Position battles

Which position battle intrigues you the most?

Nothing about this team intrigues me anymore, other than Chip Kelly. If I was forced to vote, I guess I would say D line just because of AA and DeFo. At least there is something to hope for there. The rest of the positions on the team just look awful. I'm hoping Kelly will work a miracle with the offense, and it would take just that to see this team do much better than the 14 points per game they averaged last season. I think the offensive talent actually got worse this offseason, despite being ranked 32nd in the NFL last season. We've lost Boldin who was the best WR on the team the last several years, along with Boone, and we only added a rookie OG and a fringe vet. This whole roster is in shambles. Chip will need to be everything Philly hoped he would be in order to turn this thing around. So yea, without a doubt, Chip Kelly is the only intriguing thing on the team.

Originally posted by theninermaniac:
Nothing about this team intrigues me anymore, other than Chip Kelly.

My thoughts exactly. I cant think of one thing to be excited about. We arent winning any championships with the "key" players we have on our team now. And we got a coach who is going to scrape some early wins and some weird wins which is going to push us out of the top 5 draft slot next year.

Id say the position battle that intrigues me the most is which slot we draft next year but thats about it.

Originally posted by theninermaniac:
Nothing about this team intrigues me anymore, other than Chip Kelly. If I was forced to vote, I guess I would say D line just because of AA and DeFo. At least there is something to hope for there. The rest of the positions on the team just look awful. I'm hoping Kelly will work a miracle with the offense, and it would take just that to see this team do much better than the 14 points per game they averaged last season. I think the offensive talent actually got worse this offseason, despite being ranked 32nd in the NFL last season. We've lost Boldin who was the best WR on the team the last several years, along with Boone, and we only added a rookie OG and a fringe vet. This whole roster is in shambles. Chip will need to be everything Philly hoped he would be in order to turn this thing around. So yea, without a doubt, Chip Kelly is the only intriguing thing on the team.

Agree with most of that, but I'm interested in seeing how our young players perform, particularly on the defensive line. Most of our roster is in shambles, but we may have a couple building blocks in Buckner and Armstead. If Hyde can stay healthy, he could be another one and I'm interested in seeing Garnett play. The CB position battle will be interesting as well because of how many young corners we have.

We're going to need to bring in a lot more talent over the next few years, but at least we have cap space and a couple pieces. All I care about is how our young guys perform. It doesn't really matter if guys like Brooks bounce back, because they won't play a role on another playoff run. Brooks is likely to be cut next offseason and we're at least 3-4 years out from making the playoffs again assuming we bring in some free agents and do well in the draft. Best case for me is our young players (Hyde, Garnett, Brown, Armstead, Buckner, Lynch, Reid) play well and we're competitive in more games, but we end up with 3-4 wins and the #1 pick.

I'm very interested in our defense in general...yes we have lost Willis goldson whitner the Smith boys culliver ect...I can keep going for days but we have done a great job getting young talented players...we have been very defense draft heavy and that's what I love about the niners...we replenish through the draft with our defense and trust me maybe not this year but next year it will pay off...I am a huge Hodges supporter and think he will be terrific along side Bowman...so give our young guys this year to get there feet wet in the league and watch us being defense draft heavy pay off sooner than later...it may not show numbers wise because of chips style but best believe we will have one of the most talented defenses in the league..just look at our secondary... everyone is a young not yet known player...we have like 7 or 8 1-4 round DBs all hungry and pushing each other to get playing time...our defense is the youngest in the league...and what's scarier is they are all unproven which means they are all hungry... we will have more than a couple stand outs on Defense this year fellas trust me on this one

QB battle is the most intriguing. Is it Kap or is it Gabs? Nobody knows how this is going to turn out.

punter battle will be the one to watch.

Errrbody be dead before the season even starts with Chip Kelly's fast paced offense,the only battle will be who reaches the grave first.

Long snapper.

Seriously, TE interests me just because I want to see if the team continues waiting on McDonald to develop or goes a different direction entirely. There are lots of other more interesting battles on such a young and unproven team.....

Up until a couple of days ago, RB was of considerable interest. But with Hayne leaving, there's now far less pressure and story at that spot.

Well, before throwing in the towel, i would really like to see ALL these guys play. As mentioned above, this is a team without established stars, or all pros. That said, we are close to the youngest team, wiht an awful lot of talent, and those who don't acknowledge that are going to terribly disappointed , when the team plays well. Basically this is a young team and they tradiitionally make mistakes....and we undoubtedly will see some. But what I am most interested in is seeing exactly what DO we have siting on the bench...at WR...in DBackfield....are our RBs as good as they appeared last yr, esp DuJuan and Draughn, rescued from Walmart and a used car lot....how do our 3 front 7 perform together? A casual glance makes one think of the 3 Trees...but will they be as tough and aggressive as some of us think? Will Purcell break out this yr? Last yr in limited play the guy had some eye opening flashes....is that just a tease, or is he the real deal.

Can our DBs cover playing man? Are the 3 draftees really a thief and malcontent, a guy who hasn't played in so long , he has forgotten how to cover? A guy who is so short but strong and fast, yet he won't be big enough to cover a JImmy Graham...or Gronk? What kind of O does Chip call? We all know it's going to be fast, and how does that really work? Smoke signals? Hand signs? How about flash cards? And when wil the play be called ....while the mic is stil turned on and will Gab/kap be able to still be listening to Chip, or will the mics be turned off? With no OC, unless Kilgore is healthy and back to caliber of play from two yrs ago, will he be able to call the blocking assignments and sets? Will somehow the much heralded Martin actually show that he is useful...or just a bust?

Will the D , not to mention the O, get gassed...and if so, when? 3rd Qtr, or midway thru the 4th, or will their Chip practices prove that you can run at a fast pace all game?

Will Chip's vaunted running game really work with the RBs we currently have? Will the Zone blocking of Chip look anything iIke the zone blocking we have used in the past? Will our 3 TEs be used exclusively for blocking, or will they be part of the passing game too? Do we actually have a #1 WR or even a #2 for that matter.? Will we have a surfeit of talent at WR and end up with TWO #1s and TWO #2s? Does the CFL really produce a NFL high caliber WR catching machine?

Does Hodges have a breakout yr? Or is his best already past? Do our LBs truly benefit from the expected high quality of front 3 line play? Can we bring pressure? And if so, can our 8 or 9 DBs cover man? Were our existing 6 DBs actually hot shot talented , or are they just middle of the roaders? Will the incr DL pressure actually make QBs have to throw before they want to? Will O'Neil just be another mangini or will he be the O'niel that can devise a cover scheme with no shut down corner?

Will we sign an experienced OC off the cut down lists, or are we converting Garnett, or Beadles or Tiller to OC? Is our last DB drafted, too short for some but capable of 25 reps with 225 lbs, really a 4.38 guy? Will Chip get embroiled in another player controversy...or will giving up the GM hat take care of that? I.e., how will he relate to players? Can Chip resurrect Kap's career...or will he bring Gab along as the new remodeled top 10 QB? Will we be in top 10 in O, or will we break 14 pts/game...or 21?

Ah, I agree with you guys. There just isn't much to be interested in this yr....that is,...unless you are a real 49er fan....thru thick and thin, good times and bad.

And finally, is this REALLY a 5.5 , or now a 5.0 Ws team? Could we possibly be as bad as last yr as some have suggested, bereft of talent and going nowhere, with a dog for a HC and a bum for a GM? Or are these guys like some of us feel, the real deals? Is the glass half empty...or half full? Perhaps both? What is the effect of drafting the best DL/DE and also the best OG? Does that make that big a difference?
Fans have a massive amount to see re: how it all plays out this yr, which should, IMO, make this the most interesting yr of the 49ers since the advent of BW.

Position battles? Yeah, we got 'em...pick any position on the field...we got 'em everywhere.

WR battle should be interesting as to see who Kelly thinks should play aside of Smith

Based on the above, how could this team be picked to just win 5 games? When you get down to it , we played last yr without a HC. Hard to believe this team won't be miles better than last.

It's year 2 (or 1) of a rebuild. Every damn position is exciting and there is going to be a ton of competition wrapped around some potential, quality coaching, development and scheme...everything from QB to CB. Many got some valuable snaps last year, others had a year to heal up, get bigger and stronger and study and they'll add even more competition.

If you're focused on W's and L's now and draft slots, you're in for a very sad and depressing year. That's not how you measure a rebuilding team.

Curious thing about which yr of rebuild we are in, as noted above by NC. Actually it is yr 2, BUT...yr 1 we effectively had no HC, but one in name only. Amazing how an owner can manage to screw up his own team so badly. But the question about which yr of rebuild exists because wiht a complete lack of leadership at the top, did last yr really count as a yr toward rebuild, or not? It probably is best to do as NC has done, listing yr 2(or 1) of rebuild, with the unsaid part being that while officially in rebuild last yr, with last yr's one yr HC, absolutely nothing got done...nothing got rebuilt...nothing , and no one got coached...nothing was even considered. Basically we just "existed" thru last yr and it was a throw away yr for teaching, bringing new guys along, or if you wish, rebuilding. Most of last yr was a wasted yr for these guys, with a few getting some PT under their belts, but teaching? Nah, none of that , so was it really a yr of rebuild? I guess one could say in terms of time, yes. In terms of teaching , trying out new guys for those that have left, progessiing....nope. That never happened. From a rebuilding standpoint, this is actually yr 1. All those 53 guys wasted a yr last yr, and if they learned anything, it was pretty much on their own.

So in terms of yr of rebuild it is yr 2(or 1 if coaching, teaching, planning for the future is part of the rebuild process). Question is in the one and only yr of his HC, did Jed learn anything when it comes to picking a HC? I guess we'll find out but what a terrible price to pay for an owner's foolishness.