That was the 49
ers 2009
off season.
Sure, everything started out
ok –
Singletary was named the head coach, the team had rebounded from a horrific start to get to 7-9, and there was a general positive vibe surrounding 4949 Centennial blvd.
Then the front office started making decisions. Like hiring a guy who, in two years from now, will officially be less qualified than me to run the franchise (I’ll see your MBA and raise you a teaspoon of football knowledge, Jed!)
First was the
OC disaster – its almost as if they were determined to find someone another team would NEVER in a million years hire away, unless the 49
ers were #1 in offense for 4 straight years. Jimmy Raye, come on down.
Then the free agency period hit. The past few years this has been a great day for 9
ers fans, reeling in Nate Clements and Justin Smith, among others.
This year? Not so much…
Let’s look at my idea
off season vs. the one they’
ve had thus far:
Needs: Pass rusher,
FS, QB, back up RB, RT,
FBNow it sure seems like the team headed my advice as to the current roster. Mark Roman was told to bounce, as was
Jonas Jennings,
Bryant Johnson,
J.T. O'Sullivan, and
DeShaun Foster.
Alex Smith and
Takeo Spikes were brought back.
But their new teammates? A lot left to be desired:
Damon Huard,
Moran Norris,
Micheal Spurlock,
Demetric Evans, and
Brandon Jones. And they are in fierce negotiations with an oft injured Marvel Smith.
Aren’t they cutting Jennings because of injury issues?
Excuse me if I’m not running out to buy season tickets.
The 49
ers went into the
off season correctly identifying team needs, but I think they really failed when it came to addressing them.
Granted, my
off season was impossible – the two biggest players I wanted were franchised, the right tackle I suggested signed to a large contract a few days before the start of free agency.
They lost
Ronald Fields and replace him with Evans – was there something wrong with bay area native
Igor Olshansky, who is 26, a six year veteran in a successful 3-4 defense, with ties to coordinator Greg
Manusky. A leak has come out that some of the assistant coaches are upset they
weren’t consulted about these players, because they feel the front office put an emphasis on the wrong players.
Don’t even get me started on them being short on defensive backs, yet we felt the need to cut
Keith Lewis, who has been the team’s best special teams player and one of the better safeties on the roster. I still contend he bring just as much to the table, if not more, than
Michael Lewis, at a fraction of the price.
Nancy Gay had a nice break down of the team’s current situation:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/25/SPG916M2R1.DTLI like that
Singletary seems to be conditioning the players. There are a lot of times it seems other teams forced their will on the 49
ers – I think
Singletary is taking necessary steps to make sure that
doesn’t happen in any more 4
th quarters.
Luckily, if the team signs Smith to play RT, they have set themselves up to stay away from drafting for need, and will be able to take the best player available at ten. Much like when the team drafted Patrick Willis, they have one of those draft picks where a potential impact player should drop to them. Sexy players I could MAYBE see falling to the team at ten I’d be more than happy to look at:
Michael Crabtree,
B.J. Raji,
Jeremy Maclin,
Everette Brown,
Michael Oher,
Malcolm Jenkins,
Rey Maualuga – we shall see which direction the team goes. I think
Raji and
Crabtree are no
brainers if they fall, the rest all have small kinks in the armor but would be interesting to take at ten.
Let’s just hope the team drafts a little better than it attacked this
off season – or else
Singletary might just end up another Mike Nolan – all talk, no walk.
P.S. Matt Barrows still is having a torrid bro-
mance with
Percy Harvin, and I can’t blame him – I think the Wildcat is the offense the
Flacons needed to run with Mike Vick, and it will just become more popular – is it the new West Coast offense? I doubt I’d go that far, but I don’t think this is just a fad that will be disappearing soon – teams are looking for Wildcat players,
ala Pat White.
http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/49ers/archives/020970.html