Cody Wallace Promotion: Reading the Tea Leaves

Sunday will be a gigantic day for offensive lineman Cody Wallace, the Niners' 4th round draftee from Texas A&M in the 2008 NFL Draft. Wallace was drafted as an insurance policy for Eric Heitmann, who was recovering from injuries in the 2007 season.

Wallace will be on the active 45-man roster for Sunday's game for the first time in his career, and the team indicates he will play a few series. Congrats, Cody!

Now, what does this mean? Cody's promotion is an experiment, and the target is left guard David Baas, who may leave in free agency. The Niners have to decide whether they want to keep Baas on the roster in 2010. Since they already know about current LG backup, Tony Wragge, they need to know how Wallace can play in real-game situations.

The real question is: Will they play Wallace at center or left guard in this game? If they play him at center, it probably means the team is looking to see if he can play at a high enough level at center to allow the team to move Heitmann to the left guard position in 2010. If Cody plays left guard in this game, and Heitmann remains at center, then it is a comparison between the older, experienced Baas, and the young, inexperienced Wallace.

If I am a betting man, I'm guessing they would like to see him play center, as Heitmann outweighs Cody by a good ten pounds. Generally, centers play at around 300 pounds, and guards at 310+.

What this promotion and playing by Cody DOES NOT MEAN is a removal from Heitmann in the starting lineup. Heitmann isn't going anywhere. Once again, as in 2008, he's been the best OL on the team.

On final note: Baas was elected by his fellow offensive linemen with the Bobb McKittrick Award. Is this a going away present for a mainstay on the OL for the past few years, or a push by the OL for the organization to hold onto him for 2010 and beyond?

Cheers.

This is a very big game for Cody Wallace. Ready to see how he responds

Even if Wallace plays lights out and Heitman is moved I still think we will draft an OG. Heitman is more then solid but isn't he getting up there in age a bit?

Originally posted by jreff22:
Even if Wallace plays lights out and Heitman is moved I still think we will draft an OG. Heitman is more then solid but isn't he getting up there in age a bit?

He turns 30 in February.

i was thinking this was more his last gasp before getting cut. Just can't believe the coaches don't know what he can do after all these years.

Heitmann is not our best OL. Staley is by a long shot now, hell even Sims out played Heitmann.
I can also build an argument that can put Baas over Heitmann.

Cody Wallace has only been a center

Quote:
Wallace will dress on Sunday and will likely see action on special teams before any offensive line duty. Singletary said he would try to work Wallace in for a series or two at center if possible.

if he performs well don't expect Heitmann to be around much longer
there have been many times where The rush comes right by Heitmann. Whether it's his guy or not , he is in charge of calling out the blocking assignments. If there is a breakdown in assignment then that falls on Heitmann. And we have had quite a few of those all season

Originally posted by solidg2000:
Heitmann is not our best OL. Staley is by a long shot now, hell even Sims out played Heitmann.
I can also build an argument that can put Baas over Heitmann.

Cody Wallace has only been a center

Quote:
Wallace will dress on Sunday and will likely see action on special teams before any offensive line duty. Singletary said he would try to work Wallace in for a series or two at center if possible.

if he performs well don't expect Heitmann to be around much longer
there have been many times where The rush comes right by Heitmann. Whether it's his guy or not , he is in charge of calling out the blocking assignments. If there is a breakdown in assignment then that falls on Heitmann. And we have had quite a few of those all season

Yea, so lets put Wallace in to be in charge of assignments, I'm sure he'll do better than the veteran Heitmann.

Originally posted by Superbowl09:

Originally posted by solidg2000:
Heitmann is not our best OL. Staley is by a long shot now, hell even Sims out played Heitmann.
I can also build an argument that can put Baas over Heitmann.

Cody Wallace has only been a center

Quote:
Wallace will dress on Sunday and will likely see action on special teams before any offensive line duty. Singletary said he would try to work Wallace in for a series or two at center if possible.

if he performs well don't expect Heitmann to be around much longer
there have been many times where The rush comes right by Heitmann. Whether it's his guy or not , he is in charge of calling out the blocking assignments. If there is a breakdown in assignment then that falls on Heitmann. And we have had quite a few of those all season

Yea, so lets put Wallace in to be in charge of assignments, I'm sure he'll do better than the veteran Heitmann.

I never said to start him. Singletary came up with the idea of getting him play time not me, and the last time he said he wanted to work someone in, Pashos took the position as starting RT. If we are reading tea leafs then thats what you should be focused on

I think is Heitmann may be too involved to make the correct calls. You know like when everyone knows your in a bad relationship except for you because your the one in it. So Wallace may have that advantage over Heitmann.

Just saying

The greatest problem with the center of the line is the weakenesses of the guards, not Heitmann's blocking calls or playing ability.

Baas' lack of quickness is well-documented. I don't need to go into it here. He is just not quick enough to pick up blitzers or speed guys when opponents attack both the A and B gaps. He is fine on power rushes coming right at him but struggles on either side.

Rachal is a puzzling frustration. He sometimes seems able to adjust his feet to pick up gap attacks and other times seems completely overmatched. Hopefully he will improve in the off-season with better OL coaching. hope...hope...hope...

The combination of these two guards leaves Heitmann is a no win situation that opponents have exploited. If they attack both gaps. Heitmann is left trying to be mind reader as to which guard's weakness will be exploited this time.

I agree with MD that this Wallace move is a fact-finding move to see which way to go in the future. From my observations over the past four years, I have not seen enough improvement from Baas to consider him more than a backup on a truly good OL.

These last two games are ALL about learning which young players will be of use in the future and which ones will not. Baas has been given an entire season to see what he can do, now Wallace gets his chance. I will not be surprised if Wallace plays either guard or center. The team needs to see what he can do in both spots as that will let lead them as to how to handle negotiations with Baas.

The only way I see Baas remaining with the team next year is if he signs a bargain-basement deal with incentives. He just hasn't earning anything greater.

Originally posted by dj43:
The greatest problem with the center of the line is the weakenesses of the guards, not Heitmann's blocking calls or playing ability.

Baas' lack of quickness is well-documented. I don't need to go into it here. He is just not quick enough to pick up blitzers or speed guys when opponents attack both the A and B gaps. He is find on power rushes coming right at him but struggles on either side.

Rachal is a puzzling frustration. He sometimes seems able to adjust his feet to pick up gap attacks and other times seems completely overmatched. Hopefully he will improve in the off-season with better OL coaching. hope...hope...hope...

The combination of these two guards leaves Heitmann is a no win situation that opponents have exploited. If they attack both gaps. Heitmann is left trying to be mind reader as to which guard's weakness will be exploited this time.

I agree with MD that this Wallace move is a fact-finding move to see which way to go in the future. From my observations over the past four years, I have not seen enough improvement from Baas to consider him more than a backup on a truly good OL.

These last two games are ALL about learning which young players will be of use in the future and which ones will not. Baas has been given an entire season to see what he can do, now Wallace gets his chance. I will not be surprised if Wallace plays either guard or center. The team needs to see what he can do in both spots as that will let lead them as to how to handle negotiations with Baas.

The only way I see Baas remaining with the team next year is if he signs a bargain-basement deal with incentives. He just hasn't earning anything greater.

totally agree with everything you said

I didn't realize Heitmann was still so young. He still has a couple of good years left in him. I wouldn't mind seeing them bring back Baas and let Wallace learn a couple more years and maybe add a couple of pounds before taking over permanently.

I guess it's time to see if he can play. Wragge would have been the first sub at guard or center. Either that means that he's inferior to Wragge at center and/or he didn't have the flexibility to play guard yet.

Originally posted by solidg2000:
Heitmann is not our best OL. Staley is by a long shot now, hell even Sims out played Heitmann.
I can also build an argument that can put Baas over Heitmann.

Cody Wallace has only been a center

Quote:
Wallace will dress on Sunday and will likely see action on special teams before any offensive line duty. Singletary said he would try to work Wallace in for a series or two at center if possible.

if he performs well don't expect Heitmann to be around much longer
there have been many times where The rush comes right by Heitmann. Whether it's his guy or not , he is in charge of calling out the blocking assignments. If there is a breakdown in assignment then that falls on Heitmann. And we have had quite a few of those all season

No way Staley is "by a longshot" our best OL. As of today Heitmann has played just as well as Staley has.

I don't know how many snaps Wallace has had at OG. IIRC in preseason, he primarily played C.

Either way, it'll be interesting to see what position he rotates into. I hope he plays lights out.

-9fA

Why not give Alex Boone a shot?