TheSim

Gotta laugh at all the Pats media going after him for this, as if their coach hasn't been the king of disrespect for over a decade, when it comes to how he treats their reporters. Harbaugh gets heated and too candid at times, but he at least answers most questions with as much detail as he feels is appropriate. Belicheck on the other hand engages in a deliberate attempt to get the media to stop asking him any questions whatsoever, as if somehow the public's interest in his football team is irrelevant.

I just hope they're not rushing guys with leg injuries back. That's how you end up with starters underperforming and then suffering even worse injuries as they try to compensate for their weak side. I've gotta say the only thing I really worry about with this organization is how poorly of a job it does with keeping its players healthy. I don't know if it's issues on the training staff, or the exceptionally long/challenging practices, or coaches encouraging/pushing players to play through injuries, or what. But year in and year out we seem to be among the league leaders in injuries.

I'm wondering if they just took their old model for Laquan Williams (also #11 in his first stint with us) and hoped no one would notice. Lazy developers. That 60 toughness rating is a farce, though. Can't wait to see how they scramble to update him as the season goes on and he makes them look stupid.

Seems kind of unfair to judge him based on the Eagles game. They didn't scheme for that weird offense, and the Eagles didn't show any of that stuff during their practices together. ILBs, unlike CBs or linemen, can't just play by ear, they need prep time and coordination with the rest of the team. Pretty sure anyone short of #52 would look silly in that situation.

While Yanda and Tucker are critical signings for us, I believe our edge setting LBer, the steadfast and humble Courtney Upshaw is next! I think he'll be a very important extension to get right now.

He's a solid guy to have around, but teams are always willing to overpay for our DE/OLB hybrids, and they've got young guys (Za'Darius and Steven Means) who they're pretty high on right now.

what's the difference of now and then if all the cap space rolls over anyway? In theory it would actually be smarter to save that cap room this year since we have him locked up for the year anyway incase any other issues or needs arise that take priority.

It's a good question, I had originally thought there was a per year limit on rollover, but apparently there isn't. That's great news. Even more reason not to worry as much.    

One issue is that they have to set their max cap space to roll over two weeks before the start of the season.  I would assume they're just going to set it at the max and if something comes up during the year (like needing to sign a dang cornerback again) they'll use some of that there instead. /shrug

None of his prior injuries in the NFL were ligament/joint related. They were all muscle related. It's kind of weird that they're being so vague this time by just saying "soft tissue".

I misspoke, they were all "muscle-related", but there's still a difference between a pulled muscle (his hamstring injury) or a slight tear (his quadriceps injury) and what sounds more like a contusion.  The former are from poor ligament/joint support (my original point) while the latter is usually just bad luck.

Ben, these are great, but let me just get this out of the way: you know full well The Flash is a DC hero. Might I suggest instead: Thor-ell Suggs?

exactly. There is no real incentive for the FO to sign yanda or tucker right now. They are already the top players at their position so they really have nothing to lose by waiting the season out and seeing if their performance drops or if they get injured. They don't just sign players bc we like them. This is a business.

While I agree it's not as urgent as it will be next year, the thing is the team does have a TON of extra cap space (relative to our normal cap situation) this year and I'm sure they'd love to front-end a contract with someone like Yanda and get as much of it paid this year as possible.  They can still roll over some of that cap space next year, but right now I'm sure they are eager to get him locked up this year to take advantage of all that extra cap room.

Edit: January J pointed out that they can just roll over all of their extra cap, so this may not be an issue after all.

??? So they can sign Hill to an extension, but still nothing on the Tucker, Yanda, KO front. 3 pieces way more important then Hill with all due Respect. Your no Ed Reed who needs to be locked up instantly

Maybe just relax and let one of the best front offices in the NFL do their job. 

"Soft tissue" sounds like a contusion of some sort. Since his prior issues were almost all ligament/joint-related, this sounds like an anomaly. Depends on how bad and where (assuming it's the leg though) should be able to come back full in time for the season.

Waller had a few good practices, guys. Lets not drink the Kool-Aid here. The Calvin Johnson comparisons are laughable until the guy actually, y'know, plays a real game and plays well. So far we have some good camp days and a mediocre performance against the Saints' backups. Relax.

 

I must be missing something here? Who should he be starting over? Daryll? Mosley?

I don't think he was suggesting he be one of the starters, but this team sometimes replaces a safety with an extra ILB with some frequency depending on package, usually in obvious run situations, and it's usually McClellan who's gotten that spot.  If Brown keeps up his play, he may take that role from Albert this season, which is probably the best he can do on this team.

He's really great to watch. He's definitely more of a Kelly Gregg-style NG, so what he does is more subtle than what Ngata did for a lot of his career here, but watching him play is still one of my favorite things to do during games.

So sad. Here's hoping someone else with the resources will make the time in their life to take up Leonard's place as Maryland's Batman. The kids deserve it.

I always wonder about the "who's going to stretch the defense" question this year. Torrey was our "speedster" for 4 years. Do you remember defenses being "stretched" very much during that time? Always seemed like no matter what, safeties were pretty close. It's less about straight-line speed than how physical you can be at the LoS to get away from press. Torrey always struggled to fight through contact (got better as time went on, but it seriously limited his speed). And his route-running took years to hone.

Kamar, by contrast, has better hands than Torrey, is better against contact, and has decent speed. Obviously we'd all love for Perriman to be an option for this offense, especially going 3 wide. But Kamar is as good as what we had last year at the position or better, in my opinion.

(And I think people thinking Waller is the solution there are getting a little ahead of themselves, he's got the physical tools but needs at least a year's worth of training still)

Minor quibble, but that Maxx Williams play was on 4TH and 20, not 3rd. If he doesn't make that play, the game is over.

He was absolutely dominant. But as a rookie if he's featured heavily, he's going to need to be rotated out frequently to stay fresh by the end of the year. College kids aren't ready for 16 games plus the playoffs.

I never understood the ESPN-driven idea that Allen was probably the solution at backup RB. Rookie RBs are always brought into Harbaugh's teams slowly, even Ray Rice (a 2nd round steal) was basically third on the depth chart behind McGahee and McClain. Taliaferro looked really good last year, despite his size being a bit of an encumbrance in Kubiak's scheme.

The 2nd RB is an extremely important position on Harbaugh's teams, because we run the ball so much and the 1st RB has to have regular breaks. This is the guy who isn't spectacular like the 1st RB, but who can be trusted to hold onto the ball, get 3.5-4 ypc, and be excellent in pass pro. That's why Harbaugh is so reluctant to just pass that role over to the 2nd RB.

The pick, for a starter, would have been unacceptable. But he made a good decision on that throw and just didn't set his feet. Some people might say it was too risky given their situation, but I think Renner understood that with how poorly the backup defense was playing, it was more important to get that 1st down and maintain possession. He just needs to make his fundamentals more automatic, so when he's in pressure situations like that and finds the right throw, he executes it. If he can do that, he can be a very good backup.

That comment by Harbs has to be the best one in 8 years... LOL. He was really ticked off at the defense. It's been a long time. He's right.

I almost wonder if that wasn't a jab at Dean Pees a little bit and his bend-don't-break approach.  I'm sure I'm reading too much into it, but it does get tiring as a long-time fan when you feel like we never make it easy in the last 2 minutes on D.

That backup defense was pretty shoddy, but then again many of them were actually 3rd stringers playing against 1st and 2nd stringers. That said, I was underwhelmed by Zach Orr and Albert McClellan, and Anthony Levine was inconsistent. I think a lot of it was a lack of communication, there seemed to be a lot of guesswork going on. Arthur Brown played as well or better than all of those guys, but still made you worry about whether or not he could line up against 1st team players.

Both Carl Davis and Lawrence Guy looked like starters, plain and simple. Davis is a legitimately scary player. There was a play in the 1st quarter where their LG gets a good jump, has leverage, but Davis just stands him up and pushes him back immediately, like the guy was a crappy TE. He and Jernigan basically look like the same guy out there. Guy isn't gonna make a Pro Bowl anytime soon but he clearly knows how to play 3-4 DE. Whatever OLB is on his side is going to feast. Brandon Williams looked like Kelly Gregg per usual, that guy is a monster NG. If you like watching Dline play, this season is going to be extremely fun to watch.

So it begins,... the "Harbaugh Hyperbole" that makes me go "Gaaaaa!"   

  

Yanda's a fantastic Guard, no doubt, but whether he makes the HOF with 4 Pro bowls in nine years? Doubt it!

 

Let em fly,....

Don't be such a Debbie Downer, Mystigo!

But seriously, first of all he's ENTERING his 9th year, it's actually 4 PBs in 8 seasons.  And Yanda may not have the Pro Bowls (yet), but it takes a LONG time to get recognition as a guard in the NFL. It's the position where people most often get in on legacy more than performance.  In 2008 and 2009, he should've gotten in but was dealing with Alan Faneca's legacy in the way.  Now in the AFC it's just him and Logan Mankins, and he's better than Mankins now.  If he retired tomorrow he doesn't get into the Hall, but given that he's 30 and can play probably another 5 years at a high level, there's no reason to not believe he couldn't get the same kinds of accolades as, say, Larry Allen who just got in.  He'll be raking in PBs and All-Pros for years to come.  It's not a sure bet, of course, but it's not crazy at all to believe he'll get into the hall.

"Brady reportedly aced his appeal"

According to who? The only people in that room would've been Brady, Goodell, and Brady's reps. We know Goodell isn't the one talking about it, so we have to assume it's Brady's people. OF COURSE they're going to say he aced his appeal. So sick of this stuff from ESPN and that fraud Schefter. All they/he does is act as a shill for whatever PR rep or agent calls him and tells him what they want him to say.

People forget that Jimmy Smith's first two years weren't exactly stellar, either. He was being labeled a bust shortly before emerging as one of the best CBs in the AFC. Everybody says the position that requires the biggest adjustment from college to the NFL is in the secondary, so it's totally possible that he's improved.