sflegend89

Meaning superior to Zack Miller and Greg Jennings

Drafting a wr early isn't enough. Maybe if we retained Torrey and Daniels it would be but this offense has two massive voids at WR and TE right now. Hello? This is a TE driven offense and we're out in the cold as of right now. If Rob Housler signs elsewhere which he probably will because he wasn't cut then our final option is Zack Miller and the draft.. seriously? For one of the most crucial positions in our offense we're down to a glorified camp body and unproven players in a weak TE class. The Falcons just signed Moeaki AND Tamme, there's barely any depth left let alone a starter. I really hope there is a trade in the works for a TE because this is getting ridiculous, Daniels even said he was surprised how little we pursued him, seemed like a mistake when it happened and it seems like a mistake now. Daniels wasn't that expensive and he was tailor made for this offense and already had chemistry with Joe. Don't worry I'm sure we'll get some scrub like Zack Miller and Lee Evans... oops I mean Greg Jennings. That's really going to help out Joe after losing superior players at both positions. I don't even mean to trash Jennings who's still a productive player but give me a break with this lack of explosion in the passing game. This offense doesn't scare anyone. We have a 100 Million$ QB playing with bargain bin talent.. things can still change but it's concerning to say the least, especially TE.

I hope so man, I feel like Oz will too but I wouldn't be surprised at all if we make a BPA pick in the 1st round and the boards explode with frustration for not trading up for a WR

I would do an extremely in depth version of it if I had enough time. I still think it paints a good picture of how underdeveloped we currently are compared to the other teams investing a lot in a franchise QB. Are other teams out spending us on these receiving options? I'm sure they are. But that's part of the problem, even if we refuse to pay market value for top receiving options we should at least invest high draft picks and we don't even seem to do that.

#1 receiving option can be a WR or a TE. How soon we seem to forget that when we won the SB we had Anquan Boldin playing the best football of his career during those playoffs, along with Torrey Smith, and a healthy, pre-hip injury Dennis Pitta. We currently don't have a single one of those players. I'm as big of an Ozzie supporter as you can be, he's one of, if not the best GM's in the game. But he does have shortcomings as does every other GM. The Baltimore Ravens have never had a true #1 WR in the franchise's history. You can't tell me that's by design, at certain points we've tried to get one. We traded for Terrell Owens, we drafted Mark Clayton, Ozzie has tried to secure a #1 for us. But now we have too much invested in Flacco not to give him the weapons he needs to reach his full potential. We don't have anything close to the receiving options we had in 2012 or even 2014. Ozzie sent us into 2013 with a laugher of a wr core and believed in Doss and Thompson to be starters.. they aren't even on the team 2 years later and were slotted as starters. I think Camp and Aiken are much better prospects but the point remains that WR is a position where we really struggle to develop our own talent and it's time to make a concentrated effort to get Joe a dominant WR or TE for once in his career. Let's take a look at the top 10 highest paid QB's top receiving options currently: #1 = Elite receiving option #2 = Good receiving option #3 = Average receiving option #4 = Developmental/Below Average receiving option *In order of salary 1. Rodgers - Jordy Nelson (#1) and Randall Cobb (#1) 2. Ben - Antonio Brown (#1) and Martavis Bryant (#3) 3. Matt Ryan - Julio Jones (#1) and Roddy White (#2) 4. Joe Flacco - Steve Smith Sr. (#2) and Kamar Aiken (#4) 5 Drew Brees - Marques Colston (#2) and Brandin Cooks (#2), also have two 1st round picks including #13 overall 6. Peyton Manning - Demaryius Thomas (#1) and Emannuel Sanders (#1) 7. Kaepernick - Torrey (#2), Boldin (#2) (Vernon Davis is also a #2) 8. Jay Cutler - Alshon Jeffery (#1) and Martellus Bennett (#2) 9. Tony Romo - Dez Bryant (#1) and Jason Witten (#3) 10. Matt Stafford - Megatron (#1) and Golden Tate (#2) - 7/10 teams with a top 10 highest paid QB have a #1 receiving option and it was 8/10 before the Graham trade Let's add up the rankings from the top 2 receiving options from each team, obviously the lower the score the better 1. Packers = 2 2. Broncos = 2 3. Lions = 3 4. Falcons = 3 5. Bears = 3 6. Steelers = 3 7. Cowboys = 4 8. 49ers = 4 9. Saints = 4 10. Ravens = 6 We have the worst top 2 receiving options out of teams with a top 10 highest paid QB and it's not even close, even if we're being generous and upped Aiken up another rank we're still last.

Will this front office PLEASE get Joe a #1 receiving option! Joe has never had a true #1 option, Brady has Gronk, Manning has DT, Luck has Hilton, Ben has AB, Dalton has Green.. you invest all this money in Joe and now you're giving him bargain bin talent to throw the ball to. We have a massive hole at TE, we have a massive hole at WR, Smith Sr is still productive but on his last legs, Camp and Aiken have good potential but as we learned in 2013 you don't go into a season with just "potential" at WR or you can end up getting burned. We do such a great job of putting together a well rounded team at nearly every position yet for some strange reason we ignore WR year after year after year. Always adding stop gaps like Boldin and Smith Sr but never investing in a young player who will be here for the long haul. Last time we drafted a WR in the first 3 rounds was Torrey in 2011! That's inept player development at a key position when we have so much invested in a franchise QB. The draft is our only hope this year. Please Ozzie do what needs to be done and trade up for Amari, White, or Parker. Yes we will have to give up a few valuable picks but we are getting #1 talent on a rookie contract. I'm going to be livid if we send Joe into next season with some rag tag group like Smith Sr, Greg Jennings, Aiken, Camp, Zack Miller. That's not going to cut it, this offense needs an explosion in the passing game with Torrey and Daniels gone and it needs it now if we have any plans to actually compete for a SB. The defense just needs a few minor touches, the offense needs drastic moves at WR and TE.

Doing what we do every year, waiting out the first wave of free agency and snapping up good players who fall through the cracks on a discount. We were in on Knighton and Wilfork but other teams were willing to pay over our maximum. Plus we have a slew of mid round picks this year which is where Ozzie loves getting DL prospects and has had good success doing so.

I can agree with this, it can vary based on what wr's you put around them. If a team already has enough underneath possession wr's it would be better to have Torrey who can get vertical and take the top off a defense. So while it can vary, for the most part I think Crabtree is better overall (if he's healthy), better routes, better hands, better body control, more active underneath which helps move the chains and get the QB into a rhythm. Another big factor for me is the QB play, Torrey has played his whole career with Joe who throws one of, if not the best deep balls in the game. Alex Smith is the ultimate game manager and Kaepernick throws like a shortstop trying to turn a double play. Torrey has been the benefactor of better QB play and Crabtree still has had the best season between the two.

Yeah, his implied price tag does make it difficult which is why I'm not holding my breathe on us signing him. NFL front offices have much better info than we do about his Achilles so that is definitely going to sway his market value one way or another. If Crab is looking for the highest bidder we are already out of the running, if he's looking to compete for a SB and prove the 9ers wrong for replacing him with Torrey this is a picture perfect fit. We'll see how it plays out, if I had to guess I think he ends up in SD who is reported to have interest, decent enough team, has more cap room than us, get's to stay in Cali and live in beautiful weather. We would really have to sell him hard on coming here but it's certainly possible.

Fair question to ask. I don't know for sure obviously but I don't think Crab was a locker room cancer or anything like that.. just seemed like a mutual split. Crab wanted a change of scenery and the 49ers wanted someone who could take the top off the defense (what they envisioned with Lloyd and Stevie Johnson). They knew they had Torrey on board very early and opted to let Crabtree walk because he didn't really have a defined role with Torrey and Boldin there. They felt they didn't need Torrey, Boldin, AND Crabtree.. especially because he wouldn't come back cheap.

No worries man, that's the correct information. If I recall Suggs made a pretty miraculous recovery from an Achilles tear, obviously it would affect Crabtree more with the sharp cuts and route running but good a rehab can be done with that injury in most cases. I'll leave that up for our team doctors to weigh in on though as it clearly exceeds my area of expertise.

Healthy Crabtree > Torrey Not saying that out of bitterness or spite, that's always been my honest opinion. Crab is more well rounded and much more effective underneath while still bringing some big play ability down the field. The keyword though is healthy, I'm not sure to what extent Crabtree is still being affected by the ACL. Would love to have him here if we feel good about his rehab and progress from last year.. not sure what his market value is however.

Even if we couldn't use the money to sign anyone significant this year I think it will definitely assuage Joe's cap hit next year and give us more flexibility. I think a trade is a better option than cutting him anyway, If Webb get's banged up again this year his trade value is gone. If we trade him now there is still that glimmer of hope he'll stay healthy for another team and they will take on his contract and compensate us a pick or two in the process. Correct me if I'm wrong but a trade would clear the most cap and we could spend it right away (like we did with Ngata). Honestly Ngata was more deserving of getting paid than Webb so if we dealt Ngata why should we pay Webb? The only argument really is lack of depth at cb compared to dt.

Sure, anything can happen in the NFL. I'm just going based on the trends I've seen though and Webb being healthy and returning to form this year isn't something I'm at all sold on. If he had a moderate cap hit then I would be more willing to sit back and see what happens, but it's that 12M cap hit that makes it hard to figure out what to do with him. The simple solution is to restructure, stays on the team, lessens the unjustified cap hit. But since it appears Webb isn't willing to do that (which I don't blame him for, players want to make the most money possible) we have to likely trade or release him. While I wouldn't be shocked if we let him play under his current contract I think if we can find a trade partner like we did with Ngata that would be the ideal solution and we would get yet another pick out of it and avoid that 12M cap hit.

At least he's healthy on the field when his team needs him. Not blaming Webb for being injury prone but it is what it is

Well it is different in the sense that when we gave Webb that contract it seemed fair and it ended up being a disaster for us after the fact. The Browns just out right over paid Williams and it wasn't a good deal to begin with. But at the end of the day we both still have an overpaid cb on the roster and I would rather be paying 7M per for Williams than 8M per for Webb and it's not even close.

Pot calling the kettle black considering we're paying Webb base salary of 8M this year and I would much rather have Williams. Browns are still over paying but we have the king of overpaid cb's on our own roster. If he won't restructure I would start shopping Webb around and gauging value. If there is a team stupid enough to take on his contract like the Vikes did with Mike Wallace then pull the trigger and pick up another mid round pick in the process.

Exactly. We would never take on that ridiculous contract and give up a pick for him in the process. If he was cut he would've been intriguing, I honestly can't believe any GM in the NFL would willingly take on his his current contract. That's why teams like the Vikes never seem to grow, instead of spending their cap room on young developing players and hoarding draft picks they throw money at high profile players just because they can. That's not how you rebuild, they aren't trying to make a SB push in the next few years so why bring a player like Wallace in to burn through you're cap space and ultimately contribute nothing to the long term future of your team. Some of these teams just never seem to learn, you rebuild with a youth movement, you don't throw money at stop gaps, you value your draft picks and go after players who can help your team grow long term. They choose to be slightly more competitive short term over having sustainable success long term.

You're asking me what makes Michael Crabtree better than Camp, Aiken, and Marlon? The fact that he's had a 1000 yd receiving season for starters and basic football intuition that Crabtree was a top 10 draft pick for a reason, he's very talented but has been in an offense that doesn't cater to his skillset, only played with subpar QB's, and tore his acl coming off his best season as a pro posting a better yds/TD ratio than Torrey ever has while playing with an inferior QB and getting less targets than Torrey. I'm not saying we absolutely need him by any stretch of the imagination, I doubt we'll sign him. But I don't think you can even argue that we currently have better options on our roster than Michael Crabtree. Someone is going to pay him a nice chunk of change pretty soon, if any GM in the entire NFL felt we had multiple players superior to Crabtree already on our roster I'm sure our phones would be lighting up with offers, It's just a matter of money for us, Crabtree is easily better than our young wr's and that's not even an insult to them, I'm a fan of Camp and Aiken but I'm also being realistic with my expectations of them next year.

That's exactly Browner's contract. We should've gone after Browner at that price if we were in that neighborhood for Perrish Cox.. News flash we need cb depth because we have the injury bug there what seems like every season. I normally love our methodical approach to signing FA's but I think this was a year we needed to step up to the plate and commit to getting another quality corner in the fold after what happened last season. I think it's naive to expect to find a deal on a quality cb in FA after the type of season we had in the NFL with short passing games like the Pats reigning supreme, it's an arms race to build up your secondary and corners are getting top dollar. We did this same thing last year and Aaron Ross and Dominique Franks didn't even make it through the season.. it's one of the only positions where I just say "Pay the man!". Market is now depleted, if Webb or Jimmy go down we will be talking about missing this window on FA cb's all year.

But we did also have a well rounded array of targets. Torrey, Boldin, healthy Dennis Pitta .. we don't have a single one of those guys just 3 years later. I do agree that you don't NEED a #1 wr but if you don't have one you better have multiple quality receiving options like we did in 2012 and even last year with Torrey, Smith Sr, Daniels. I'm a fan of Camp and Aiken but we can't just bank on them stepping into bigger roles smoothly, we tried that in 2013 with Doss and Thompson and it blew up in our face. I think we have better talent at wr now than in 2013 but I still get really worried when we put all our eggs in the basket of unproven players like that. Smith Sr. has another good year in him, but we desperately need a TE who can catch, top priority right now. Then we can draft a wr in the 1st and we'll be in business. We can get away with only signing a guy like Denarius Moore before drafting our new top wr.. the thing we can't get away with is not getting a replacement for Daniels. Missing out on Chandler hurt, I would give up a 3rd for Vernon Davis a this point.

I'm torn on Bowe, he has a lot of bust potential for his price tag but I could also see him excelling once he get's out of KC's anemic passing situation. Just realized Crabtree is still available, curious what his market value is. I actually really like the idea of Crabtree playing with Flacco.. he's never played with anyone besides Alex Smith AKA The guy who didn't throw a TD to a wr in 2014 and Kaepernick AKA The guy who throws like a shortstop trying to turn a double play. I find it strange that we aren't all over him, after SF took Torrey it would be poetic justice to get Crab who is coincidentally the best wr still available and watch him put up career highs with Flacco. I know he's not going to be a bargain but I would like to us at least try to get him on a moderately cap friendly deal. To me he's a cut above everyone else at wr left under 30. That at least gives us some draft flexibility so we don't have to tie ourselves down to a wr in the 1st round.

We need to get a wr before the market is depleted. Denarius Moore would be ideal... he has the explosiveness to be a deep threat and that's something you don't get in Bowe or Wayne.. not to mention he'll be cheaper and is younger. Because we didn't re-sign Torrey or get a high quality replacement we've put ourselves in a position where we HAVE to get a wr in the 1st (Unless we make a major move there before the draft}. We draft BPA but I guess that means we have to trade to a position where a wr is the BPA. I'm fine with giving up a lot to get a guy like White or Amari if they fall out of the top 10. Not so hot on Parker or Strong, they can both be good wr 2's but I don't think they have the burst to be a true #1 wr. They aren't great finishers, they can make tough catches but they don't run great after the catch or create a tremendous amount of separation in their route running. I still like Parker, good talent, would be happy if we ended up with him but he's not quite on the level of the other 2 yet. Last year we had 4 legit #1's available in Watkins, Evans, ODB, Benjamin.. this year I think there's only 2 in White and Cooper. Listen, we invested A LOT in Flacco, too much to not give him some dang weapons. We might have to give up a pretty penny to nab one of those 2 but for me it's worth it, you're getting an elite wr on a rookie contract. The money we're saving by drafting a #1 instead of signing or trading for one helps cover the cost of trading up. We have enough comp picks and the 4th and 5th from Detroit to deal with the price of trading up without sacrificing the rest of our draft. Brady has Gronk, Manning has DT, Ben has AB... there is no excuse for Joe not to have a #1 receiver with how much we've invested in him.

I don't know for certain how much film he watches lol. If you notice I prefaced that assessment by saying "Personally", indicating that is merely my personal opinion. After watching every game of his career thus far I think it's clear that his struggles are mental. We've seen Sizzle chewing him out for taking bad angles, Elam didn't forget how to tackle he's just not using his head out there and being technical in is play. Look at another safety who is exactly Matt's size (5'10,200 lbs) in Earl Thomas who is among the NFL's elite at his position. The biggest difference that jumps off the page between the two are mental game. Earl is a student of the game, he's clinical with his movement, he takes good angles, he's technical when making an open field tackle and doesn't just rely on brute force. The difference between the two is significantly more mental than it is physical ability. I don't expect Elam to ever be Earl Thomas, different body types, different position.. but a lot of the principles of Earl's game that make him so effective are mental. Everyone playing safety in the NFL is at least a good athlete , that's a given, what separates the average joe's from the pro bowlers is to what extent they understand defensive/offensive concepts among other more technical mental aspects of the position. If Matt appears unfocused and overwhelmed mentally in game situations why should I believe he's putting in the time learning and preparing? I've seen players that have a highly developed football IQ but don't have the physical tools to be effective, but I've never seen a player with a developed football IQ and the physical tools have the type of mental lapses Elam has so that's why I feel the way I do.

I don't even fault Ozzie for making the Elam pick. I watch film on a lot of draft prospects every year because for me it makes the draft a lot more enjoyable to be knowledgeable about who's available and what kind of potential each player offers. For instance last year I had ODB rated higher than Watkins and Evans so for the most part my intuition is fairly good. I was impressed a lot by Elam, he was a very solid tackler and really flashed on film. Even when he was introduced the first thing Ozzie talked about was his tackling. I have absolutely no idea what happened to the Elam I saw on film and I'm sure Ozzie had a similar sentiment. I mean he went from a great open field tackler in college to a mediocre tackler in the NFL.. it's baffling. Personally I think Elam hasn't mentally devoted himself to reaching his potential, he works hard in the weight room but doesn't put in the time watching film and learning. I think the physical tools are there, he just needs to be mentally more engaged with his play, Elam's best game to date was the "Old Megaron" game. The magnifying glass was on him that whole week, he had to get his head all the way in the game or he was going to get embarrassed if he didn't perform. Matt looked like that player we saw at Florida knifing through the backfield and throwing Reggie Bush down for a loss.. he even got the game sealing pick to close out the game. Elam's problem on the field is all mental, he needs to be dialed in like that all the time and not just when the spotlight is on him.