What is the 49ers plan for the OL and protecting Alex Smith going forward?

Originally posted by Bootlegger:

Originally posted by AXEGRINDER:

Originally posted by Bootlegger:

Originally posted by DirtyP:

Originally posted by Squidp:
Based on what?

Wow someone must have a high football IQ to determine someone who we've hardly seen play is better than our All Pro and Pro Bowl starter

Well Boone comes in on the jumbo formations and he played for Staley against the Cardinals when Staley was injured. I thought he performed very well, in fact I thought he had an easier time versus Dockett than Staley did. Staley sometimes will completely whiff blocks. I must admit my analysis is off of limited playing time, but I just think Boone has looked really solid when he's in the game, and have never seen him get beat like Staley or Davis have.

The front office must think something of him as well since they signed him to a 4 year extension.

So you're saying that you would rather see Boone start over Staley or Davis? Just like in another thread you stated you would rather see Kap or Tolzein start over Smith? I'm beginning to see a pattern here. You sure put a lot of faith in players you've barely seen play.

The players you are advocating are depth. They will remain depth until they unseat the starters by taking advantage of playing time due to injury. Then we'll see.

As i stated in a previous post when responding to these statements by Jreff in another thread...
------

Not to be rude to those people [referring to people who think Kaepernick can come in do the same thing Alex Smith can do] but I don't think they understand the complexity of an actual system. If the NFL was that easy everybody would do it...yet only 32 guys in the world play the position on a full time basis....find me another job with that kind of statistic. To put it into perspective there are more astronauts at NASA then starting QB's in the NFL. We have more people certified to go to the moon then we have starting QB's.

Assuming you are trying to compare the difficulty at which someone can fill in for a QB and succeed to the ease at which someone can fill in for an astronaut and succeed, and in the end come to the conclusion that Kaepernick would not perform as well as Smith is bonkers given the comparison.

Astronauts may be selected for their skill set, intelligence, physical attributes, learning ability, physical shape, performance under stress, or any of a variety of other attributes. QBs may be selected by NFL teams based on these attributes and maybe other attributes such as release, touch, accuracy, etc. So before a QB gets into the NFL they are specially selected to a professional team, and in the case of Kaepernick, Harbaugh and Baalke personally selected him. Same with astronauts. Before they become an astronaut they are tested and specially selected by NASA. So, both QBs and astronauts are chosen for their attributes because based on these attributes people believe they can succeed.

After being selected, Astronauts are vigorously trained and educated to become an astronaut so that they will be able to perform their missions. Before their missions, they partake in simulated missions to better understand how everything will proceed during the actual mission. QBs are being trained their whole life, but the real training begins in College and really shifts into gear if/when they reach the pros. I have little double our alternate astronauts can replace our primary astronauts and perform just as well given how intense, as you mentioned, the selection process is to become an astronaut as there are so few of them. Do we know how they will perform? No, because we have not given them the chance. Have we set them up to be able to complete their mission given the training we have provided them? I think so. Are we confident that they can perform their mission given the training and simulations? I would think so.

Both astronauts and backup QBs have been trained to be able to succeed in carrying out their mission. In our case since Harbaugh and Baalke personally chose Kaepernick by moving up in the draft to select him, I have just as much confidence that he can take over the offense and perform competently as an alternate astronaut could.

In Kaepernick's case, Harbaugh is training him so that he will be able to perform our offense during game time and help our team to achieve victory. Because Kaepernick is our second string QB he runs our offense 60-70% of the time during practices and the opponents offense 30-40% of the time, and thus has simulated running our offense so as to be able to step in and perform our offense and achieve victory. In this particular instance, Smith runs our offense 100% during practices against our 2nd string defense and has played almost 100% of all regular season and post season games this year. So while Smith has the experience, Kaepernick has still simulated our offense most of the practices for an entire season against our 1st string defense. A defense which is better than every other defense in the league, in my honest opinion. I believe these simulations enable Kaepernick to be able to perform our offense as Harbaugh envisions it, just as an astronaut could perform his/her mission.

However, there are some things that one just can't teach, so there is always an element of unknown as to how someone will perform if they have never completed a space mission or performed a particular offensive system. These are things like performance under an emergency situation, e.g. down by 7 with 1 minute left to go in the game or, in an astronauts case, a malfunction in the control system of the shuttle. Maybe a certain astronaut or QB is naturally great at reacting quickly and selecting the best option available when under duress or pressure. Who knows? Do we know that Kaepernick will perform better than Smith? No. Do we know that Kaepernick will perform worst than Smith. No. Why? Because there are some variables we cannot factor in until it actually happens. Is it riskier to start Kaepernick than Smith? Yes, but only because do not know the extent of Kaepernick's capabilities.

Really, how one comes out on the Smith versus Kaepernick dilemma depends on their level of aversion to risk given the fact that we went 13-3 last season and made it to the NFC Championship Game. If you are more averse to risk, then you are going to choose Alex Smith as our starting QB because you believe he is the safe choice to get us to 13-3 again and you know how capable Alex is. If you are less averse to risk, then you are going to choose Kaepernick (or if you are me, Tolzien) because you believe that given one year in the system, which includes simulating practices under the direction of our very competent coaching staff, that either is perfectly capable of performing our offense, but you are not sure how well because we have not seen their ability to react under pressure for an entire game or season or other such variables that we just can't possibly measure until we put them into that position. One's choice in Tolzien or Kaepernick may be based on the aforementioned, but could also include the same considerations that those choosing Alex use: you know his capabilities, but in this case you have an unjustifiable belief that Kaepernick or Tolzien can exceed Alex's capabilities.

Obviously, other factors could come into play as well.
------
So I guess call me less risk averse than others... But I am not at all that impressed by Staley and would rather have Boone in at Left Tackle.

didnt' read, lol

Originally posted by backontop:

Originally posted by Bootlegger:

Originally posted by AXEGRINDER:

Originally posted by Bootlegger:

Originally posted by DirtyP:

Originally posted by Squidp:
Based on what?

Wow someone must have a high football IQ to determine someone who we've hardly seen play is better than our All Pro and Pro Bowl starter

Well Boone comes in on the jumbo formations and he played for Staley against the Cardinals when Staley was injured. I thought he performed very well, in fact I thought he had an easier time versus Dockett than Staley did. Staley sometimes will completely whiff blocks. I must admit my analysis is off of limited playing time, but I just think Boone has looked really solid when he's in the game, and have never seen him get beat like Staley or Davis have.

The front office must think something of him as well since they signed him to a 4 year extension.

So you're saying that you would rather see Boone start over Staley or Davis? Just like in another thread you stated you would rather see Kap or Tolzein start over Smith? I'm beginning to see a pattern here. You sure put a lot of faith in players you've barely seen play.

The players you are advocating are depth. They will remain depth until they unseat the starters by taking advantage of playing time due to injury. Then we'll see.

As i stated in a previous post when responding to these statements by Jreff in another thread...
------

Not to be rude to those people [referring to people who think Kaepernick can come in do the same thing Alex Smith can do] but I don't think they understand the complexity of an actual system. If the NFL was that easy everybody would do it...yet only 32 guys in the world play the position on a full time basis....find me another job with that kind of statistic. To put it into perspective there are more astronauts at NASA then starting QB's in the NFL. We have more people certified to go to the moon then we have starting QB's.

Assuming you are trying to compare the difficulty at which someone can fill in for a QB and succeed to the ease at which someone can fill in for an astronaut and succeed, and in the end come to the conclusion that Kaepernick would not perform as well as Smith is bonkers given the comparison.

Astronauts may be selected for their skill set, intelligence, physical attributes, learning ability, physical shape, performance under stress, or any of a variety of other attributes. QBs may be selected by NFL teams based on these attributes and maybe other attributes such as release, touch, accuracy, etc. So before a QB gets into the NFL they are specially selected to a professional team, and in the case of Kaepernick, Harbaugh and Baalke personally selected him. Same with astronauts. Before they become an astronaut they are tested and specially selected by NASA. So, both QBs and astronauts are chosen for their attributes because based on these attributes people believe they can succeed.

After being selected, Astronauts are vigorously trained and educated to become an astronaut so that they will be able to perform their missions. Before their missions, they partake in simulated missions to better understand how everything will proceed during the actual mission. QBs are being trained their whole life, but the real training begins in College and really shifts into gear if/when they reach the pros. I have little double our alternate astronauts can replace our primary astronauts and perform just as well given how intense, as you mentioned, the selection process is to become an astronaut as there are so few of them. Do we know how they will perform? No, because we have not given them the chance. Have we set them up to be able to complete their mission given the training we have provided them? I think so. Are we confident that they can perform their mission given the training and simulations? I would think so.

Both astronauts and backup QBs have been trained to be able to succeed in carrying out their mission. In our case since Harbaugh and Baalke personally chose Kaepernick by moving up in the draft to select him, I have just as much confidence that he can take over the offense and perform competently as an alternate astronaut could.

In Kaepernick's case, Harbaugh is training him so that he will be able to perform our offense during game time and help our team to achieve victory. Because Kaepernick is our second string QB he runs our offense 60-70% of the time during practices and the opponents offense 30-40% of the time, and thus has simulated running our offense so as to be able to step in and perform our offense and achieve victory. In this particular instance, Smith runs our offense 100% during practices against our 2nd string defense and has played almost 100% of all regular season and post season games this year. So while Smith has the experience, Kaepernick has still simulated our offense most of the practices for an entire season against our 1st string defense. A defense which is better than every other defense in the league, in my honest opinion. I believe these simulations enable Kaepernick to be able to perform our offense as Harbaugh envisions it, just as an astronaut could perform his/her mission.

However, there are some things that one just can't teach, so there is always an element of unknown as to how someone will perform if they have never completed a space mission or performed a particular offensive system. These are things like performance under an emergency situation, e.g. down by 7 with 1 minute left to go in the game or, in an astronauts case, a malfunction in the control system of the shuttle. Maybe a certain astronaut or QB is naturally great at reacting quickly and selecting the best option available when under duress or pressure. Who knows? Do we know that Kaepernick will perform better than Smith? No. Do we know that Kaepernick will perform worst than Smith. No. Why? Because there are some variables we cannot factor in until it actually happens. Is it riskier to start Kaepernick than Smith? Yes, but only because do not know the extent of Kaepernick's capabilities.

Really, how one comes out on the Smith versus Kaepernick dilemma depends on their level of aversion to risk given the fact that we went 13-3 last season and made it to the NFC Championship Game. If you are more averse to risk, then you are going to choose Alex Smith as our starting QB because you believe he is the safe choice to get us to 13-3 again and you know how capable Alex is. If you are less averse to risk, then you are going to choose Kaepernick (or if you are me, Tolzien) because you believe that given one year in the system, which includes simulating practices under the direction of our very competent coaching staff, that either is perfectly capable of performing our offense, but you are not sure how well because we have not seen their ability to react under pressure for an entire game or season or other such variables that we just can't possibly measure until we put them into that position. One's choice in Tolzien or Kaepernick may be based on the aforementioned, but could also include the same considerations that those choosing Alex use: you know his capabilities, but in this case you have an unjustifiable belief that Kaepernick or Tolzien can exceed Alex's capabilities.

Obviously, other factors could come into play as well.
------
So I guess call me less risk averse than others... But I am not at all that impressed by Staley and would rather have Boone in at Left Tackle.

didnt' read, lol

Real mature bro! J/K. I didn't either. lol.

With that said, I could see us (if we don't sign or use a high pick on a guard) shuffling the line in one of these ways for next season:

Staley-Iupati-Goodwin-Davis-Boone

Been screaming for this for so very long. It would be the way to go... but will they? probably not.

I am okay with leaving Davis at RT and Boone as the swing-tackle... but it's not my preference.

Alex Boone is in great shape now, and in limited action has easily surpassed the lateral movement and COD recovery skills shown by Davis. I wouldn't want Davis to think of this as a demotion.. he's still a starting OL. His skills and temperament fit so much better on the inside though.. and he and Boone would really get some push on the right side for Gore and Hunter.

Goodwin became more solid as the year progressed... far from spectacular... far from poor. I'd always welcome competition, but ultimately, would expect him to start for one more season. Let Kilgore or a rookie develop further behind the OG/OC spots. It is not time to plug in a rookie or unproven year 1 player on the starting OL. We are SB-bound and can not risk a rookie screwing up and getting the QB killed.

If we did move Davis in and Boone out, we should draft an OL in the first 4 rounds to compete with Person as a swing-tackle. Kilgore looked really good in preseason and the Niners seem very high on him... he's a keeper for inside work.

Pretty thick options in the draft for us. Not many 1st rounders so late at our pick, but a good bunch of 2nd-4th rd prospects.

We should sign Geoffrey Schwartz. Between him and Daniel Kilgore the problem of right guard is solved.

We still need to look at center. Goodwin is the starter, but we need to look to the future.
The center calls the blocking assignments; in essence the center is the brain for the offensive line.

One option is to draft Ben Jones in the second.

But, Chase Beeler might be a wild card at center.
We really do not know how the coaching staff views Beeler.
If the staff think highly of his development over the last year, we probably will not draft a center early.

Both Ben Jones and Chase Beeler have the requisite experience.
But, if Beeler can do the job, we save that pick.

Fixing the offensive line with free agency and existing players would let us focus the draft to continue to build the receiving corps, add a running back to replace Dixon, and add another OLB.

Wondering when you would chime in Oldman9er! Recall a similar thread from last off season.

My thoughts are that the 9ers have four very good linemen in Staley, Iupati, Davis and Boone. Some say we haven't seen Boone enough but you may be forgetting that he was projected to be a high draft pick until a few off field misadventures turned teams off. Saw him rated as a 1st or 2nd rounder before the arrest. He has good movement and would be a solid OT if needed.

Next they have Goodwin, who is on his way down and had some difficulty last year, but might play much better with a better RG next to him. If they bring in a vet like Schwartz he may be really solid, or still be fading.

Then they have Kilgore who had a great deal of moxy in preseason...but that was preseason. Who knows if he is ready...probably the coaches. And Person backing up and perhaps becoming the Jack of all trades.

Overall this line is ready to be a very solid line if they can replace RG with an upgrade. If they just fill in I don't like the odds of Smith lasting through the year without being injured and Gore will again have an average year.

Still think the style of play with these guys dose not match but perhaps that problem can be remediated some how...increased talent at RG would help there as well.

Originally posted by oldman9er:
I am okay with leaving Davis at RT and Boone as the swing-tackle... but it's not my preference.

Alex Boone is in great shape now, and in limited action has easily surpassed the lateral movement and COD recovery skills shown by Davis. I wouldn't want Davis to think of this as a demotion.. he's still a starting OL. His skills and temperament fit so much better on the inside though.. and he and Boone would really get some push on the right side for Gore and Hunter.

Goodwin became more solid as the year progressed... far from spectacular... far from poor. I'd always welcome competition, but ultimately, would expect him to start for one more season. Let Kilgore or a rookie develop further behind the OG/OC spots. It is not time to plug in a rookie or unproven year 1 player on the starting OL. We are SB-bound and can not risk a rookie screwing up and getting the QB killed.

If we did move Davis in and Boone out, we should draft an OL in the first 4 rounds to compete with Person as a swing-tackle. Kilgore looked really good in preseason and the Niners seem very high on him... he's a keeper for inside work.

Pretty thick options in the draft for us. Not many 1st rounders so late at our pick, but a good bunch of 2nd-4th rd prospects.

Yeah, I'm with you here on the movement of players along the line. Boone did very well when Staley went down. Davis is getting better all the time but you are correct that he still gets beat with speed. So, it makes perfect sense to move him inside. He could be an all-pro type RG.

I think Boone would at least play at Davis's level at RT and may exceed it given game time.

Pearson and Kilgore as swing T and G.

Line would be in great shape with just this lineup situation.

Only real weakness would be at C, although Goodwin did make some progress as the season went on. Still would be my spot for an upgrade thru the draft. But please no 1st or 2nd rounder. Gotta be a guy we can take in the 3rd or 4th round that in a year or 2 could start.

everyone knows in recent years the 49ers are the one team whoo has spent the highest draft picks on O-Lineman right??? sheeeeesh. we are too picky

I did read. This is alot of fun stuff. One thing about astronaughts. THey mostly sit in a chair and wear a diaper. No offense to astronaughts. But really if you can send a teacher into space then much of the "training" is secondary. But anyways. I don't want to get into a comparison that was not really applicable. Bottom line is this. If as you say. The team put all this reasearch and time and trust in CK. Then why they hell are we messing around with Payton Manning or Alex Smith? Truth is I agree with you. THe team knows exactly what it has in CK. And it knows if it has anything it isn't ready for this season. Baring injury CK is not going to get on the field. He's going to have to show some serious stuff in preseason to beat A. Smith out for the job, contracts asside. Just talking best player here. Finally why are we talking about our QBs in the Offensive line thread???

On another note. Didn't we move up in the draft to get Kilgore last year? I'm starting to wonder if the team is banking on him starting and will simply draft or sign a backup plan.

they will all chip in and buy him a "Pre Snap Reads for Dummies" book and "How to throw over a blitz because someone is open!"

Originally posted by backontop:

Originally posted by Bootlegger:

Originally posted by AXEGRINDER:

Originally posted by Bootlegger:

Originally posted by DirtyP:

Originally posted by Squidp:
Based on what?

Wow someone must have a high football IQ to determine someone who we've hardly seen play is better than our All Pro and Pro Bowl starter

Well Boone comes in on the jumbo formations and he played for Staley against the Cardinals when Staley was injured. I thought he performed very well, in fact I thought he had an easier time versus Dockett than Staley did. Staley sometimes will completely whiff blocks. I must admit my analysis is off of limited playing time, but I just think Boone has looked really solid when he's in the game, and have never seen him get beat like Staley or Davis have.

The front office must think something of him as well since they signed him to a 4 year extension.

So you're saying that you would rather see Boone start over Staley or Davis? Just like in another thread you stated you would rather see Kap or Tolzein start over Smith? I'm beginning to see a pattern here. You sure put a lot of faith in players you've barely seen play.

The players you are advocating are depth. They will remain depth until they unseat the starters by taking advantage of playing time due to injury. Then we'll see.

As i stated in a previous post when responding to these statements by Jreff in another thread...
------

Not to be rude to those people [referring to people who think Kaepernick can come in do the same thing Alex Smith can do] but I don't think they understand the complexity of an actual system. If the NFL was that easy everybody would do it...yet only 32 guys in the world play the position on a full time basis....find me another job with that kind of statistic. To put it into perspective there are more astronauts at NASA then starting QB's in the NFL. We have more people certified to go to the moon then we have starting QB's.

Assuming you are trying to compare the difficulty at which someone can fill in for a QB and succeed to the ease at which someone can fill in for an astronaut and succeed, and in the end come to the conclusion that Kaepernick would not perform as well as Smith is bonkers given the comparison.

Astronauts may be selected for their skill set, intelligence, physical attributes, learning ability, physical shape, performance under stress, or any of a variety of other attributes. QBs may be selected by NFL teams based on these attributes and maybe other attributes such as release, touch, accuracy, etc. So before a QB gets into the NFL they are specially selected to a professional team, and in the case of Kaepernick, Harbaugh and Baalke personally selected him. Same with astronauts. Before they become an astronaut they are tested and specially selected by NASA. So, both QBs and astronauts are chosen for their attributes because based on these attributes people believe they can succeed.

After being selected, Astronauts are vigorously trained and educated to become an astronaut so that they will be able to perform their missions. Before their missions, they partake in simulated missions to better understand how everything will proceed during the actual mission. QBs are being trained their whole life, but the real training begins in College and really shifts into gear if/when they reach the pros. I have little double our alternate astronauts can replace our primary astronauts and perform just as well given how intense, as you mentioned, the selection process is to become an astronaut as there are so few of them. Do we know how they will perform? No, because we have not given them the chance. Have we set them up to be able to complete their mission given the training we have provided them? I think so. Are we confident that they can perform their mission given the training and simulations? I would think so.

Both astronauts and backup QBs have been trained to be able to succeed in carrying out their mission. In our case since Harbaugh and Baalke personally chose Kaepernick by moving up in the draft to select him, I have just as much confidence that he can take over the offense and perform competently as an alternate astronaut could.

In Kaepernick's case, Harbaugh is training him so that he will be able to perform our offense during game time and help our team to achieve victory. Because Kaepernick is our second string QB he runs our offense 60-70% of the time during practices and the opponents offense 30-40% of the time, and thus has simulated running our offense so as to be able to step in and perform our offense and achieve victory. In this particular instance, Smith runs our offense 100% during practices against our 2nd string defense and has played almost 100% of all regular season and post season games this year. So while Smith has the experience, Kaepernick has still simulated our offense most of the practices for an entire season against our 1st string defense. A defense which is better than every other defense in the league, in my honest opinion. I believe these simulations enable Kaepernick to be able to perform our offense as Harbaugh envisions it, just as an astronaut could perform his/her mission.

However, there are some things that one just can't teach, so there is always an element of unknown as to how someone will perform if they have never completed a space mission or performed a particular offensive system. These are things like performance under an emergency situation, e.g. down by 7 with 1 minute left to go in the game or, in an astronauts case, a malfunction in the control system of the shuttle. Maybe a certain astronaut or QB is naturally great at reacting quickly and selecting the best option available when under duress or pressure. Who knows? Do we know that Kaepernick will perform better than Smith? No. Do we know that Kaepernick will perform worst than Smith. No. Why? Because there are some variables we cannot factor in until it actually happens. Is it riskier to start Kaepernick than Smith? Yes, but only because do not know the extent of Kaepernick's capabilities.

Really, how one comes out on the Smith versus Kaepernick dilemma depends on their level of aversion to risk given the fact that we went 13-3 last season and made it to the NFC Championship Game. If you are more averse to risk, then you are going to choose Alex Smith as our starting QB because you believe he is the safe choice to get us to 13-3 again and you know how capable Alex is. If you are less averse to risk, then you are going to choose Kaepernick (or if you are me, Tolzien) because you believe that given one year in the system, which includes simulating practices under the direction of our very competent coaching staff, that either is perfectly capable of performing our offense, but you are not sure how well because we have not seen their ability to react under pressure for an entire game or season or other such variables that we just can't possibly measure until we put them into that position. One's choice in Tolzien or Kaepernick may be based on the aforementioned, but could also include the same considerations that those choosing Alex use: you know his capabilities, but in this case you have an unjustifiable belief that Kaepernick or Tolzien can exceed Alex's capabilities.

Obviously, other factors could come into play as well.
------
So I guess call me less risk averse than others... But I am not at all that impressed by Staley and would rather have Boone in at Left Tackle.

didnt' read, lol

sures in hell didn't read, lol

Originally posted by niners4lyfe:

Originally posted by backontop:

Originally posted by Bootlegger:

Originally posted by AXEGRINDER:

Originally posted by Bootlegger:

Originally posted by DirtyP:

Originally posted by Squidp:
Based on what?

Wow someone must have a high football IQ to determine someone who we've hardly seen play is better than our All Pro and Pro Bowl starter

Well Boone comes in on the jumbo formations and he played for Staley against the Cardinals when Staley was injured. I thought he performed very well, in fact I thought he had an easier time versus Dockett than Staley did. Staley sometimes will completely whiff blocks. I must admit my analysis is off of limited playing time, but I just think Boone has looked really solid when he's in the game, and have never seen him get beat like Staley or Davis have.

The front office must think something of him as well since they signed him to a 4 year extension.

So you're saying that you would rather see Boone start over Staley or Davis? Just like in another thread you stated you would rather see Kap or Tolzein start over Smith? I'm beginning to see a pattern here. You sure put a lot of faith in players you've barely seen play.

The players you are advocating are depth. They will remain depth until they unseat the starters by taking advantage of playing time due to injury. Then we'll see.

As i stated in a previous post when responding to these statements by Jreff in another thread...
------

Not to be rude to those people [referring to people who think Kaepernick can come in do the same thing Alex Smith can do] but I don't think they understand the complexity of an actual system. If the NFL was that easy everybody would do it...yet only 32 guys in the world play the position on a full time basis....find me another job with that kind of statistic. To put it into perspective there are more astronauts at NASA then starting QB's in the NFL. We have more people certified to go to the moon then we have starting QB's.

Assuming you are trying to compare the difficulty at which someone can fill in for a QB and succeed to the ease at which someone can fill in for an astronaut and succeed, and in the end come to the conclusion that Kaepernick would not perform as well as Smith is bonkers given the comparison.

Astronauts may be selected for their skill set, intelligence, physical attributes, learning ability, physical shape, performance under stress, or any of a variety of other attributes. QBs may be selected by NFL teams based on these attributes and maybe other attributes such as release, touch, accuracy, etc. So before a QB gets into the NFL they are specially selected to a professional team, and in the case of Kaepernick, Harbaugh and Baalke personally selected him. Same with astronauts. Before they become an astronaut they are tested and specially selected by NASA. So, both QBs and astronauts are chosen for their attributes because based on these attributes people believe they can succeed.

After being selected, Astronauts are vigorously trained and educated to become an astronaut so that they will be able to perform their missions. Before their missions, they partake in simulated missions to better understand how everything will proceed during the actual mission. QBs are being trained their whole life, but the real training begins in College and really shifts into gear if/when they reach the pros. I have little double our alternate astronauts can replace our primary astronauts and perform just as well given how intense, as you mentioned, the selection process is to become an astronaut as there are so few of them. Do we know how they will perform? No, because we have not given them the chance. Have we set them up to be able to complete their mission given the training we have provided them? I think so. Are we confident that they can perform their mission given the training and simulations? I would think so.

Both astronauts and backup QBs have been trained to be able to succeed in carrying out their mission. In our case since Harbaugh and Baalke personally chose Kaepernick by moving up in the draft to select him, I have just as much confidence that he can take over the offense and perform competently as an alternate astronaut could.

In Kaepernick's case, Harbaugh is training him so that he will be able to perform our offense during game time and help our team to achieve victory. Because Kaepernick is our second string QB he runs our offense 60-70% of the time during practices and the opponents offense 30-40% of the time, and thus has simulated running our offense so as to be able to step in and perform our offense and achieve victory. In this particular instance, Smith runs our offense 100% during practices against our 2nd string defense and has played almost 100% of all regular season and post season games this year. So while Smith has the experience, Kaepernick has still simulated our offense most of the practices for an entire season against our 1st string defense. A defense which is better than every other defense in the league, in my honest opinion. I believe these simulations enable Kaepernick to be able to perform our offense as Harbaugh envisions it, just as an astronaut could perform his/her mission.

However, there are some things that one just can't teach, so there is always an element of unknown as to how someone will perform if they have never completed a space mission or performed a particular offensive system. These are things like performance under an emergency situation, e.g. down by 7 with 1 minute left to go in the game or, in an astronauts case, a malfunction in the control system of the shuttle. Maybe a certain astronaut or QB is naturally great at reacting quickly and selecting the best option available when under duress or pressure. Who knows? Do we know that Kaepernick will perform better than Smith? No. Do we know that Kaepernick will perform worst than Smith. No. Why? Because there are some variables we cannot factor in until it actually happens. Is it riskier to start Kaepernick than Smith? Yes, but only because do not know the extent of Kaepernick's capabilities.

Really, how one comes out on the Smith versus Kaepernick dilemma depends on their level of aversion to risk given the fact that we went 13-3 last season and made it to the NFC Championship Game. If you are more averse to risk, then you are going to choose Alex Smith as our starting QB because you believe he is the safe choice to get us to 13-3 again and you know how capable Alex is. If you are less averse to risk, then you are going to choose Kaepernick (or if you are me, Tolzien) because you believe that given one year in the system, which includes simulating practices under the direction of our very competent coaching staff, that either is perfectly capable of performing our offense, but you are not sure how well because we have not seen their ability to react under pressure for an entire game or season or other such variables that we just can't possibly measure until we put them into that position. One's choice in Tolzien or Kaepernick may be based on the aforementioned, but could also include the same considerations that those choosing Alex use: you know his capabilities, but in this case you have an unjustifiable belief that Kaepernick or Tolzien can exceed Alex's capabilities.

Obviously, other factors could come into play as well.
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So I guess call me less risk averse than others... But I am not at all that impressed by Staley and would rather have Boone in at Left Tackle.

didnt' read, lol

sures in hell didn't read, lol

I did and was not aware that Smith and Kaep were astronauts. Good Intel. So if Smith ran his mission to go around the moon perfectly, Kaep would have instinctively gone around again. This would have led to the discovery that there are transformers on the dark side of the moon and changed the history of mankind.

Originally posted by PA49ersfan:

Originally posted by backontop:

Originally posted by Bootlegger:

Originally posted by AXEGRINDER:

Originally posted by Bootlegger:

Originally posted by DirtyP:

Originally posted by Squidp:
Based on what?

Wow someone must have a high football IQ to determine someone who we've hardly seen play is better than our All Pro and Pro Bowl starter

Well Boone comes in on the jumbo formations and he played for Staley against the Cardinals when Staley was injured. I thought he performed very well, in fact I thought he had an easier time versus Dockett than Staley did. Staley sometimes will completely whiff blocks. I must admit my analysis is off of limited playing time, but I just think Boone has looked really solid when he's in the game, and have never seen him get beat like Staley or Davis have.

The front office must think something of him as well since they signed him to a 4 year extension.

So you're saying that you would rather see Boone start over Staley or Davis? Just like in another thread you stated you would rather see Kap or Tolzein start over Smith? I'm beginning to see a pattern here. You sure put a lot of faith in players you've barely seen play.

The players you are advocating are depth. They will remain depth until they unseat the starters by taking advantage of playing time due to injury. Then we'll see.

As i stated in a previous post when responding to these statements by Jreff in another thread...
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Not to be rude to those people [referring to people who think Kaepernick can come in do the same thing Alex Smith can do] but I don't think they understand the complexity of an actual system. If the NFL was that easy everybody would do it...yet only 32 guys in the world play the position on a full time basis....find me another job with that kind of statistic. To put it into perspective there are more astronauts at NASA then starting QB's in the NFL. We have more people certified to go to the moon then we have starting QB's.

Assuming you are trying to compare the difficulty at which someone can fill in for a QB and succeed to the ease at which someone can fill in for an astronaut and succeed, and in the end come to the conclusion that Kaepernick would not perform as well as Smith is bonkers given the comparison.

Astronauts may be selected for their skill set, intelligence, physical attributes, learning ability, physical shape, performance under stress, or any of a variety of other attributes. QBs may be selected by NFL teams based on these attributes and maybe other attributes such as release, touch, accuracy, etc. So before a QB gets into the NFL they are specially selected to a professional team, and in the case of Kaepernick, Harbaugh and Baalke personally selected him. Same with astronauts. Before they become an astronaut they are tested and specially selected by NASA. So, both QBs and astronauts are chosen for their attributes because based on these attributes people believe they can succeed.

After being selected, Astronauts are vigorously trained and educated to become an astronaut so that they will be able to perform their missions. Before their missions, they partake in simulated missions to better understand how everything will proceed during the actual mission. QBs are being trained their whole life, but the real training begins in College and really shifts into gear if/when they reach the pros. I have little double our alternate astronauts can replace our primary astronauts and perform just as well given how intense, as you mentioned, the selection process is to become an astronaut as there are so few of them. Do we know how they will perform? No, because we have not given them the chance. Have we set them up to be able to complete their mission given the training we have provided them? I think so. Are we confident that they can perform their mission given the training and simulations? I would think so.

Both astronauts and backup QBs have been trained to be able to succeed in carrying out their mission. In our case since Harbaugh and Baalke personally chose Kaepernick by moving up in the draft to select him, I have just as much confidence that he can take over the offense and perform competently as an alternate astronaut could.

In Kaepernick's case, Harbaugh is training him so that he will be able to perform our offense during game time and help our team to achieve victory. Because Kaepernick is our second string QB he runs our offense 60-70% of the time during practices and the opponents offense 30-40% of the time, and thus has simulated running our offense so as to be able to step in and perform our offense and achieve victory. In this particular instance, Smith runs our offense 100% during practices against our 2nd string defense and has played almost 100% of all regular season and post season games this year. So while Smith has the experience, Kaepernick has still simulated our offense most of the practices for an entire season against our 1st string defense. A defense which is better than every other defense in the league, in my honest opinion. I believe these simulations enable Kaepernick to be able to perform our offense as Harbaugh envisions it, just as an astronaut could perform his/her mission.

However, there are some things that one just can't teach, so there is always an element of unknown as to how someone will perform if they have never completed a space mission or performed a particular offensive system. These are things like performance under an emergency situation, e.g. down by 7 with 1 minute left to go in the game or, in an astronauts case, a malfunction in the control system of the shuttle. Maybe a certain astronaut or QB is naturally great at reacting quickly and selecting the best option available when under duress or pressure. Who knows? Do we know that Kaepernick will perform better than Smith? No. Do we know that Kaepernick will perform worst than Smith. No. Why? Because there are some variables we cannot factor in until it actually happens. Is it riskier to start Kaepernick than Smith? Yes, but only because do not know the extent of Kaepernick's capabilities.

Really, how one comes out on the Smith versus Kaepernick dilemma depends on their level of aversion to risk given the fact that we went 13-3 last season and made it to the NFC Championship Game. If you are more averse to risk, then you are going to choose Alex Smith as our starting QB because you believe he is the safe choice to get us to 13-3 again and you know how capable Alex is. If you are less averse to risk, then you are going to choose Kaepernick (or if you are me, Tolzien) because you believe that given one year in the system, which includes simulating practices under the direction of our very competent coaching staff, that either is perfectly capable of performing our offense, but you are not sure how well because we have not seen their ability to react under pressure for an entire game or season or other such variables that we just can't possibly measure until we put them into that position. One's choice in Tolzien or Kaepernick may be based on the aforementioned, but could also include the same considerations that those choosing Alex use: you know his capabilities, but in this case you have an unjustifiable belief that Kaepernick or Tolzien can exceed Alex's capabilities.

Obviously, other factors could come into play as well.
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So I guess call me less risk averse than others... But I am not at all that impressed by Staley and would rather have Boone in at Left Tackle.

didnt' read, lol

Real mature bro! J/K. I didn't either. lol.

Wall of post! +1 didn't read. Bootlegger you should start your own blog. Keep the readers busy!

With Alex Smith and Ted Ginn re-signed, our priority in the draft now has to be OL. As much as I like Fleener, I would prefer to go with someone like Peter Konz or Kevin Zeitler from Wisconsin, who could be our Center or Right Guard of the future (if he's still available). I think Fleener will be long gone by pick # 30 anyway. Is Tony Wragge still a free agent? Since he can swing at center or guard, I'm not sure why we don't pursue him. It's not like there are a lot of quality offensive lineman left out there. He would be a good stop-gap. At least he's familiar with the 49ers.