Five Non-Rookies You're Most Eager to Watch in Pre-Season

!. Richard Sherman. Is he going to be anything close to what he once was?

2.Jimmy Ward. Can he stay healthy? What position will he play?

3.Jimmy G. Now that the tape is out there how will he perform.

4.K. Bourne. He really stood out to me late in the year. Will he make a push for a spot/starting role or will he be stashed in that heavy WR corp?

5.Armstead. Is this the year? Or should i just throw away my jersey

Garcon (wondering how well he does with Jimmy G.)
M. Smith (recovered from injury? how well will he play with these particular players around him)
Marsh (was Lynch right?)
S. Thomas (will a complete preseason and year of experience be enough for him to show the potential so many people thinks he had/has)
J. Williams (is he ready to rock and roll?)

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
Who needs top 5 when you could look at every position? lol. If I expanded it to one non-rookie guy at each position group, I'd go with the following:

QB - Beathard
RB - Williams
TE - Hikutini
WR - Bourne
OT - Darrell Williams
OG - Garnett
C - Magnuson
DL - Armstead
MLB - Toomer
OLB - Taumoepenu
CB - Sherman
S - Chanceller James

LOL...sorry, went a little crazy there.

For PRE-SEASON & NON-ROOKIES, I'd go with:

DL - Armstead
MLB - Toomer & M.Smith
OLB - Taumoepenu
CB - Sherman

Even if fully healthy I don't think he'll play much in the pre season

1. Solomon Thomas: I really hope we see big strides from him this year. If he can be as good as advertised (when we drafted him), he could be a special player and really free up the other guys around him.
2. Malcolm Smith: We need someone to step up and show leadership in the middle of the defense, I hope we get to see some ROI from Smith (a year late)
3. Joshua Garnett: Someone will win the starting spots at G, and I hope he really steps up during camp.
4. George Kittle: I really liked his performance as a rookie and hope that a full offseason will really push him to a new level.
5. Pita Taumoepenu: He's the wild card that could be an answer to our lackluster pass rush.

1) Attaochu- Need an outside rush. Hope he hits another level.
2) Thomas- Hope things really click for him this year so him and Buck and anchor a strong d-line
3) Malcolm Smith/Reuban Foster- I really hope Foster gets his s**t together off the field and hope the little "dings" he got almost every game are a thing of the past. I think he could be really special and I'd like to see if him and Warner can become an unstoppable duo. If he continues to have issues, might as well see what a healthy smith can bring to the defense.
4) Bourne- The stable of receivers seems packed all of the sudden with a lot of talent. I thought this guy showed out really well last year and was going to make a push for more playing time this year. Still want to see if he can do it with Garcon healthy and the new rookies in the fold.
5) Witherspoon- I hope Sherman can him become a lockdown guy. If he solidifies one side, hopefully our secondary can be solid as we transition from Sherman to whoever the next man up will be.

Bonus:
Colbert- Can he prove that last year wasn't an anomaly? We could use a great safety to pair with Tartt for years to come!!

Bonus FA's:
McKinnon- Hope he takes Shanny's O to another level
Richburg- See McKinnon

Bonus Franchise QB:
Garoppolo- I really hope he just is what we all think he is!!

Shanahan's offense. He's got his guys, let's see what they can do!

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Who needs top 5 when you could look at every position? lol. If I expanded it to one non-rookie guy at each position group, I'd go with the following:

QB - Beathard
RB - Williams
TE - Hikutini
WR - Bourne
OT - Darrell Williams
OG - Garnett
C - Magnuson
DL - Armstead
MLB - Toomer
OLB - Taumoepenu
CB - Sherman
S - Chanceller James

This list plus Colbert, I wanna see how much more he improved from last year now the game is a little slower for him with quality playing time last season. If he's "THE ONE" back there.

Originally posted by thl408:

If we are allowed to name players outside of last year's draft class, then I'll go with:
1. Thomas - please do something really good on the pass rush.
2. Attachou - please do something really good on the pass rush.
3. Colbert - keep making plays
4. Jet - do something to justify the high salary
5. Richberg - how much can a legit Center improve this offense?

Re: #5, answer is iif he is truly worth his salary, then a lot. I just hope he lives up to expectations.

Garnett. Attachou. Toomer. Blair. Joe Williams.

Attaochu
Garnett
Williams
Armstead
Goodwin
Garcon

Originally posted by socalniner:

Shanahan's offense. He's got his guys, let's see what they can do!

I doubt we'll see that in the pre-season, it will be probably be extremely watered down.

I'd bet good money on it rolling in the season and beyond though.

Originally posted by dj43:
Nice piece, OTC.

I too am particularly intrigued with Beathard. I see him following the same pattern as Garappolo in New England when he was sitting behind Brady and learning the fine points of the game. In this very competitive league, if you QB1 goes down, and you don't have a competent QB2, you can kiss off your season. Beathard showed last season that he had enough of the basics to win if the rest of the pieces began to fall into place. He is at least a future major trade piece a la Jimmy G.

A guy you didn't mention but one I am going to be watching is Arik Armstead. I want to see him have a good run while healthy and see what he can do. When healthy, he has flashed at times but with different systems and injuries, he has never really had a serious go at it.

Agree with both of you, and I'll just add to your points, Jerry Attaochu. I hope Jerry stays healthy and flashes his talent throughout the entire season, but specially pre-season. If he does, that will go a long way to helping me not take antacid pills before games.

1.McKinnon - I want to how dynamic he can
be in this system. I'm hoping for a
Devonta Freeman type of production.

2.Colbert - I'd like to see him and Spoon
become even bigger impact players on
defense.

3.Garnett- It will be really fascinating
to see if he can transition to Kyle's O,
especially after cutting weight. If he
can that can make up for not addressing
the p position in the draft.

4.Attaochu - I'm hoping he can juice-up
the pass rush.

5.Bourne - Ideally he continues to
progress and shows the potential to
develop into our future number one after
Pierre steps aside. Is it a long shot?
Maybe, but with further growth and
development who knows?

Sherman
McKinnon
Goodwin
Buckner
S. Thomas

Armstead, Jimmie Ward and Malcolm Smith