Are we seeing a horribly managed free agency? Or something bigger?

Im having fun this year. I like our GM, HC, Assistants, our draft picks, and Im happy we lost some dead weight- players that were largely responsible for our losing records

I think at some level this is the plan, I am not convinced this is what the plan is all about. I am sad to see Spikes go but it "makes sense". Laboy really wasn't worth it. I understand letting Franklin go given that we seem to have other options at the position. The depth would have been nice though. I personally like Goldshon but to be honest we are fairly crowded at safety so again it doesn't seem all that bad. Clements really wasn't worth the money. However, I think we did want and NEED a new corner and didn't get one. This is concerning but again we have a crowded house there and maybe someone will step up. That all being said letting Baas go seems ludicrous and that alone makes me think.....poorly managed.

All I'm saying is that I'm not crying over losing half the starting lineup of the Bad News Bears.

[ Edited by boomer49er on Aug 2, 2011 at 15:42:09 ]

Horribly managed free agency plain and simple.

I don't disagree with the players that we've cut/not resigned. They're clearly underachieving/subpar players, or in the case of Baas, a guy that cashed in and got overpaid for a good season at C last year. If they were that good, we'd have had a better record the past few years.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM: WHERE THE HELL ARE THE REPLACEMENTS FOR THESE GUYS?

It's fine and well to part ways with Franklin, Spikes, Clements, Lawson, Baas, etc. but friggin sign players to take their place.

Why not trade for Asante Samuel?

Why didn't we pursue a more realistic CB option like Joseph over Asomugha?

This team never has a plan B. They go full-force at plan A and never consider the repercussions of what happens if that plan fails.

Just like Harbaugh. Had we not gotten him, they had no backup plan.

They're embarrassing and I can't remember an offseason where I've been this pissed off since 2004.

Congrats 49ers, sinking to new lows just when you think they can't get lower.

If they trade for Samuel, sign another CB/Safety and get a veteran WR in here, then I think we're in good shape.

But I don't see any evidence of that happening.

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
HERE IS THE PROBLEM: WHERE THE HELL ARE THE REPLACEMENTS FOR THESE GUYS?

It's fine and well to part ways with Franklin, Spikes, Clements, Lawson, Baas, etc. but friggin sign players to take their place.

Franklin
Sopoaga is a solid option at NT. What available free agent NT is better than Sopoaga?

Spikes
I personally wanted the team to keep Spikes around. As for his replacement, we got Bowman. I assume he was drafted in the 3rd round last year to replace Spikes.

Clements
Another player I wanted the team to retain. It would have been nice to land Nnamdi or Joseph, but apparently they didn't wanna come here. I haven't seen Carr or Marshall play much, so I'm not sure if they would've been a significant upgrade over what we have now (not just talent-wise, but cap-wise as well). I would rather have a cheap/very average CB over an overpayed/above average CB. Hopefully Brown, Adams, or Culliver steps up.

Lawson
Yet another player I was a fan of. It looked like the team decided a long time ago that he wouldn't fit in our new defense. Fangio prefers his 3-4 OLBs to be pure pass rushers. Even though Manny sealed the edge and covered well, he wouldn't be effective as a pure pass rusher. I was a fan of Lawson but I understand why he wasn't retained. As for his replacement, we got him with the #7 overall pick.

Baas
Baas is a solid center but definitely not worth the contract he got with NYG. I actually think Wragge is a good replacement for him. Wragge isn't a dominant lineman but he gets the job done. I think he could end up beating out Snyder for the starting job at center.


As you can see, we do have replacements...they just happen to be unproven. They may/may not do a good job in those roles but only time will tell.

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
Why not trade for Asante Samuel?

It would be cool if we got him, but I wouldn't want us to give up too much to get him. Who's knows how much Philly wants for him?

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
Why didn't we pursue a more realistic CB option like Joseph over Asomugha?

I agree that we should have pursued Joseph more aggressively, but he still might have ended up with Houston anyway. Houston has more cap room than us and was willing to outbid other teams for a CB (based on their pursuit for Nnamdi).

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
This team never has a plan B. They go full-force at plan A and never consider the repercussions of what happens if that plan fails.

Just like Harbaugh. Had we not gotten him, they had no backup plan.

I agree. The lack of having a backup plan is something that bothers me about our front office. However, I do think they are following through with a plan this offseason. A lot of people may disagree with the plan itself, but I like that they are actually using a plan.

Who in the hell did we lose that would have made a major impact? IMO were not rebuilding were building on the foundation we already have. Let some of the young guys play...we might have some Diamonds in the rough.

I can't wait until Pre-season!!!!!!!

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by NickSh49:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by NickSh49:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by Antix:
its obvious that the plan is to rebuild. The last time we lost this many players was in 03. To me it jut sounds like Baalke and Harbaugh knew that the fans didn't want to hear the word rebuild but now its obvious. Might as well forget this year and hope for next year cuz its a wash now.

The thing is, Franklin & Lawson signed one year deals, and Lawson's salary is only $3M. (dunno about Franklin yet) Spikes signed a 3 year deal, but it was only $3M in guaranteed money, so it wasn't prohibitive in any sense.

Now we have starting positions being handed to guys by default instead of them legitimately earning it at ILB (McKillop or Bowman), CB (Brown? ), & likely FS if Goldson departs. (Smith). Lack of competition is not a healthy framework for younger players.

I keep hearing that we're trying to rebuild, but what exactly is so prohibitive about keeping Lawson, Franklin, & Spikes around while doing that? How would re-signing any of them prevent us from doing that? It's not like they signed cap hindering contracts the way Baas did.

Truth is, this is yet another example of a new regime coming in and wanting "their guys" on the team because they're egotistically married to schemes ahead of talent. People talk about Vic Fangio's "attacking defense", as though that's somehow different than most teams in the league, and ignore the fact that he has a fairly pedestrian track record in the NFL. He's not going to schematically beat the hell out of OC's in this league. We need freakin' talent, for chrissakes.

That last paragraph wasn't directed at you, per se, just a general observation. I've been here a long time and I'm NOT a pessimistic person. But we're seeing a marginally stocked cupboard being stripped relatively bare, and it's not because guys are signing huge contracts elsewhere.

That pisses me the hell off.

Because you can't resign players than have been with you for years to one-year contracts. It's an insult to the player.

Spikes didn't want to stick around cause he wants playoffs. Manny & Franklin are getting "prove it" deals from other teams. The 49ers can't offer "prove it" deals to players that have been with the organization for years. It doesn't work that way.

I disagree that you can't offer 1 year deals to incumbent players. These are guys that play an extremely violent sport under non-guaranteed contracts for a limited amount of time. They need to capitalize their talents during the finite window that they have. They gotta get paid.

There may be the occasional guy that takes less money to go to the right situation, but I believe that the vast majority of the time the highest bidder wins out. Being that we're $30M under the cap, there's no reason for guys like Lawson & Franklin to be walking away from us. I'll give you Spikes, but even there we're projecting his desires, and assuming that $5M in guaranteed money instead of $3M doesn't get him to stay.

...maybe guys like Franklin, Laboy, Baas, & Spikes want to win?

Lawson... I think the front office was over him. Aldon is the future. So you kind of have an argument there.

But otherwise, I stick to my original statement.

Everyone wants to win, but putting that well ahead of finances is something that fans do when discussing someone else's money. These guys don't have long to make their coin and need to make it when they can.

Franklin? This is a guy who's NEVER gotten a big deal in the NFL. He held out last year with the hope of signing an extension with us. His agent was negotiation with us this year. He wanted to win? No, just like most of the NFL, he wanted to get paid.

Baas signed a contract to become one of the highest paid centers in the league. And I'm fine with us letting him go for that reason.

Laboy? Another guy who's never gotten a big deal. He's going to be out of the league in the next couple of years and it's unlikely that he'll get the chance to make this kind of money in another profession. He's going to whomever pays him.

Lawson left us to go to the Bengals, of all Godforsaken franchises, certainly not to win.

As much as fans want to ignore it, this is these guys' jobs. Sure they want to win, just like every Joe Sixpack wants to work for a successful company, but at the end of the day Joe is going to follow the money, and these guys are no different. And heck...Joe has a lot longer window to make that money, but is still likely to take the job that's offering an extra $20K a year. And you think these guys are routinely passing up jobs that are offering hundreds of thousands to millions more?

Maybe one guy, but not all of 'em.

...which comes back to my theory that you can't resign players than have been with you for years to one-year contracts. It's an insult to the player.

Originally posted by Ninerbowl6:
Who in the hell did we lose that would have made a major impact? IMO were not rebuilding were building on the foundation we already have. Let some of the young guys play...we might have some Diamonds in the rough.

I can't wait until Pre-season!!!!!!!

Screw Preseason, lets get the season here already.

Jeez!

Guys are so blinded by the "talents" of players because they were "our guys". Get off it! Our defense sucked last year!

Takeo Spikes had a great year. But he's 35 years old! AND, for all the talk of what a "leader" he was, keep this in mind: only once did he ever play on a team with a winning record, and he has NEVER made the playoffs! Maybe he knew how to lead players into mediocrity!

Clements is in a similar boat.

Lawson was a fine run defender, but we drafted him to be a pass rusher, and at that he was a failure. It wasn't pig-headedness on the part of the new regime to see he wasn't cut out for this defense; it was bad scouting by the regime that drafted him not to recognize he'd probably be a better 4/3 strong-side backer when 4/3 wasn't the defense we ran.

Need I go on?

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by 49ersRednGold:

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by boomer49er:
What are you guys all freaking out over? Which of the players that we "lost" were actually anything that anybody wanted to keep around? Which of them did we really even make a serious attempt to resign?

How many of the guys that aren't here anymore ended up having to take 1 year deals? That's not the sign of a sought after player....it's the sign of a guy who couldn't get the money the wanted from any team and is hoping he can have a big year and cash in next year. It's usually something that a vet who was injured or had some other big question mark just before his contract came up.....not a bunch of guys who had been starting the year before and we're in trouble.

The reason they're having to take these deals is because they just aren't that good.

We're in a new era and we're cleaning out the old Nolan/Singletary guys and we'll be better off for it. We're going with youth and we're going to find out what we've got in these guys and replace the ones that need replacing. This team couldn't win the weakest division in football...couldn't get intot he playoffs when the division winner didn't have a winning record. This team was very bad and the guys that left were part of the problem.

They are good. Spikes and Franklin were solid players for us and we couldn't get them to stay to the point where they left for short term contracts. We are 30 million under the cap and can't match a 1 year offer?

It may not have been just about money. Maybe Harbaugh/Baalke wanted to give Bowman and McKillop more playing time so they can further develop. Or they believe in Ray McDonald as a starting DE and Soap as an NT.

I like shake-ups, especially when the team has sucked for 7 years but I'm more concerned about our depth than I am about our starters.

What if Bowman goes down? McKillop has only shown that he can't keep up well against the pass. He's a question mark all around.

Harbaugh is cleaning house with the old veterans or Goldson who thinks he's god's gift to Safety but we have the worst pass defense. Manny wasn't producing so he's out. Spikes and Franklin were the only two guys I wish we would have kept. They are both professionals and set a great example for younger players.

We will see but I'm not liking our depth.

We sure have a lot of developmental players on our team right now. But I actually believe that they will be coached properly. And if we wanted to start fresh, this is the best time. We'll see who develops well and who doesn't. We'll likely draft accordingly next year depending on how some of our young guys do.

I certainly hope that we have capable replacements this year. I do like the idea of giving the young guys a shot, but I do also think that we need more help in the defensive backfield.

All the other positions, we have someone ready to fill in. The defensive backfield, not so much. Losing Clements would be find if we had a younger guy that started to come on late last year to prove his worth, but I dont really recall any of our CBs playing consistently well. Dashon, who knows, but he is still pretty young so I think it would be smart to bring him back (as long as it is at a good price)

oncise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
plan/plan/
▶noun
1 a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something.
■ a scheme for the regular payment of contributions towards a pension, insurance policy, etc.: a personal pension plan.
2 an intention or decision about what one is going to do.
3 a map or diagram: a street plan.
■ a scale drawing of a horizontal section showing the layout of a given level of a building.
▶verb (plans, planning, planned)
1 decide on and arrange in advance.
■ make preparations for an anticipated event or time.
2 make a plan of.

hey I want to believe and am trying to but let's face it, as "a plan" it's not the best planned plan.

Maybe it's a brilliant plan but as a plan it doesn't seem very planned in its planning. You know, as a plan.

Can't wait to hear what the plan is though, I'm convinced that they'll be explaining the plan very, very soon. In great detail. Can't imagine for one second that Baalke will conveniently forget to mention what the plan was/is/might be. And how successful the plan was in its execution.

I'm sure it's so cunning and clever that we'll need a new language to explain its brilliance. To be honest I'm so stupid and completely stumped as to what the plan is I'm really worried about my understanding of the word plan.

Can't wait to hear though I think it might be the best plan that we've ever heard.

I'm sure in decades to come people will say "And on the first day of Free Agency Baalke created "The Plan""...

Oh unless it's "meh, we'll be OK". Then I think I understand the plan. And it doesn't seem to be a very good plan.

I think while we may stink this season I think Baalke and Harbaugh are rebuilding the team just not admitting to it. It may also be a re-stocking they're just building it through the draft at certain areas.

We're bringing in all of these players who are completely unfamiliar with the playbook, coaches, and other players. Due to chemistry imbalance its definitely going to be a sub par season and i'm not surprised. The only thing i'm hyped about is seeing Sopoaga play nose tackle. It's definitely going to change the defense. The free agency is not all what it used to be so I wont say it was horribly managed but not what I thought it would be. The Niners are trying to build something and figure out who can do what and whos a bust and whos not. Better to find out sooner than later. Once we figure out who should get the big bucks then we'll make splashes. Shocked they let Lawson go. Reminds me of the Julian Peterson situation.