The Los Angeles Rams are making moves to ensure their place atop the NFC West goes unchallenged in 2018. With the Seattle Seahawks blowing things up and the Arizona Cardinals riddled with question marks, that leaves the San Francisco 49ers to compete with the defending division champions.
Over the past two weeks, Los Angeles has added two new starting cornerbacks to their defense with trades for Marcus Peters of the Kansas City Chiefs and Aqib Talib of the Denver Broncos. On Thursday, 49ers cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, who is preparing to enter his second NFL season, joked via Twitter that the moves were made because the Rams are worried about facing quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo twice a year.
What can the 49ers do in the NFC West arms race, which looks to have Los Angeles in the early lead? On Friday morning, Peter Schrager of "Good Morning Football" outlined a five-point plan for the 49ers to combat the offseason moves made thus far by the Rams.
"The Rams just got a lot better overnight with Aqib Talib and, obviously, Marcus Peters," Schrager said. "And yet the 49ers, this team we've been expecting to be involved in all these trades -- it seems like they were involved in Marcus Peters, didn't get him. They were involved in Talib, didn't get him. What are they going to do to combat this new defense?"
1) Sign WR Allen Robinson
"You bring him in," Schrager said. "I feel like that's a smart move. He's young. He's 24. He can grow old with Jimmy Garoppolo. He's going to be healthy."
The 49ers have been linked to Robinson, who is coming off of an ACL injury suffered during Week 1 of the 2017 season. His last full season was in 2016 when he caught 73 passes for 883 yards and six touchdowns. Robinson's best season came in 2015 when he had 80 catches for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns.
2) Sign RB Jerick McKinnon
"Jet is going to get a lot of interest in the free agency market because he can play both running back, third down, and do a little stuff at wide receiver and special teams," Schrager said.
Over the past two seasons, McKinnon has contributed 1,109 rushing yards on 309 carries with five touchdowns. He also added 94 receptions for 676 yards with four touchdown catches since 2016.
3) Sign WR Taylor Gabriel
Taylor Gabriel played for 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan both with the Cleveland Browns in 2014 and with the Atlanta Falcons in 2016 -- when Shanahan was an offensive coordinator. During those two seasons within Shanahan's offense, Gabriel had his most significant production at wide receiver. He registered a combined 71 receptions for 1,200 yards and seven touchdowns during those seasons.
4) Sign TE Tyler Eifert
Tyler Eifert, who is entering his sixth NFL season, was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2015. Injuries have limited him over his career. Eifert appeared in just 10 games over the past two seasons and also missed time in 2015. However, that was still his best statistical year when he caught the football 52 times for 615 yards with 13 touchdowns.
5) Sign RB Frank Gore
On Thursday, Schrager made an impassioned plea for a reunion between Frank Gore and the 49ers, the team that made him a third-round draft pick out of Miami in 2005. He intends to play in 2018, is the 49ers' all-time leading rusher, and currently ranks fifth all-time in rushing with 14,026 yards.
Gore has surpassed 1,000 yards rushing nine times over his 13-year career. Over the past three seasons with the Colts, he has rushed for 2,953 yards on 784 carries with 13 touchdowns.
"You've got Gore now at running back," Schrager said. "You've got McKinnon. You've got [Matt] Breida."
In Conclusion
"You've got two tight ends in [George] Kittle and Eiftert, and then you've got that receiving core that involves Allen Robinson, Pierre Garçon, Taylor Gabriel, Trent Taylor, and, oh yeah, you've got a draft coming up. Bring it Rams. You do that five-point plan, and I am ready for some San Francisco 49ers football."
