49ers Offensive Line

Out left side and middle is solid. The right side is very concerning, the depth is scary bad

Lots of changes to the line this year. I'm not concerned....yet. They need time to gel. If we don't see growth as we move through the preseason then yes I'll be very concerned. But I still think Cooper can be average enough and I still think the under the radar option is Magnuson.

Originally posted by Cisco0623:

What annoys me at this time (obviously we won't know until the season) is our main objectives were to solidify the o line for our qb and improve the defensive pass rush. Now I like Warner and we have depth in the secondary to develop but if the o-line sucks kiss these double digit win predictions this season goodbye. We should have drafted more o-line to work with.

Maybe Kyle and John didn't think we realistically could get double digit wins this year and are still playing the long game.

The pass rusher class is certainly super strong for next year. But we'll see what happens. If Cooper gets out there and is healthy he may help right the ship. McGlinch will be fine IMO.

Originally posted by Niners418:
Lots of changes to the line this year. I'm not concerned....yet. They need time to gel. If we don't see growth as we move through the preseason then yes I'll be very concerned. But I still think Cooper can be average enough and I still think the under the radar option is Magnuson.

I think the OLine will be fine. Kyle knows what to do on the O LIne side. I remember our OLine last year - man talk about man blocking guys running the zone blocking. Yech! But he made lemonaide out of lemons. I think there are going to be good veterans that *fit* Kyle's schemes that will be cut during cutdown day that can be good subs and depth for the OLine. In addition to Magnuson there are four undrafted free agent O LIneman on the team (Knott, Mcglouster, Toran, and Shelton) that Kyle acquired this offseason, and I'm looking forward to seeing some of them play with the first and second string guys. I recall seeing NC say something good about Colman Shelton. Looking forward to seeing if he can crack the 53.

I like Old niner dude's idea about bringing Laken over to the R side so he can help McG and whoever the RG is moved over to the left side so Joe S can help him out/ . GReat ideas.

I think the line will be alright - like Giedi said - they just need time to gel.

Originally posted by mayo49:

I think the line will be alright - like Giedi said - they just need time to gel.

They just need more talent.

Originally posted by pdizo916:

Originally posted by mayo49:
I think the line will be alright - like Giedi said - they just need time to gel.

They just need more talent.

They can always use more talent.

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
I like Old niner dude's idea about bringing Laken over to the R side so he can help McG and whoever the RG is moved over to the left side so Joe S can help him out/ . GReat ideas.

Thanks doc. It just makes sense--especially since Tomlinson played RG thru college and at Detroit--and Cooper played LG at Dallas all last season.

Originally posted by mayo49:

They can always use more talent.

Touche

Originally posted by NinerGM:

Did we? I think that's a debatable point. Again it's what we thought who we should have signed, assuming the decision-making process was based on $ when I think it's unlikely it was the case. The problem with "cheap at guard" premise is that being "cheap" usually extends to multiple positions and clearly that's no the case on this team. You're right Baldy said the Rams threw as much money as they possibly could, but again I stress the point, the Rams follow a completely different philosophy of building their squad than we are and, again, the window in which they have to win is different than ours. And given that the Rams didn't overhaul their club as much as we did (Jeff Fisher may have been a bad coach, but he's pretty good at drafting), their rebuild was far more ahead of schedule than ours.

When I step back and look at this line, I see essentially 4 (essentially) new starters, one of which is a rookie. I too want to see better OL play and am anxious for the team to right the ship immediately. However, I'm well aware a turnaround of this magnitude simply takes time. Are all our personnel decisions perfect? No, but where I struggle is with assertions that cannot be proven, however plausible, as settled fact is hard to swallow. I was not in the room with Adam, John, Martin, Paraag, and Kyle (nor have I seen credible reporting) to say "these guys are being cheap on this position because of x."

Also of note, the grass always looks greener until it's not. Even if we have problems at RG, I trust that this coaching staff will find ways around it. Again we forget - we won with Kilgore, Fusco, and Beadles - one severely underpowered, one journeyman, and on journeyman playing out of position. I think the stability we expect from a contender will come to us next year for the OL, IMHO. A similar analysis can be made about the DL.

Agreed in that one can't expect to fill every hole in just two off seasons. It's no secret that OL and ER are probably still our two biggest needs still left to be filled...maybe CB if Sherman doesn't work out. But that's a good example...CB they were aggressive and got a HOF CB and then added a ton of resources through the draft for the secondary. They did all they could here.

ER? There just wasn't that guy in the FA market. The draft, they didn't want to trade up higher for Laundry ir get OO, Davenport, Key, etc. and then ended up ignoring it altogether.

OL, they took a calculated risk in moving on from Brown and threw our top resource in the draft at McGlinchey. They certainly went aggressively after Richburg. That's a sound approach but they didn't even attempt going after Norwell or Sitton and instead, relied on the Fusco-approach and brought in average to below average G's and hoped they panned out.

My concern is that if you're relying on guys like Tomlinson, Garnett, Cooper and Person, beware. That might bite you in the ass.

With Tomlinson looking average at best in pass protection drills, McGlinchey getting dominated, Cooper still hasn't got up to football speed, Garnett most likely done one way or another, and you're now relying on Person or Magnuson, there's legit reason for concern in August.

Fans forget that Garoppolo took a lot of hits last year. You don't want a similar thing this year but for a full 16 games.

Tomlinson and Garnett are below average pass protectors in general; we can expect McGlinchey to struggle in pass protection esp. given who we play coming out of the gate. Kyle has a history of going cheaper at G which is understandable but perhaps outdated now. I'd feel a billion times better about this OL with Norwell or Sitton sitting next to McGlinchey or if we used some resources in a deep draft of G's.

You listen to Lynch, they very much are relying on Garoppolo's quick release to cover up the OL. That's dangerous for 16 games. The two positions he justified were the OL and ER on KNBR...he knows. We're not there yet...in August.

People forget during our dynasty, we had dominant OL...HOF, all-pro and probowl OL and some of those at G...not hoping for adequate.

The two areas we didn't address continue to be our biggest concerns, for whatever reason and given the approaches we took. We're about to find out if the approaches to both were right or not.

Originally posted by NinerGM:
Did we? I think that's a debatable point. Again it's what we thought who we should have signed, assuming the decision-making process was based on $ when I think it's unlikely it was the case. The problem with "cheap at guard" premise is that being "cheap" usually extends to multiple positions and clearly that's no the case on this team. You're right Baldy said the Rams threw as much money as they possibly could, but again I stress the point, the Rams follow a completely different philosophy of building their squad than we are and, again, the window in which they have to win is different than ours. And given that the Rams didn't overhaul their club as much as we did (Jeff Fisher may have been a bad coach, but he's pretty good at drafting), their rebuild was far more ahead of schedule than ours.

When I step back and look at this line, I see essentially 4 (essentially) new starters, one of which is a rookie. I too want to see better OL play and am anxious for the team to right the ship immediately. However, I'm well aware a turnaround of this magnitude simply takes time. Are all our personnel decisions perfect? No, but where I struggle is with assertions that cannot be proven, however plausible, as settled fact is hard to swallow. I was not in the room with Adam, John, Martin, Paraag, and Kyle (nor have I seen credible reporting) to say "these guys are being cheap on this position because of x."

Also of note, the grass always looks greener until it's not. Even if we have problems at RG, I trust that this coaching staff will find ways around it. Again we forget - we won with Kilgore, Fusco, and Beadles - one severely underpowered, one journeyman, and on journeyman playing out of position. I think the stability we expect from a contender will come to us next year for the OL, IMHO. A similar analysis can be made about the DL.

Great points GM! The underpowered line was a huge issue last year because they were also lacking in overall talent. The only thing they had going for them was the experience of Beadles and Kilgore. They added several first round picks (former and current) who may be really good in Shanahan's schemes.These guys are stronger than Beadles and Kilgore. Much of JG's problems last year, and other QBs going back several years, was the breakdown in the middle of the OL. A QB can slide away from edge rushers, but when defenders are coming right through the middle...yikes! Whether this group is dynamic enough to play in Shanahan's...we will see.

First Round
Staley: #28 in 2007
Cooper: #7 in 2013
Garnett: #28 in 2016
Tomlinson: #28 in 2015
Second Round
Richburg: #43 in 2014

Players replaced:
Beadles: 2nd round
Fusco: 6th round
Kilgore: 5th round

Certainly, draft position is not the be all, end all of player value; however, this points out the teams efforts to improve the OL. They will likely pay these guys much more in the long run because they were higher draft slots.

Originally posted by pdizo916:

Originally posted by mayo49:
I think the line will be alright - like Giedi said - they just need time to gel.

They just need more talent.

I think they'll be much better than last season.

Still, IMO, we need to establish RG and acquire/develop a replacement for the future.

Also, we still need another Tackle to replace McG when he moves to LT.

I think other teams will make apparent where we need to improve.

Originally posted by oldninerdude:

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:
I like Old niner dude's idea about bringing Laken over to the R side so he can help McG and whoever the RG is moved over to the left side so Joe S can help him out/ . GReat ideas.

Thanks doc. It just makes sense--especially since Tomlinson played RG thru college and at Detroit--and Cooper played LG at Dallas all last season.

Good call.

Originally posted by NCommand:
Agreed in that one can't expect to fill every hole in just two off seasons. It's no secret that OL and ER are probably still our two biggest needs still left to be filled...maybe CB if Sherman doesn't work out. But that's a good example...CB they were aggressive and got a HOF CB and then added a ton of resources through the draft for the secondary. They did all they could here.

ER? There just wasn't that guy in the FA market. The draft, they didn't want to trade up higher for Laundry ir get OO, Davenport, Key, etc. and then ended up ignoring it altogether.

OL, they took a calculated risk in moving on from Brown and threw our top resource in the draft at McGlinchey. They certainly went aggressively after Richburg. That's a sound approach but they didn't even attempt going after Norwell or Sitton and instead, relied on the Fusco-approach and brought in average to below average G's and hoped they panned out.

My concern is that if you're relying on guys like Tomlinson, Garnett, Cooper and Person, beware. That might bite you in the ass.

With Tomlinson looking average at best in pass protection drills, McGlinchey getting dominated, Cooper still hasn't got up to football speed, Garnett most likely done one way or another, and you're now relying on Person or Magnuson, there's legit reason for concern in August.

Fans forget that Garoppolo took a lot of hits last year. You don't want a similar thing this year but for a full 16 games.

Tomlinson and Garnett are below average pass protectors in general; we can expect McGlinchey to struggle in pass protection esp. given who we play coming out of the gate. Kyle has a history of going cheaper at G which is understandable but perhaps outdated now. I'd feel a billion times better about this OL with Norwell or Sitton sitting next to McGlinchey or if we used some resources in a deep draft of G's.

You listen to Lynch, they very much are relying on Garoppolo's quick release to cover up the OL. That's dangerous for 16 games. The two positions he justified were the OL and ER on KNBR...he knows. We're not there yet...in August.

People forget during our dynasty, we had dominant OL...HOF, all-pro and probowl OL and some of those at G...not hoping for adequate.

The two areas we didn't address continue to be our biggest concerns, for whatever reason and given the approaches we took. We're about to find out if the approaches to both were right or not.

Excellent post NC!