December 2018 Mock Plan (in-depth)

Coaching Changes -

Associate HC - Offense: Gary Kubiak (former HC for Broncos and Texans; strong Shanahan ties)
New DL Coach: Jacob Burney (current DL for Bengals; strong Shanahan ties in DEN and WAS)
New DB Coach: Teryl Austin (former DC for Lions and Bengals; ties to Mayhew)

Positional Needs:

Offense: WR, TE #2, IOL, OT

Defense: LEO/EDGE, WILL, FS, CB, SAM

Special Teams: All positions as K, P, and LS are FAs

Roster Moves:

Release: Garcon (decline team option), Gilliam, M. Smith

Resign: Person, Gould, Pinion, Nelson, Mostert, Lee

Trades:

Arik Armstead for Colts 5th round draft pick
- Base down schemes are similar to Saleh. He'll play BE and shift to DT on passing downs. Colts have $100M in cap space, but Armstead could be extended to restructure his $9M hit.

Joshua Garnett for 2020 Raiders 7th round draft pick
- Gruden isn't kidding about cleaning house, which means the likely departure of Kelechi Osemele at LG. Garnett is more likely to be a starter in that scheme vs. here in SF.

Ronald Blair for Lions 5th round draft pick (via SF)
- Blair is Matt Patricia's type of player. DE on base downs and DT on pass downs. 49ers drafted replacements with Taylor and Street. This basically equates to Tomlinson for Blair trade.

Free Agency:

Brandon Graham - DE - Eagles
Stout against the run but also provides top 10 productivity in QB pressures in a consistent fashion. At 30, this is a short-term solve for LEO. We must get another LEO in the draft.

Adrian Amos - FS - Bears
Quietly having a stellar year in Chicago. While Fangio's scheme has the FS and SS interchangeable, Amos can handle the single high role quite effectively.

Kwon Alexander - LB - Bucs
Hot and cold player, but he's never been in the right scheme to fully realize his potential. Saleh's system will utilize his sideline speed and cover skills as he takes over the WILL role.

Tyrell Williams - WR - Chargers
3 years of consistent play and flashes potential to be a true #1 with the combination of his frame and speed. Emulates the Jones (Williams) - Sanu (Pettis) - Gabriel (Goodwin) model in ATL.

Shaquil Barrett - DE/LB - Broncos
Barrett has been behind HOFers in DEN, and would be starting if not for the Chubb pick in DEN. Start at SAM on base downs and move to DE on passing downs. Peters connection.

Low Cap Hit Signings:

Kevin White (WR/TE, CHI); Josh LeRibeus (IOL, NO); Darryl Roberts (CB, NYJ)

NFL Draft:

R1: Nick Bosa - DE - Ohio St. | Need I say more?

R2: Amani Oruwariye - CB - Penn St. | Perfect size and abilities for Saleh's scheme.

R3: Bobby Evans - OT - Oklahoma | We need to have Joe Staley's successor on the roster. Evans will be our LT in 2020.

R4: Alize Mack - TE - Notre Dame | A Kittle-Mack double threat will create match up nightmares for DCs.

R5: Michael Pinckney - LB - Miami | A tad undersized, but sideline to sideline player with higher potential than M. Smith.

R5: Wyatt Ray - DE - Boston College | Raw but promising tape provides stiff competiton between Marsh, Watson, and Ray for 2 roster spots.

R6: Lester Cotton - G/C - Alabama | ZBS guy in a similar mold to Tomlinson. Needs to shed bad weight, but could replace Person in 1-2 seasons.

R7: Felton Davis - WR - Michigan (via KC) | 6-4 frame and good skill set that adds a security blanket to Kevin White.

Depth Chart:

QB: Garoppolo/Mullens
RB: Breida/McKinnon/Mostert/Wilson
FB: Juice
TE: Kittle/Mack*/Celek

WR: Williams*/White*
WR: Goodwin/Pettis
WR: James/Bourne (PS - Davis*)

LT: Staley/Evans*
LG: Tomlinson
C: Richburg/Magnuson
RG: Person/LeRibeus* (PS - Cotton*)
RT: McGlinchey/Coleman

DE: Bosa*/Barrett*
DT: Thomas/Street/Mitchell
DT: Buckner/Day/Jones
DE: Graham*/Marsh/Ray*

LB: Warner/Pinckney*/Coyle
LB: Alexander*/Lee

CB: Sherman/Witherspoon
CB: Oruwariye*/Roberts*
NB: Williams/Reed
FS: Amos*/Moore
SS: Tartt/Harris

ST: Gould, Pinion, Nelson

On offense, they do need a #1 WR and I don't know that there is anyone out there in free agency. I'd rather build the line than draft another TE (I know I'm in the minority here.)

Defense is another story. Bosa is a must and they have guys playing LB that may not even be in the league two years from now. They could use guys at every position on the D.

Kevin White is a bust.

Kwon would be a huge signing! I liked most of this offseason but Mitchell is still on the team so I give you an F- lol

I like coaching pick ups. Austin was once a name to become a HC, and it's likely his days as a DC are over. To get him coaching our DBs would be a huge get. Ditto for adding Burney. Not sure about Kubiak. How's his health?

I love moving Armstead, but not Blair. Good role player. I get that we seemingly have a surplus, but what we have is a surplus of bodies on DL. We shouldn't be getting rid of the few good players we have.

I like all of the free agent signings. No one should break the bank and they all improve the team immediately. As for Kevin White, he'd be a camp body and I wouldn't mind seeing if he could make the team. He'd get a minimum one year deal likely with no guarantees.

Love the draft and the attempt to get more picks.

Originally posted by Waterbear:

Kwon would be a huge signing! I liked most of this offseason but Mitchell is still on the team so I give you an F- lol

Mitchell is fine on base downs. Hopefully Jones can unseat him, but that one position is not a critical need entering the offseason. Besides, you get edge players like Graham and Bosa, and Mitchell will have higher productivity.

Originally posted by LifelongNiner:

I like coaching pick ups. Austin was once a name to become a HC, and it's likely his days as a DC are over. To get him coaching our DBs would be a huge get. Ditto for adding Burney. Not sure about Kubiak. How's his health?

I love moving Armstead, but not Blair. Good role player. I get that we seemingly have a surplus, but what we have is a surplus of bodies on DL. We shouldn't be getting rid of the few good players we have.

I like all of the free agent signings. No one should break the bank and they all improve the team immediately. As for Kevin White, he'd be a camp body and I wouldn't mind seeing if he could make the team. He'd get a minimum one year deal likely with no guarantees.

Love the draft and the attempt to get more picks.

Kubiak is in a FO role for the Broncos. The current rumor is that he wants to come back an as OC in 2019. Less stress in that role, but it would be even less stress if he can work for a coach that is the show runner for the offense. It would be a dream hire - so probably the most unrealistic aspect of my mock lol.

I LOVE this.

Just posting again to say how much I would love this to happen.

Great FA signings. Great subtractions. Great draft. Well done.

Originally posted by GEEK:

Originally posted by Waterbear:
Kwon would be a huge signing! I liked most of this offseason but Mitchell is still on the team so I give you an F- lol

Mitchell is fine on base downs. Hopefully Jones can unseat him, but that one position is not a critical need entering the offseason. Besides, you get edge players like Graham and Bosa, and Mitchell will have higher productivity.

I think you are completely wrong. We run two DTs with him and Day a lot and it hurts the team because he does absolutely nothing. We wonder why this team is terrible and its because we are okay with the horrible play because positions aren't "important". I remember one of the main reasons those Seattle defenses were so tough to play against was their NT play was tremendous. Mitchell is not good in any area but you're okay with that? It's not like we lack cap room to upgrade. At least give Jones the starting nod.

Originally posted by Waterbear:

Originally posted by GEEK:

Originally posted by Waterbear:

Kwon would be a huge signing! I liked most of this offseason but Mitchell is still on the team so I give you an F- lol

Mitchell is fine on base downs. Hopefully Jones can unseat him, but that one position is not a critical need entering the offseason. Besides, you get edge players like Graham and Bosa, and Mitchell will have higher productivity.

I think you are completely wrong. We run two DTs with him and Day a lot and it hurts the team because he does absolutely nothing. We wonder why this team is terrible and its because we are okay with the horrible play because positions aren't "important". I remember one of the main reasons those Seattle defenses were so tough to play against was their NT play was tremendous. Mitchell is not good in any area but you're okay with that? It's not like we lack cap room to upgrade. At least give Jones the starting nod.

An upgrade to Jones or Mitchell in 2019 isn't going to solve the needs for single high safety, WILL linebacker, or most importantly 2-3 new EDGE players.

Can we get an upgrade? Yes, absolutely. Should we overpay for one at the expense of the aforementioned positions? No.

Originally posted by GEEK:

Originally posted by Waterbear:

Originally posted by GEEK:

Originally posted by Waterbear:
Kwon would be a huge signing! I liked most of this offseason but Mitchell is still on the team so I give you an F- lol

Mitchell is fine on base downs. Hopefully Jones can unseat him, but that one position is not a critical need entering the offseason. Besides, you get edge players like Graham and Bosa, and Mitchell will have higher productivity.

I think you are completely wrong. We run two DTs with him and Day a lot and it hurts the team because he does absolutely nothing. We wonder why this team is terrible and its because we are okay with the horrible play because positions aren't "important". I remember one of the main reasons those Seattle defenses were so tough to play against was their NT play was tremendous. Mitchell is not good in any area but you're okay with that? It's not like we lack cap room to upgrade. At least give Jones the starting nod.

An upgrade to Jones or Mitchell in 2019 isn't going to solve the needs for single high safety, WILL linebacker, or most importantly 2-3 new EDGE players.

Can we get an upgrade? Yes, absolutely. Should we overpay for one at the expense of the aforementioned positions? No.

Who says we can't get both? If any team can afford a player like Grady Jarrett it is us. How many players do we have right now that we are confident will be here long term. I can probably count them on one hand. So no... signing a player like Jarrett would not take handcuff us from signing edge players and drafting Bosa.

I'd be down for this! I think there's more players you can cut though.

marsh/Watson/Mitchell/Celek gone would save us around $11 million.

Knowing what Lynch and shanny state, and the way they build. They won't sign that many good players. I believe they trade away the first. I would love to have bosa. But they don't sign too many starters in the offseason. And we have too many holes, to draft with the picks we have. Getting two 5s and a 7 doesn't help much

I like Kwon but he tore up his ACL in week 7 and wont be able to pass a physical by the time feee agency opens in March. He might not be ready for the start of camp either.

Regardless, I think he stays in TB. They were looking to extend him prior to his injury and he is the leader of that D.