John Lynch - 49ers GM

Originally posted by Sask49erFan:
I disagree 100%

By far the biggest reason Seattle had their way with our Oline in the playoffs was because we had absolutely no-one they respected at the skill positions.

Kendrick Bourne, DeMarcus Robinson, Skyy Moore and Jake Tonges scare no-one.

Compare that to Mike Evans, Ricky Pearsall, De'Zhaun Stribling and George Kittle when we play them first and let's see what happens to that front 7.

Go ahead, stack the box and play a 2 deep. Let's see what will happen.

Agree 💯%

If i recall, when we had everybody healthy last year, we beat the eventual Superbowl champs.

Originally posted by Giedi:
Personally, I think the defense last year was more of a problem. Kyle, in my opinion, will always have a great offense. Good scheme, good coach who can coach up marginal offensive players to operate that offense to starter level performance.

Their defensive scheme has a built in weakness in the defensive backfield. I.e. rush the passer so you don't have to have top end coverage DB's. That weakness seems to be always exploited in the playoffs and they never seem to fix that blindspot of theirs. Oh well.

>>Kyle, in my opinion, will always have a great offense

While defense was also a problem last year, we only managed 6 points against Seattle in the playoff game.....I'd hardly call that a great offence.

Originally posted by Ottawa49er:
>>Kyle, in my opinion, will always have a great offense

While defense was also a problem last year, we only managed 6 points against Seattle in the playoff game.....I'd hardly call that a great offence.

did you miss the fact we pretty much hobbled our way in to the game? The fact we made the playoffs on the back of the offense with lets be honest very minimal weapons is a testiment to our offensive coaching staff. And i will also give credit to defensive coaching staff for creating a somwhat compeitive defense put together with scotch tape

Originally posted by Sask49erFan:
I disagree 100%

By far the biggest reason Seattle had their way with our Oline in the playoffs was because we had absolutely no-one they respected at the skill positions.

Kendrick Bourne, DeMarcus Robinson, Skyy Moore and Jake Tonges scare no-one.

Compare that to Mike Evans, Ricky Pearsall, De'Zhaun Stribling and George Kittle when we play them first and let's see what happens to that front 7.

Go ahead, stack the box and play a 2 deep. Let's see what will happen.

First, Seattle didn't stack the box. They destroyed the 49ers out of a light box in nickel/dime. The 49ers couldn't run the ball out of 21 personnel against a light box/nickel defense…Do you guys realize how fucked this is? This is the foundation of the offense in a run-heavy personnel, and it's being shutdown by a passing defense .

This is how Seattle defends 21 personnel on first down:



Second, I'm not sure what skill positions have to do with being unable to move Jarran Reed and Byron Murphy in the run game, or being unable to 1-on-1 block Demarcus Lawrence and Leonard Williams.

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by Sask49erFan:
I disagree 100%

By far the biggest reason Seattle had their way with our Oline in the playoffs was because we had absolutely no-one they respected at the skill positions.

Kendrick Bourne, DeMarcus Robinson, Skyy Moore and Jake Tonges scare no-one.

Compare that to Mike Evans, Ricky Pearsall, De'Zhaun Stribling and George Kittle when we play them first and let's see what happens to that front 7.

Go ahead, stack the box and play a 2 deep. Let's see what will happen.

First, Seattle didn't stack the box. They destroyed the 49ers out of a light box in nickel/dime. The 49ers couldn't run the ball out of 21 personnel against a light box/nickel defense…Do you guys realize how fucked this is? This is the foundation of the offense in a run-heavy personnel, and it's being shutdown by a passing defense .

This is how Seattle defends 21 personnel on first down:



Second, I'm not sure what skill positions have to do with being unable to move Jarran Reed and Byron Murphy in the run game, or being unable to 1-on-1 block Demarcus Lawrence and Leonard Williams.

I agree. Seattle ran a 6 db shell and dared us to run.

That said, I don't know that we really could improve upon the oline to significantly counter their hogs. I do think that Evans and Stribling are types that can challenge their secondary with their size and in Striblings case, speed. Black with his burst seems like he could be a more effective runner than CMC on the wrong side of 30. Having a healthy Kittle and Pearsall will help too. So I don't see the skill positions as something that won't help.

But more than anything having a defense with hogs of our own, will make these games much closer. I mean, Fred, Dre, and Bosa, and now Osa, those are some hogs of equal caliber to theirs, and they were not playing (or not on the team last year).

Also, I know that LG is a huge question mark, but I'm a bit optimistic that someone in the pool of our two FAs, two rookies, and Colby, will emerge, at the very least a significant improvement over Burford who was absolute ass last year. I'm more concerned about Brendel who is and remains ass to my eye test. Although, I did like hearing that Carver Willis is looked at as an option there (I just don't think Kyle will trust a rookie to unseat Brendel even if the rookie is a more talented blocker). But yeah, hard to imagine we're going to be that offense that throws down on SEA as long as their dline is as dominant as they are, but if we can make games a defensive slugfest, we have the weapons on offense to do more damage than we did late last year.

Originally posted by ritz126:
did you miss the fact we pretty much hobbled our way in to the game? The fact we made the playoffs on the back of the offense with lets be honest very minimal weapons is a testiment to our offensive coaching staff. And i will also give credit to defensive coaching staff for creating a somwhat compeitive defense put together with scotch tape

Nope, I didn't miss that at all, and our offensive coaching staff is fantastic. But that doesn't change the fact that we needed to be better on the O-Line and needed more speed on the offensive to truly be a "great" offensive. Hoping our first pick in this years draft will help us with some of that needed speed.

Originally posted by Chance:
I agree. Seattle ran a 6 db shell and dared us to run.

That said, I don't know that we really could improve upon the oline to significantly counter their hogs. I do think that Evans and Stribling are types that can challenge their secondary with their size and in Striblings case, speed. Black with his burst seems like he could be a more effective runner than CMC on the wrong side of 30. Having a healthy Kittle and Pearsall will help too. So I don't see the skill positions as something that won't help.

But more than anything having a defense with hogs of our own, will make these games much closer. I mean, Fred, Dre, and Bosa, and now Osa, those are some hogs of equal caliber to theirs, and they were not playing (or not on the team last year).

Also, I know that LG is a huge question mark, but I'm a bit optimistic that someone in the pool of our two FAs, two rookies, and Colby, will emerge, at the very least a significant improvement over Burford who was absolute ass last year. I'm more concerned about Brendel who is and remains ass to my eye test. Although, I did like hearing that Carver Willis is looked at as an option there (I just don't think Kyle will trust a rookie to unseat Brendel even if the rookie is a more talented blocker). But yeah, hard to imagine we're going to be that offense that throws down on SEA as long as their dline is as dominant as they are, but if we can make games a defensive slugfest, we have the weapons on offense to do more damage than we did late last year.

Good post.

It seems like the 49ers' accepted the fact that there's nothing they can do in one offseason to stop Seattle's DL and opted to address other issues on their team while hoping that Seattle's DL, which is admittedly on the older side outside of a few guys, isn't as good or healthy next season.

The injury excuse is so nauseating around here and it's such a loser mentality.

Seattle just beat the s**t out of the OL and the 49ers had ZERO answer and they have done absolutely nothing to fix that. Might even be worse at Trent is older.

So concerned with Seattle dominating our o line when the Eagles didnt. Bears didnt.

Meanwhile every team the 9ers played outside of maybe the Giants were open all day vs the secondary. Pass rush will help but a couple cheap castoffs at corner aren't the solution there.

Im not a big Brendel guy but hes a better starting center than anyone the 9ers have in the secondary right now not named Lenoir. That is the key failure of the offseason right now and I dont see a solution coming. At least they can still sign a Joe Bitonio or Kevin Zeitler at guard if they choose.

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by Sask49erFan:

I disagree 100%

By far the biggest reason Seattle had their way with our Oline in the playoffs was because we had absolutely no-one they respected at the skill positions.

Kendrick Bourne, DeMarcus Robinson, Skyy Moore and Jake Tonges scare no-one.

Compare that to Mike Evans, Ricky Pearsall, De'Zhaun Stribling and George Kittle when we play them first and let's see what happens to that front 7.

Go ahead, stack the box and play a 2 deep. Let's see what will happen.

First, Seattle didn't stack the box. They destroyed the 49ers out of a light box in nickel/dime. The 49ers couldn't run the ball out of 21 personnel against a light box/nickel defense…Do you guys realize how fucked this is? This is the foundation of the offense in a run-heavy personnel, and it's being shutdown by a passing defense .

This is how Seattle defends 21 personnel on first down:



Second, I'm not sure what skill positions have to do with being unable to move Jarran Reed and Byron Murphy in the run game, or being unable to 1-on-1 block Demarcus Lawrence and Leonard Williams.

Kyle literally said it himself when he was a guest on the analyst panel for the Rams Seahawks game. "If you can't run on them when they're in nickel, they'll stay in it all game and you're cooked." (paraphrasing slightly)

I wanted a day one starter and or 2027 starting center in this class. One of the better classes I felt than in recent years. Brendel absolutely needs to be replaced in 2027. Additionally, I wanted a long term solution at LG. Instead we have band aid solutions with Robert Jones or Brett Toth.

That said, I can see what they seem to be planning to do. Kyle has not hid at all that they're planning for more free agent exits at some spots, and I think IOL will be a big one.

It seems to me, they will have Toth backup Brendel, and as long as he doesn't get lots of playing time, they'd resign him to a multi year deal for cheap to replace Brendel at center going forward. Next, Jones will play out this year while Carver Willis gets adjusted. They draft new competition at IOL next year with Willis having that spot as his job to lose.

Originally posted by 9ers4eva:
So concerned with Seattle dominating our o line when the Eagles didnt. Bears didnt.

Divisional games are a different animal. The Seahawks see the Niners twice a year. MacDonald knows their protections and tendencies, and game plans specifically to attack them. That familiarity makes their pass rush more effective than a one off matchups against teams like the Eagles or Bears.

Additionally, not all defensive lines stress teams the same way. SF's OL is typically smaller and built on athleticism, but Seattle's front--which revolves around Byron Murphy--cancels that out. He's the straw that mixes the drink by being athletic enough to keep up with SF OL's movements while being strong enough that they can't move him off the spot. He singlehandedly collapses the pocket, creates a logjam, and disrupts everything.

This issue isn't just about addressing a good DL. It's about figuring out how the hell they're going to beat bad stylistic matchup you have to solve twice a year.

Originally posted by AB81Rules:
Yeah it is ridiculous how so many are acting like all these other teams are great and we reached yet this draft was so light and so many teams including SEA LAR reached according to the so called great consensus boards and yeah they let a top 2 C go and are gonna start a UDFA some ppl don't get that the talent level isn't there for the OL all across the entire league there's a real lack of good OL in the NFL

this ^

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by 9ers4eva:
So concerned with Seattle dominating our o line when the Eagles didnt. Bears didnt.

Divisional games are a different animal. The Seahawks see the Niners twice a year. MacDonald knows their protections and tendencies, and game plans specifically to attack them. That familiarity makes their pass rush more effective than a one off matchups against teams like the Eagles or Bears.

Additionally, not all defensive lines stress teams the same way. SF's OL is typically smaller and built on athleticism, but Seattle's front--which revolves around Byron Murphy--cancels that out. He's the straw that mixes the drink by being athletic enough to keep up with SF OL's movements while being strong enough that they can't move him off the spot. He singlehandedly collapses the pocket, creates a logjam, and disrupts everything.

This issue isn't just about addressing a good DL. It's about figuring out how the hell they're going to beat bad stylistic matchup you have to solve twice a year.

One way run against the Seattle big nickle is to just go to a gap-power scheme. The 49ers have two problems with that. A) They don't run gap-power B) it was a bad draft to try to get those OLine beasts. Kyle still managed to beat them when the team was healthy so that is a good sign that the Kyle offense - with a good defense - can still handle the Seattle big nickel.

Kyle mentioned in the Rich Isen show that they view the 2027 draft as very important and tried to get more draft picks in 2027. Just looking at the draft nerd info from the internet, 2027 is also looking like a deep draft for Offenses Tackles.

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by Chance:
I agree. Seattle ran a 6 db shell and dared us to run.

That said, I don't know that we really could improve upon the oline to significantly counter their hogs. I do think that Evans and Stribling are types that can challenge their secondary with their size and in Striblings case, speed. Black with his burst seems like he could be a more effective runner than CMC on the wrong side of 30. Having a healthy Kittle and Pearsall will help too. So I don't see the skill positions as something that won't help.

But more than anything having a defense with hogs of our own, will make these games much closer. I mean, Fred, Dre, and Bosa, and now Osa, those are some hogs of equal caliber to theirs, and they were not playing (or not on the team last year).

Also, I know that LG is a huge question mark, but I'm a bit optimistic that someone in the pool of our two FAs, two rookies, and Colby, will emerge, at the very least a significant improvement over Burford who was absolute ass last year. I'm more concerned about Brendel who is and remains ass to my eye test. Although, I did like hearing that Carver Willis is looked at as an option there (I just don't think Kyle will trust a rookie to unseat Brendel even if the rookie is a more talented blocker). But yeah, hard to imagine we're going to be that offense that throws down on SEA as long as their dline is as dominant as they are, but if we can make games a defensive slugfest, we have the weapons on offense to do more damage than we did late last year.

Good post.

It seems like the 49ers' accepted the fact that there's nothing they can do in one offseason to stop Seattle's DL and opted to address other issues on their team while hoping that Seattle's DL, which is admittedly on the older side outside of a few guys, isn't as good or healthy next season.

Agree, good insights. Seattle is going to regress, by how much, we'll soon find out. I don't think Kyle will radically change his offense. He'll still go with his small athletic OLinemen and his zone runs. What I will say is that both Kittle and CMC getting injured in the playoffs did not help the 49ers offense at all in the game against Seattle.