching job Gro and Harbaugh did last year. That offense was complete trash: predictable, no innovation...it was basically a high school offense.

no

I don't think so.