49ers Offensive Line

Originally posted by GoldBrick:
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I'm totally good w/our Oline situation.

1) Jimmy. Great timing, super fast release. He moves well and keeps his eyes downfield when the pocket breaks down. There's a reason our oline looked way better w/him under center.

2) Weston. Huge upgrade at a critical position. His movement skills, and his ability to reach block and get to the second level are going to be huge. He will make our guards better.

3) Three first-rounders at guard. The talent is definitely there assuming they can put it all together over a full offseason. Garnett reshaped his body if not his game. Shanahan seems high on Tomlinson. Magnuson and Beadles are serviceable depth. Cooper hasn't lived up to his draft position, but won the starting job last year on a decent Dallas squad.

4) Tackle is on lock barring injuries. At 33, Joe was solid as ever last year—one of my all-time favorite niners. IDK of he's got the movement skills to be an elite LT, but McGlinchy is going to be a right-side rock for the next decade. Super impressed with this kid. My only concern is depth outside. Williams and Gilliam are below average. McGlich and Staley are the kind of dudes who play hurt, however, so fingers crossed.

5) Shanahan. Even if you aren't sold on his potential as a HC or talent evaluator yet, you can't debate this point: the dude knows how to scheme. Genius coordinators aren't always genius head coaches, but I for one trust Kyle to put his guys in the position to be successful. Man—it sure has been a long time since I've been able to say that about a niner HC.

1) That's fine until teams start pressing and we don't have time for 5-7 yard brakes.
2) Agree. Love the Richburg upgrade over DK. Major major upgrade.
3) Tomlinson was overdrafted. Cooper hasn't been the same since his broken fibula. Garnett is my greatest hope to be solid. Biggest hole going into the draft is still the biggest hole on the roster.
4) One thing I liked about the draft is that MM looks like a reliable RT. Finally.
5) Schemes, yes he's a mastermind. But even the great Bill Walsh struggled to evaluate talent in the draft. It's not always a given that a coordinator can project budding talent. Shannahan hasn't always found young talent on the oline unless it was the obvious like Alex Mack or Weston Richburg.

Originally posted by Giedi:
Nice! I thought Laken did well last year. Improved as the season wore on.

Considering he had zero offseason time in this offense that gave former all pro Staley issues and there fact he came on strong during the final 4 games last year, I have faith that he can still develop into a good solid contributor long term.

Originally posted by jcs:

Originally posted by Giedi:
Nice! I thought Laken did well last year. Improved as the season wore on.

Considering he had zero offseason time in this offense that gave former all pro Staley issues and there fact he came on strong during the final 4 games last year, I have faith that he can still develop into a good solid contributor long term.

Good point about him having zero offseason in Kyle's offense, similar to Jimmy in that sense. On paper, this offensive line looks like the old Rams O LIne that blocked for Eric Dickerson. If things pan out the way it looks like on paper, this offense is going to be near the '94 super bowl offense in production. Defense, on the other hand...

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by Giedi:
Wow, round 2 grades for the guards. Interesting. Other than Quentin Nelson, nobody else got picked in the first round at guard. Frank Ragnow and Billy Price went in the first round at C. At OT, Kolton Miller and Isaiah Winn went in the first. There was talent for sure at the O Line, but we only had one draft pick. I'm sure they could have traded down and have gotten more draft capital, but they zeroed in on Mcglinchey. Trent Brown must have really come back from vacation in terrible shape.

Haha, yeah, probably.

Probably could have waited to get Pettis at 59 with Miller and others still on the board, saved that 74 pick and got a nice C/G or T/G.

But it sounds like the FO is much higher on Tomlinson, Cooper, Garnett and Magnuson than we are.

WR is a big deal in Kyle's offense. I personally don't mind if Kyle reached a round early to get his guy. As long as he got the guy he wanted. As an aside, Landry going about 3 picks before Pettis leaves me to think that they were really trading up to get Landry but lost out to the Titans and took the BPA at that pick on their boards when Landry was gone. ShanaLynch mentions that they lost out to other teams on the subject to Edge rusher, and possibly Landry to the titans was one of those instances. Titans' is a team that possibly Lynch can swing a deal with to get a quality edge rusher from, considering they drafted Landry.

Originally posted by jcs:

Originally posted by Giedi:
Nice! I thought Laken did well last year. Improved as the season wore on.

Considering he had zero offseason time in this offense that gave former all pro Staley issues and there fact he came on strong during the final 4 games last year, I have faith that he can still develop into a good solid contributor long term.

Tomlinsen really did improve as the season went along. I watched the first 5 games of the year not too long ago and he was terrible over there. But, those last 5 games he was more than serviceable. His run blocking was vastly improved as well as pass pro. If they're working on a contract ext they must also be seeing a lot of hard work in this off-season, which would bode him well because his body type was more like Garnett's pre-Shanny and if he slims down a bit or adds some nimbleness with strength he could be quite good.

Originally posted by Giedi:

WR is a big deal in Kyle's offense. I personally don't mind if Kyle reached a round early to get his guy. As long as he got the guy he wanted. As an aside, Landry going about 3 picks before Pettis leaves me to think that they were really trading up to get Landry but lost out to the Titans and took the BPA at that pick on their boards when Landry was gone. ShanaLynch mentions that they lost out to other teams on the subject to Edge rusher, and possibly Landry to the titans was one of those instances. Titans' is a team that possibly Lynch can swing a deal with to get a quality edge rusher from, considering they drafted Landry.

Not a whole round, just the difference in picking at 59 vs. trading up to 44.

To your point though, we probably shouldn't question the pick itself. This is the first WR Kyle has ever personally drafted and if he moves up for a guy, he'll have big plans for him now and in the future.

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by jcs:

Originally posted by Giedi:

Nice! I thought Laken did well last year. Improved as the season wore on.

Considering he had zero offseason time in this offense that gave former all pro Staley issues and there fact he came on strong during the final 4 games last year, I have faith that he can still develop into a good solid contributor long term.

Tomlinsen really did improve as the season went along. I watched the first 5 games of the year not too long ago and he was terrible over there. But, those last 5 games he was more than serviceable. His run blocking was vastly improved as well as pass pro. If they're working on a contract ext they must also be seeing a lot of hard work in this off-season, which would bode him well because his body type was more like Garnett's pre-Shanny and if he slims down a bit or adds some nimbleness with strength he could be quite good.

I noticed the same too...he's a wider bodied guy too. With a full off season, do you think they are asking him to trim down like Garnett?

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Tomlinsen really did improve as the season went along. I watched the first 5 games of the year not too long ago and he was terrible over there. But, those last 5 games he was more than serviceable. His run blocking was vastly improved as well as pass pro. If they're working on a contract ext they must also be seeing a lot of hard work in this off-season, which would bode him well because his body type was more like Garnett's pre-Shanny and if he slims down a bit or adds some nimbleness with strength he could be quite good.

But they just declined his 5th year option no? That says a lot about how they feel about Tomlinson in the long term esp after adding Cooper

Originally posted by Mertonschickendance:

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Tomlinsen really did improve as the season went along. I watched the first 5 games of the year not too long ago and he was terrible over there. But, those last 5 games he was more than serviceable. His run blocking was vastly improved as well as pass pro. If they're working on a contract ext they must also be seeing a lot of hard work in this off-season, which would bode him well because his body type was more like Garnett's pre-Shanny and if he slims down a bit or adds some nimbleness with strength he could be quite good.

But they just declined his 5th year option no? That says a lot about how they feel about Tomlinson in the long term esp after adding Cooper

It could be that he improved but still isn't worth $9+ million, which is what his 5th year option would cost.

Originally posted by Mertonschickendance:
But they just declined his 5th year option no? That says a lot about how they feel about Tomlinson in the long term esp after adding Cooper

John Lynch said they declined his option because the fifth-year option numbers are skewed by tackles and that they're working towards a long-term deal with Laken.

can't believe how they completely made over the OL in one year... I'm really excited to see this unit on the field

Originally posted by Mertonschickendance:

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Tomlinsen really did improve as the season went along. I watched the first 5 games of the year not too long ago and he was terrible over there. But, those last 5 games he was more than serviceable. His run blocking was vastly improved as well as pass pro. If they're working on a contract ext they must also be seeing a lot of hard work in this off-season, which would bode him well because his body type was more like Garnett's pre-Shanny and if he slims down a bit or adds some nimbleness with strength he could be quite good.

But they just declined his 5th year option no? That says a lot about how they feel about Tomlinson in the long term esp after adding Cooper

Sounds like they are looking for a contract extension with Tomlinson this off-season

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by jcs:

Originally posted by Giedi:

Nice! I thought Laken did well last year. Improved as the season wore on.

Considering he had zero offseason time in this offense that gave former all pro Staley issues and there fact he came on strong during the final 4 games last year, I have faith that he can still develop into a good solid contributor long term.

Tomlinsen really did improve as the season went along. I watched the first 5 games of the year not too long ago and he was terrible over there. But, those last 5 games he was more than serviceable. His run blocking was vastly improved as well as pass pro. If they're working on a contract ext they must also be seeing a lot of hard work in this off-season, which would bode him well because his body type was more like Garnett's pre-Shanny and if he slims down a bit or adds some nimbleness with strength he could be quite good.

I knew he wasn't as bad, but I still saw a lot of mistakes even with Jimmy G. I hope you're right and he's suddenly turning the corner and getting into the right mold for the Shanahan offense. Because his size wasn't exactly a fit coming in -- at 6-3 320 he was seen as a bit heavy footed.

Originally posted by Heroism:
John Lynch said they declined his option because the fifth-year option numbers are skewed by tackles and that they're working towards a long-term deal with Laken.

This. I heard this yesterday afternoon when Lynch was interviewed on Tolbert and Lund's KNBR show.