Preseason 4 - The Good, the Bad, The Ugly

Originally posted by welvisdogger:
-Xavier Grimble is not a terrible tight end. This and DLine are our deepest position

good post... I was actually thinking some years grimble might make the team but we are so stacked at te right now that we could have had 6-7 guys make it. we still have 5-6 guys worthy when we traded away 2 guys.

Yeah DB, TE, DL are all stacked... RB you could probably say too... well at least 1-3... hayne isnt there yet

And may I say this was a pretty successful preseason... defense looks great, mangini's blitzes look great... we might not be able to get pressure with the dl at times but mangini's blitzes will. no injuries, special teams looks pretty good all around... run game looks awesome. so minus the passing game and pass blocking it was a really good preseason. i'm not too worried about the passing game once we stop being vanilla. I'm worried about the right side pass pro though. I think if we run the ball, play good defense and special teams we will be fighting for a playoff spot. I'd say 9-10 wins is very possible, 7-8 at worst right now. It will depend on kap and the oline especially the right side. I think we start off a little slow maybe 2-4 or 3-3 due to a tough first 6 games but we get Kilgore and simpson back and we can make a good run down the stretch with an easier schedule.

The good: Ellington obvious #3 receiver.

The bad: Olb depth looks weak.

The ugly: Brandon Thomas

The Good:

Ellington- speed! his only bad thing was not scoring the long punt return. Had two blockers in front of him and they blocked the punter but Ellington cut back right into him for no reason.

Hayne- special teams stud. Great tackle on punt coverage. And has great natural vision as a RB and returner. Quick first step. And turn on the jets with no effort. Finally dropping the shoulder and laying someone out.

White- has speed. Finds and adjusts to the ball really well while its in the air. Attacked the ball and caught it at its highest point. Showed return ability and had a few great returns that were unfortunately called back.

Brown- locked down the right side. Looked really good! Don't think he gave up a pressure the whole game (from what I remember). The one penalty he got was questionable, but the refs were flag happy today I thought.

TEs- Up and down the line up the TEs seemed to step it up and caught the ball and fought for yards.

DL- they were stout against the run. Pushed the line of scrimmage back and got constant pressure. Overall they performed well

DBs- the DBs looked really good today. All the way across. The one let down in coverage (the TD) appeared to be a LBs guy. But it might of been zone coverage. Overall they had good coverage and pressure on blitz.

The Bad:

Bellore- they played up and down most of the night. I feel that Bellore struggled quite a bit. Not only was he targeted a lot! But he was beat up and down the field. Even when they tried to hype him up saying how he will make the team and play anywhere. Dude looked terrible today.

Mike Davis- he does a lot of good things. But today, he showed more bad. He kept dancing around and missed holes. The play he got the facemask call against him, he had an easy 5 yards if he runs north south. Instead he tried to cut it out side and got caught for no gain before the penalty. There's times to cut it outside, and there's times to take the easy 5 yards.

The Ugly:

The OL pass blocking (minus RT)- Brown looked pretty good. Aside from that it was pretty bad. Silberman whiffing a block. The LT (miller I think) letting a blitzed run right by him. Thomas had probably his worst game. Tiller had a decent game overall but he got pushed back a lot, and couldn't hold the point of attack.

Originally posted by Crown:

over 11k posts and you can't believe we cut Aldon?

what alternative did you see at that point?

that has been gone over extensively. quite a few options.

Originally posted by NorthBay49er:

The good: Ellington obvious #3 receiver.

The bad: Olb depth looks weak.

The ugly: Brandon Thomas

how do we gp from deepest olb in league to nuthin. skuta smith brooks poof.

The Good:
Hayne
White
Ellington
Purcell
Armstead
Brown
Tiller
Farrell
Tartt
Pinion

The Bad:
Thomas
Hunter
Silberman
Wright
Lemonier

The Ugly:
Patton's celebration
The Chargers DB that got trucked by the Payne Train, lol.

Davis,Ellington and White looked pretty delicious today

Originally posted by welvisdogger:
The Good:

DeAndrew White/Jarrad Hayne - We have the best returners Ive seen for a long time. DeAndrew White is on this team as a #5 receiver. If Hayne wasnt so electric, White would make this team and he wouldn't. Unfortunately for White, Jarrad Hayne has as much lower body power as some of the guys he is trying to block. He is a manchild.

Andrew Tiller - This guy is going to make this team. Ive been trumpeting him for a couple of weeks now, he had a solid game and Ian Silberman can't carry his jock strap.

Dylan Thompson - Im not saying he had a good game, but he has shown as much improvement as anybody on this team.

Kaleb Ramsey/Garrison Smith - Ill be shocked if these guys don't get picked up and we are able to keep them on the practice squad. I thought Ramsey outplayed Tank Carradine. These guys are why Lawrence Okoye is no longer on this team. They are just better. I especially hope Kaleb Ramsey makes the practice squad. He seems versatile and even has a little pass rush in him. Garrison Smith plays Ian Williams and Mike Purcells spot and he is light years ahead of where Purcell was 2 years ago. I really like both of these players.

Trenton Brown - Also didnt play "good" necessarily, but he is improving and I think he can be effective as a right tackle.

Kendall Hunter - He received the message, played much better. I do think he may get cut, as Davis looked just as good.

Rory Anderson - I believe he and Garrett Celek are playing for one spot. I don't think he makes it back to the practice squad. We really do have an embarrassment of riches at tight end. Also I wouldn't be totally shocked to see us keep 4 rb, 0-1 fb, 4-5 te. Tight ends as blockers are going to be a huge part of this offense. Especially as an extra blocker on the right side.

Jimmy Ward - Nice to see him mixing it up again.

Arik Armstead - I am starting to see what Baalke saw in him. He is one powerful dude.

Aaron Lynch - Clearly our best OLB.

Marcus Rush - I wish he had 3 inches and 20 lbs on him. If he did he would take Corey Lemonier's roster spot. The problem is that he just cannot get off blocks because of his size. He is always around the ball.

Bad

Ian Silberman - I took some flak for defending him last week, and while I still think he is a stud run blocker, I just don't know if he will make it in the passing game. I think his problem is that he has lower football awareness than some of the other guys. The strength is there but he takes piss poor blocking angles. He is going to get cut and put on the practice squad. He has the most ability to improve year 1 to year 2 on our whole team. I can see why Baalke drafted him but he is not ready yet.

Brandon Thomas - This guy frustrated me bad because sometimes he looks really good. Andrew Tiller outplays him on almost every play. He is boom or bust, when he misses a block he misses it by 2 feet. I also think he will improve.

Nick Moody - I wouldnt be shocked to see him cut. He's not as athletic as Wilhoite and doesnt have a very good feel for this position. Skov is better at this point.

Ugly

Patrick Miller - Not that he is one of our best 53, but he is just not very good.



A couple of things I noticed in this game;

-Corey Lemonier, in my opinion, outplayed Eli Harold in this game. I wasnt impressed with Harold last game either. One thing is for sure, Harold is no Aldon Smith. Dont be surprised if we sign an OLB off the waiver wire.

-Ellington is the slot receiver we've been missing. I hope they play him there.

-Hayne has shown enough on coverage and rb to make the team.

-Xavier Grimble is not a terrible tight end. This and DLine are our deepest positions

-Trent Brown is improving. I have high hopes for him.

-If they were drafted, Andrew Tiller and Dillon Farrell make this team easy over Joe Looney, Ian Silberman, and, at this point, Brandon Thomas.

-I wouldnt be surprised if we cut Bruce Miller and kept 5 tight ends. Not saying they should do this or that they will, but we have great run blockers everywhere.

-Speaking of which, and quote me on this, Our Running Game is better than it was last year. Chryst and Foerster are using our O-line the way they should be used in this blocking scheme.

-Dylan Thompson will probably not be on our practice squad. I don't see any situation where you could burn a roster spot on this type of qb. He's slight, he has happy feet, and seems to have slower awareness than other 3-4 stringers. I bet we pick up somebody else's cast off.

There you have it, feel free to disagree!

-

Dylan Thompson is an ideal 3rd string PS qb. He reminds me of Scott Tolzien who is the back up now in GB and was on the Niners. You get this kid for 2 or 3 years on PS for what 85k a year to develop, I like the kid, keep him.

There is no way they cut Bruce Miller. They want to improve the running game, not hinder it.

I do hope that the Niners keep the best OL regardless of draft or udfa slot. Keep the best 5, then the most versatile as back ups.

I love Ellington, and think that the WR are set. They will go with 5 with Ellington, Patton and White as 3-5 and Simpson will come on after suspension.

I love Mike Purcell, hope he makes the cut.

Originally posted by DelCed2486:

Really like White... and would still like to see Patton make it, don't see any reason at all for Simpson to take a roster spot.

Hayne is making this team... will probably spell the end of the line for Hunter, which I hate to see b/c have always rooted for him, rotten luck with the injuries....

I guess Pinion's numbers look good on paper, but he does not impress at all... at this point he's nothing that they couldn't have got as an UDFA, and certainly not worth using a 5th round pick. But he's got the job, so we'll see how he does when the games start to count.

Would be nice to see a sack once in a while.

Pinion is young and still developing at the position, he just turned 21. He showed enough in OTA's and minicamps that the team felt good enough to part ways with Lee. He has had some good punts in preseason (and some not so good or average at best) and like you the numbers are fine but he still has a lot of room to grow.

Don't know about you but I was not expecting him to be an all pro or a top 3 punter as a rookie.

Bad:

Starting OL got 0 reps.

Originally posted by 9erred:

Dylan Thompson is an ideal 3rd string PS qb. He reminds me of Scott Tolzien who is the back up now in GB and was on the Niners. You get this kid for 2 or 3 years on PS for what 85k a year to develop, I like the kid, keep him.

There is no way they cut Bruce Miller. They want to improve the running game, not hinder it.

I do hope that the Niners keep the best OL regardless of draft or udfa slot. Keep the best 5, then the most versatile as back ups.

I love Ellington, and think that the WR are set. They will go with 5 with Ellington, Patton and White as 3-5 and Simpson will come on after suspension.

I love Mike Purcell, hope he makes the cut.

So in this context and talking about Thompson, does PS stand for Practice Squad or Piece of S...?

Just to be clear.

I don't think Tank is terrible, but I thought he looked terrible last night moreover I thought he looked lazy. I caught him standing around out there looked like he didn't even care.

Hopefully he plays better

Good -
Ellington - # 3 WR no question
White - This guy is going to be great!
Hayne - very much impressed with this guy/moves on moves!
Armstead - Worthy of 1st rd talent as he pushed the line
CB's - We are set at the CB position
Lynch - Aldon Smith replacement running around everywhere
Tarrt - Maybe sleeper pick of draft as he continues to impress
Busta Anderson - Played great last night and I give him the nod over Celek as 3rd TE.
Special Teams - Looks the best it has looked in at least 5 years!

Bad -
Lemonier - I don't see anything special with this guy
OL - We really need to consider making some trades/signings because this part of our team scares me the most.
Patton - I am not impressed with anything he's done and won't be surprised if he doesn't make the team.

Ugly -
Hunter - Sorry but he's done as a 49er as he's lost a step or two.
Pinion - Needs to work on his punting as they looked terrible yesterday.

I think overall our offense is going to be stellar if we can just add some pieces to the offensive line. I'm thinking top 10, yes I said it.
Now for our D, I honestly don't see us missing a beat and I actually see the backend of the D stronger than last year.

Go 49ers!

I'll take a different approach here...

No key injuries!!!! Mission accomplished. And we have a home field advantage now.

The Great:
Hayne, White & Ellington - These three are just electric in returns. Best trio we've had in...well...forever! All three had very good nights all around.

The Good:
Pinion - Lots of punts all night with good hang time to get there in coverage and grew in his directional punts as well from last week and nailed one inside the 10.
Armstead - This kid continues to grow and develop and with all the work he's gotten this pre season, is right where he needs to be.
Harold - Same concept here. Tons of snaps all pre season and as a result, is learning on the fly and is right where I'd expect him to be.
Lemonier & Rush - Same concept for these two. Both have got extensive work in pre season game and they are starting to look more refined in their specified roles.
Tartt - This kid is just special.
McCray - Another beast on ST and is becoming a very good S for us as well.
Thompson - Looks like a perfect candidate
Purcell - Made this team!

The Positive:
Lynch - He looks like he is in great shape right now!
Brown - A couple technique issues but started with the 1's and continues to play very consistently with a lot of upside.
Ward - This guy does look fast and he's very aggressive and flipped a dude. It's terrific to see him in center field and flying around out there. We'll need him in those 4-safety looks!
Moody - I think it's clear he needs one more year. Wilhoite will be the starter but give Moody credit. He's got a ton of development this year and just needs to refine his play a bit more.

Practice Squad:
Lots of guys shined last night and we could have a number of these players making the PS as a result: QB: Dylan Thompson, TE: Rory 'Busta' Anderson & Zavier Gimble, FB: Trey Millard, XWR: DiAndre Campbell & Issac Blakeney, C: Dillon Farrell, RG: Ian Silberman, RDE: Lawrence Okoye & Kaleb Ramsey, SAM: Marcus Rush, MIKE: Shayne Skov & PK: Corey Acosta and we could have a player such as Phillip Wheeler on speed dial.

Originally posted by 49erforlife:


Bad -
Patton - I am not impressed with anything he's done and won't be surprised if he doesn't make the team.

Go 49ers!

Yeah, he's been very unimpressive all TC. Has he even made one guy miss yet? If not for the Simpson suspension, I don't think he makes this team.