49er Top Roster Needs

[49erkezarguy]

1st priority - 2 OT's doesn't have to be 1st round. Can be Draft, FA, or combo. I lean towards combo 1st day draft pick and a FA OT, preferably left OT. WE desperately need both a starter and a backup for depth.

2nd priority - NT or DT. Preferably draft. BPA at this position and forget whether he's a 3-4 or a 4-3. Just get the BPA, also 1st day pick. This is our biggest Achille's heel on our defense.

Most will be screaming for the sexy skill player but I see these 2 positions as being our biggest needs. After this I'd look at RB's and QB's and weigh what's available with the BPA and go RB or QB if it's a close call and BPA if it's not really a close call.

These are my thoughts. What are yours?

[dhiLL]

Originally Posted by 49erkezarguy

1st priority - 2 OT's doesn't have to be 1st round. Can be Draft, FA, or combo. I lean towards combo 1st day draft pick and a FA OT, preferably left OT. WE desperately need both a starter and a backup for depth.

2nd priority - NT or DT. Preferably draft. BPA at this position and forget whether he's a 3-4 or a 4-3. Just get the BPA, also 1st day pick. This is our biggest Achille's heel on our defense.

Most will be screaming for the sexy skill player but I see these 2 positions as being our biggest needs. After this I'd look at RB's and QB's and weigh what's available with the BPA and go RB or QB if it's a close call and BPA if it's not really a close call.

These are my thoughts. What are yours?

Your ideas about the tackle situation are overkill.

We need to get a quality starter at RT through free agency or the draft (most likely FA, this year looks pretty promising). Staley will start at left, and is getting better, despite some struggles this season. Snyder is a **** good backup, and can play either position (preferably right obviously) if needed.

We do need a pretty good 4th stringer, but he should definitely be a 4th rd pick or later, and ideally someone who can play guard too. Spending a 1st or 2nd round pick that will be on the bench for awhile is a bad move.

Agree with NT. Whether we play a 4-3 or 3-4, we need someone who can plug the middle and make our D much tougher to run on.

I somewhat agree with you at RB. We should be trying to add someone who would be able to handle the load if Gore were to ever go down, but I have liked what I've seen from Robinson (and Clayton as well), and feel that we could add someone in the 5th round or later here.

QB is still obviously a need, we should be spending an early pick on one, hopefully in the 2nd or 3rd round. It doesn't look like the top of this draft class at QB is very promising.

We could also use a top pick at FS, we have had really poor play there all year, and the reason why our CB's at times look like they're playing horribly.

Other than that, we're pretty much good. It's a lot to handle in one offseason, but we have a lot of cap room and (most likely) a top 8 draft pick to work with. I'm hoping we trade down to somehow get 2 1st round picks - it would go a long way.

I'd list our priorities like this: OT, NT, QB (unless Hill plays REALLY well the rest of the season), Pass Rusher, FS, ILB, RB, FB.

[majesstik1]

I'll just run down the list with my thoughts as of now...

QB - Shaun Hill appears he may be capable of playing place holder at this position until we get a draft pick developed here. Or, god forbid, Alex Smith comes back and wins this job. Either way, we must draft another QB in the mid-rounds (maybe John Parker Wilson in the 4th) and try to bring him along slowly. A lot of people like to throw out the empty cliche "sign a veteran in free agency". Guess what? Veterans that hit free agency often have expired their effectiveness, and these guys usually tend to be players that hold your team in neutral (which is fine if you're already a good team, but we're not) until you develop a draft pick. Since we currently have 2 "veteran" QBs due back next year, we might just be okay to forgo the Veteran Free Agent.

RB - Not a severe need, but we should look to back up Gore with two specialists here. One, a short yardage hammer of a back. The other as a speedy scat back type...maybe even a guy with some KOR ability. The nice thing about this strategy is you don't have to spend a lot of money, or use a high draft pick to find either of these types. It's highly possible we can pluck both of these role players out of the undrafted rookie pool. Like I wished we did with BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Regardless, Foster and Clayton have no usefulness for us here, time to look for efficient role players.

FB - This really depends on what scheme we run next year. If we run a WCO, then we need the pass catching/sometimes blocking type. If we go for more of a power O, then we need a wrecking ball type. This is another position that doesn't require a lot of money or a draft pick to acquire, just a good eye for one that matches the scheme.

WR - We've continued to botch this position year after year. But, there is some hope. Morgan (when healthy) and Hill appear to be worth keeping around and getting substantial playing time. Battle is still a try hard guy, but he's a bit too prone to injury to count on for 16 games a year. Zeigler is intriguing, but there is just not enough evidence for me to commit to him as a top 4 player for us at WR next year. Bruce and Johnson are more than welcome to look for jobs elsewhere next year. So, that's going to leave a roster spot or two available here for next year.

The current crop of FA WRs are unappealing to me. The draft offers more to choose from at every stage. If we want to look at WR early on, we could be able to grab Crabtree or Maclin. Both are tremendous playmakers that bring different skills to the table, with Maclin being a guy who can contribute on returns as early as now. If we want to look a little later into the draft and pluck specialists, that's another option. We could certainly use a legitimate deep threat...and/or a big physical RAC guy, depending on the offense we run next year. I think the deep threat remains constant though. We just don't have a lot of speed at that position right now, and can't keep opponents from playing close to the LOS. It's not likely a rookie will change that next year, but it would be nice to at least have that guy working his way up the depth chart starting next year. Maclin could really improve this team in that area, if we're looking at that position early.

TE - For every 2 steps backwards Davis takes, he puts a step and a half forward on tape. The guy is among the better blockers at his position, and better than some offensive tackles in the league at blocking right now. I don't want to justify his antics, but if I were a guy drafted as the top receiving threat in my class and paid several millions of dollars thinking that was going to be my role, I'd probably get a little squeaky at some point too. What we need is for him to mature this offseason, and learn when the proper times to show emotions are. I'm all for keeping him around, as he's shown tremendous potential to this point, we just need the right coach in here to tap it.

As for the rest of this group, Walker and Bajema are serviceable. Bajema is an UFA after this season, and probably won't command much money on the open market, which could make him easier for us to re-sign. He brings the blocking, and Walker is the pass catcher. Those two, along with Davis is more than adequate for this position, we don't need to use any resources here, other than re-signing our own player.

OL - Staley's future is at LT. He's not strong enough to play RT in the NFL. His game is more finesse, and he has the standard tools you look for at LT. He's another guy we need to let play through it, and see if he continues to improve, which is what he's done over the last few weeks.

RT is interesting in that I believe we have our future starter at RT already on the roster, but he isn't ready yet. Rachal has been lining up at OT in the jumbo packages this year, and his college performance showed me a big nasty mauler with good enough feet to hang with DLEs. If we can get him ready to go before next year to take over at RT, then that reduces a gaping hole on our team. Otherwise, we should aggressively pursue Jordan Gross, with a little attention directed at Stacy Andrews as well, and see if we can land either of those guys. The rest of the FA RT class is either declining veteran has-beens, or raw and potential laden youngsters. If we are able to get either of these guys, then we can kick Rachal back inside to take over at either guard position - preferably RG.

The guard positions on our team are adequate, but could use depth and competition. Baas and Wragge are both serviceable, but neither is dominant. Somewhere in the draft (even if we sign Gross or Andrews) we will need to take an OLman with guard/tackle versatility.

At center, we already extended Heitmann through 2011, so we must have confidence that he's our guy, and we just used a 4th rounder on Wallace. I really don't see McCloughan putting too much effort into this position in the offseason.

DL - We spent way too much money to keep a barely average player like Sopoaga around. Franklin has failed in his role as a space eater, teams don't even bother to double him. If we let Fields test the market, he may end up not finding any work. McDonald has some potential, but doesn't really fit as a DE or a DT, he's more of a situational player. Smith is a bucket of hustle, but he doesn't really make many plays on the opponent's side of the LOS. Balmer is not getting enough consistent playing time to get a proper evaluation on him (from a fan's perspective - coaches see him in practice, so they have an edge we don't, obviously). Haralson could end up as a decent PRS at end, but he's still not an every down guy either.

The DL is also subject to who is coaching here next year, and what scheme they bring with them. It's obvious Sop, Smith, and Balmer will be back, due to their contracts. But what do we do from there? My outlook is to go hard after Terrell Suggs or Julius Peppers (there is risk involved with both, I know), and plug the middle with one of the talented NTs in the draft (my favorite is B.J. Raji). However, there are no guarantees in the draft, so you can't just say we'll sign one guy because there will be this other guy available to us in the draft, so my comments here are purely based on speculation. We could end up signing Haynesworth and having to look at the draft for a DE. Either way, both of these positions are high on our priority list.

LB - Again, this is contingent on who the coaches will be to develop a more concise strategy, but for now, it kind of falls in line with my DL comments. We need a pass rusher, and we need a space eater. No matter what scheme we run that stays true. Willis is the guy in the middle, and Lawson is an adequate Sam, but we need that guy coming off the weak side that can get to the QB and hunt plays down from the backside and make some TFLs. We also need quality depth here. This is an area that will need to be addressed by the draft and/or free agency.

CB - Clements is good for about 4 seconds in coverage, but when we continually ask him to cover guys for longer, we're setting him up to fail. Get a pass rush, combine that with 4 seconds of tight coverage, and more explosive plays occur on defense. He also needs help on the other side. It's apparent that Harris is nearing the end of the line as a productive starter. Spencer is is a poor bet to replace him, and we fans still don't know what we have in Brown and Smith. We know Strickland gets abused and targeted whenever he's on the field. So why not start getting the youngsters involved now? The season is done, all we're doing at this point is playing for pride. Use the rest of the year to get a look at the depth of our roster so we know what we need going into the offseason.

S - Lewis is adequate as a box safety, what we lack is a centerfielder who can run down balls in the air and either pick them off, or break up the play. There really isn't much on the FA list to coo over here. Atogwe of St Louis is close, but he's a big time gambler that gives up as many (if not more) big plays than he makes. We'd be better off leaving him alone and rolling with Goldson if that's the type of player we want starting back there.

The draft could be the answer here, but you have to be able to find a guy with great instincts and understanding of the game if you want to put a rookie into a stating position as your last line of defense. Malcolm Jenkins of Ohio State is probably the best FS prospect out there. He plays a combination of CB and FS now, and is the best defensive player in the Big 10 (all jokes aside ).

RS - Rossum has been a pleasant surprise for us. I was very skeptical when we signed him, but he appears to be doing his job...even if he takes a couple of ill-advised balls out of the EZ at times. I've done a 180 on him, and now I wouldn't mind seeing him back here next year. This comes with a caveat that we use a pick on either a RB, WR, or DB with return capabilities in the draft.

P/K - Honestly, I don't care to pay attention to these two positions, and am not even going to try to sound like I know a good kicker or punter from a bad one. Kicker especially is a position that varies from year to year when looking at who the better ones are. And if they stay consistent, they usually stay on the teams they're already playing for. For my money, I'm content to stick with the two guys we have. Lee has a hell of a leg on most of his kicks, and Nedney isn't losing us many games (except for BAL last year).

[alpi69b]

#1 QB - we see this week, but I am afraid we need to find an answer here and the franchise will not risk another pick in this area. We get an FA and hope for the Kerry Collins effect.
#2 DT - we need a DT no matter what. Sopo, Franklin, Fields are all just average and they are one of the reasons why our passrush struggles. We need someone who gets doubled to free up Willis and the LB crew. I would love to see us in a 4-3 (Smith, Balmer, Sopo and a new good DT) again. 3-4 seems overrated to me.
#3 FS - maybe we have the answer on the rster (Godlson, Smith), but Roman is simply not a ballhawk and he also gets beaten often (by Brees especially)
#4 RB - we need a short yardage guy like TJ Duckett. We struggle on these goalline carries so much, it hurts watching it

[Leeding49er]

1) DT - We desperately need a big body to eat up space on the defensive line, and allow for some pass pressure
2) OL - I can see where Maj is coming from on Rach, but I'd hope for someone in free agency and a couple draft picks to solidify this line.
3) FS - We don't have anyone of decent calibre in this position, and an upgrade would seriously help our secondary.
4) QB - Yes, it's a big need, but we need to address our O-Line before our QB can perform. I don't believe Hill is the man, and unless Smith can return at full health with a good co-ordinator (at a reasonable price), then he's a gonner. Let's look to develop a mid round pick unless we get an absolute steal in the 1st / 2nd rounds.
5) LB - depth and some pass rush, although this would be assisted by an improved D-Line and secondary.
6) WR - Hill and Morgan show potential, but it's just that - potential. Not that much has changed since a good number of people on this formum were desperate for help at this position. I'd still like to see Bruce retained to help the development of H&M.
7) RB - Whether we like it or not, running backs wear down, and we need to start considering a long-term replacement for Gore. No one on our current roster looks like the man, and a one two punch would both help develop the two, and help the one keep healthy.

[rygeorge]

Originally Posted by majesstik1

I'll just run down the list with my thoughts as of now...

QB - Shaun Hill appears he may be capable of playing place holder at this position until we get a draft pick developed here. Or, god forbid, Alex Smith comes back and wins this job. Either way, we must draft another QB in the mid-rounds (maybe John Parker Wilson in the 4th) and try to bring him along slowly. A lot of people like to throw out the empty cliche "sign a veteran in free agency". Guess what? Veterans that hit free agency often have expired their effectiveness, and these guys usually tend to be players that hold your team in neutral (which is fine if you're already a good team, but we're not) until you develop a draft pick. Since we currently have 2 "veteran" QBs due back next year, we might just be okay to forgo the Veteran Free Agent.

RB - Not a severe need, but we should look to back up Gore with two specialists here. One, a short yardage hammer of a back. The other as a speedy scat back type...maybe even a guy with some KOR ability. The nice thing about this strategy is you don't have to spend a lot of money, or use a high draft pick to find either of these types. It's highly possible we can pluck both of these role players out of the undrafted rookie pool. Like I wished we did with BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Regardless, Foster and Clayton have no usefulness for us here, time to look for efficient role players.

FB - This really depends on what scheme we run next year. If we run a WCO, then we need the pass catching/sometimes blocking type. If we go for more of a power O, then we need a wrecking ball type. This is another position that doesn't require a lot of money or a draft pick to acquire, just a good eye for one that matches the scheme.

WR - We've continued to botch this position year after year. But, there is some hope. Morgan (when healthy) and Hill appear to be worth keeping around and getting substantial playing time. Battle is still a try hard guy, but he's a bit too prone to injury to count on for 16 games a year. Zeigler is intriguing, but there is just not enough evidence for me to commit to him as a top 4 player for us at WR next year. Bruce and Johnson are more than welcome to look for jobs elsewhere next year. So, that's going to leave a roster spot or two available here for next year.

The current crop of FA WRs are unappealing to me. The draft offers more to choose from at every stage. If we want to look at WR early on, we could be able to grab Crabtree or Maclin. Both are tremendous playmakers that bring different skills to the table, with Maclin being a guy who can contribute on returns as early as now. If we want to look a little later into the draft and pluck specialists, that's another option. We could certainly use a legitimate deep threat...and/or a big physical RAC guy, depending on the offense we run next year. I think the deep threat remains constant though. We just don't have a lot of speed at that position right now, and can't keep opponents from playing close to the LOS. It's not likely a rookie will change that next year, but it would be nice to at least have that guy working his way up the depth chart starting next year. Maclin could really improve this team in that area, if we're looking at that position early.

TE - For every 2 steps backwards Davis takes, he puts a step and a half forward on tape. The guy is among the better blockers at his position, and better than some offensive tackles in the league at blocking right now. I don't want to justify his antics, but if I were a guy drafted as the top receiving threat in my class and paid several millions of dollars thinking that was going to be my role, I'd probably get a little squeaky at some point too. What we need is for him to mature this offseason, and learn when the proper times to show emotions are. I'm all for keeping him around, as he's shown tremendous potential to this point, we just need the right coach in here to tap it.

As for the rest of this group, Walker and Bajema are serviceable. Bajema is an UFA after this season, and probably won't command much money on the open market, which could make him easier for us to re-sign. He brings the blocking, and Walker is the pass catcher. Those two, along with Davis is more than adequate for this position, we don't need to use any resources here, other than re-signing our own player.

OL - Staley's future is at LT. He's not strong enough to play RT in the NFL. His game is more finesse, and he has the standard tools you look for at LT. He's another guy we need to let play through it, and see if he continues to improve, which is what he's done over the last few weeks.

RT is interesting in that I believe we have our future starter at RT already on the roster, but he isn't ready yet. Rachal has been lining up at OT in the jumbo packages this year, and his college performance showed me a big nasty mauler with good enough feet to hang with DLEs. If we can get him ready to go before next year to take over at RT, then that reduces a gaping hole on our team. Otherwise, we should aggressively pursue Jordan Gross, with a little attention directed at Stacy Andrews as well, and see if we can land either of those guys. The rest of the FA RT class is either declining veteran has-beens, or raw and potential laden youngsters. If we are able to get either of these guys, then we can kick Rachal back inside to take over at either guard position - preferably RG.

The guard positions on our team are adequate, but could use depth and competition. Baas and Wragge are both serviceable, but neither is dominant. Somewhere in the draft (even if we sign Gross or Andrews) we will need to take an OLman with guard/tackle versatility.

At center, we already extended Heitmann through 2011, so we must have confidence that he's our guy, and we just used a 4th rounder on Wallace. I really don't see McCloughan putting too much effort into this position in the offseason.

DL - We spent way too much money to keep a barely average player like Sopoaga around. Franklin has failed in his role as a space eater, teams don't even bother to double him. If we let Fields test the market, he may end up not finding any work. McDonald has some potential, but doesn't really fit as a DE or a DT, he's more of a situational player. Smith is a bucket of hustle, but he doesn't really make many plays on the opponent's side of the LOS. Balmer is not getting enough consistent playing time to get a proper evaluation on him (from a fan's perspective - coaches see him in practice, so they have an edge we don't, obviously). Haralson could end up as a decent PRS at end, but he's still not an every down guy either.

The DL is also subject to who is coaching here next year, and what scheme they bring with them. It's obvious Sop, Smith, and Balmer will be back, due to their contracts. But what do we do from there? My outlook is to go hard after Terrell Suggs or Julius Peppers (there is risk involved with both, I know), and plug the middle with one of the talented NTs in the draft (my favorite is B.J. Raji). However, there are no guarantees in the draft, so you can't just say we'll sign one guy because there will be this other guy available to us in the draft, so my comments here are purely based on speculation. We could end up signing Haynesworth and having to look at the draft for a DE. Either way, both of these positions are high on our priority list.

LB - Again, this is contingent on who the coaches will be to develop a more concise strategy, but for now, it kind of falls in line with my DL comments. We need a pass rusher, and we need a space eater. No matter what scheme we run that stays true. Willis is the guy in the middle, and Lawson is an adequate Sam, but we need that guy coming off the weak side that can get to the QB and hunt plays down from the backside and make some TFLs. We also need quality depth here. This is an area that will need to be addressed by the draft and/or free agency.

CB - Clements is good for about 4 seconds in coverage, but when we continually ask him to cover guys for longer, we're setting him up to fail. Get a pass rush, combine that with 4 seconds of tight coverage, and more explosive plays occur on defense. He also needs help on the other side. It's apparent that Harris is nearing the end of the line as a productive starter. Spencer is is a poor bet to replace him, and we fans still don't know what we have in Brown and Smith. We know Strickland gets abused and targeted whenever he's on the field. So why not start getting the youngsters involved now? The season is done, all we're doing at this point is playing for pride. Use the rest of the year to get a look at the depth of our roster so we know what we need going into the offseason.

S - Lewis is adequate as a box safety, what we lack is a centerfielder who can run down balls in the air and either pick them off, or break up the play. There really isn't much on the FA list to coo over here. Atogwe of St Louis is close, but he's a big time gambler that gives up as many (if not more) big plays than he makes. We'd be better off leaving him alone and rolling with Goldson if that's the type of player we want starting back there.

The draft could be the answer here, but you have to be able to find a guy with great instincts and understanding of the game if you want to put a rookie into a stating position as your last line of defense. Malcolm Jenkins of Ohio State is probably the best FS prospect out there. He plays a combination of CB and FS now, and is the best defensive player in the Big 10 (all jokes aside ).

RS - Rossum has been a pleasant surprise for us. I was very skeptical when we signed him, but he appears to be doing his job...even if he takes a couple of ill-advised balls out of the EZ at times. I've done a 180 on him, and now I wouldn't mind seeing him back here next year. This comes with a caveat that we use a pick on either a RB, WR, or DB with return capabilities in the draft.

P/K - Honestly, I don't care to pay attention to these two positions, and am not even going to try to sound like I know a good kicker or punter from a bad one. Kicker especially is a position that varies from year to year when looking at who the better ones are. And if they stay consistent, they usually stay on the teams they're already playing for. For my money, I'm content to stick with the two guys we have. Lee has a hell of a leg on most of his kicks, and Nedney isn't losing us many games (except for BAL last year).

Great analysis, nice work summing it all up.

[rygeorge]

[QUOTE=majesstik1;1942167]I'll just run down the list with my thoughts as of now...

RB - Not a severe need, but we should look to back up Gore with two specialists here. One, a short yardage hammer of a back. The other as a speedy scat back type...maybe even a guy with some KOR ability. The nice thing about this strategy is you don't have to spend a lot of money, or use a high draft pick to find either of these types. It's highly possible we can pluck both of these role players out of the undrafted rookie pool. Like I wished we did with BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Regardless, Foster and Clayton have no usefulness for us here, time to look for efficient role players.

It looks like in Foster we wanted a guy that could play if Gore got injured, not one to compliment Gore as a scatback, powerback etc and like you I think that's a mistake. A shifty, speed back that can return kicks would be helpful and a short yardage back-Robinson strikes me as more of an all purpose back that we should keep but not depend on for that role.

WR - We've continued to botch this position year after year. But, there is some hope. Morgan (when healthy) and Hill appear to be worth keeping around and getting substantial playing time. Battle is still a try hard guy, but he's a bit too prone to injury to count on for 16 games a year. Zeigler is intriguing, but there is just not enough evidence for me to commit to him as a top 4 player for us at WR next year. Bruce and Johnson are more than welcome to look for jobs elsewhere next year. So, that's going to leave a roster spot or two available here for next year.

I think we're going to get a chance to see what Hill, Johnson and Zeigler can do in these last games. I'm not booting Johnson out the door just yet although he has definitely been a disappointment so far. Bruce has played about as well as we could have hoped, but I don't see much upside in keeping him around next year. A true deep threat would be nice, it seems like we have a lot of receivers that are big with decent speed but no one that can really burn.

TE - For every 2 steps backwards Davis takes, he puts a step and a half forward on tape. The guy is among the better blockers at his position, and better than some offensive tackles in the league at blocking right now. I don't want to justify his antics, but if I were a guy drafted as the top receiving threat in my class and paid several millions of dollars thinking that was going to be my role, I'd probably get a little squeaky at some point too. What we need is for him to mature this offseason, and learn when the proper times to show emotions are. I'm all for keeping him around, as he's shown tremendous potential to this point, we just need the right coach in here to tap it.

Tremendous ability in blocking, breaking tackles and could even turn into a decent receiving tight end in terms of his hands. He seems to have responded well to Singletary's very public criticism and I only expect him to get better although he will have the occasional bad drop/dumb play IMO regardless. Walker as a situational tight end has looked very good, if he can continue to improve his blocking we will have some very versatile personnel groups with our TE's.

OLRT is interesting in that I believe we have our future starter at RT already on the roster, but he isn't ready yet. Rachal has been lining up at OT in the jumbo packages this year, and his college performance showed me a big nasty mauler with good enough feet to hang with DLEs. If we can get him ready to go before next year to take over at RT, then that reduces a gaping hole on our team. Otherwise, we should aggressively pursue Jordan Gross, with a little attention directed at Stacy Andrews as well, and see if we can land either of those guys. The rest of the FA RT class is either declining veteran has-beens, or raw and potential laden youngsters. If we are able to get either of these guys, then we can kick Rachal back inside to take over at either guard position - preferably RG.

Didn't consider this, but you might be right. We'll have to see how he does starting at Guard, if he starts to play well then that's one less hole to fill and that gives us Wragge or Snyder as a backup, depending where Rachal plays. Ideally Wragge and Snyder should be backups.

DL - We spent way too much money to keep a barely average player like Sopoaga around. Franklin has failed in his role as a space eater, teams don't even bother to double him. If we let Fields test the market, he may end up not finding any work. McDonald has some potential, but doesn't really fit as a DE or a DT, he's more of a situational player. Smith is a bucket of hustle, but he doesn't really make many plays on the opponent's side of the LOS. Balmer is not getting enough consistent playing time to get a proper evaluation on him (from a fan's perspective - coaches see him in practice, so they have an edge we don't, obviously). Haralson could end up as a decent PRS at end, but he's still not an every down guy either.

This is our biggest weakness on defense, we do not have a stout line that can collapse the pocket and disrupt the run without help from other positions on the defense. Young and Douglas were much stronger in this regard than Smith/McDonald and Sopoaga unfortunately. Franklin has shown that he's a decent 4-3 DT with some quickness and that's it, he's just not an effective NT. A NT, strong 4-3 DT should be our top priority for the defense and would help us out in so many other areas on defense.

The DL is also subject to who is coaching here next year, and what scheme they bring with them. It's obvious Sop, Smith, and Balmer will be back, due to their contracts. But what do we do from there? My outlook is to go hard after Terrell Suggs or Julius Peppers (there is risk involved with both, I know), and plug the middle with one of the talented NTs in the draft (my favorite is B.J. Raji). However, there are no guarantees in the draft, so you can't just say we'll sign one guy because there will be this other guy available to us in the draft, so my comments here are purely based on speculation. We could end up signing Haynesworth and having to look at the draft for a DE. Either way, both of these positions are high on our priority list.

If we can get Suggs or Peppers I'm all for it but not without the big guy in the middle or else they will look like TBC on our defense.

CB - Clements is good for about 4 seconds in coverage, but when we continually ask him to cover guys for longer, we're setting him up to fail. Get a pass rush, combine that with 4 seconds of tight coverage, and more explosive plays occur on defense. He also needs help on the other side. It's apparent that Harris is nearing the end of the line as a productive starter. Spencer is is a poor bet to replace him, and we fans still don't know what we have in Brown and Smith. We know Strickland gets abused and targeted whenever he's on the field. So why not start getting the youngsters involved now? The season is done, all we're doing at this point is playing for pride. Use the rest of the year to get a look at the depth of our roster so we know what we need going into the offseason.

Harris won't be here more than another year if that and I agree that we need to see what Brown can do and Smith if he's going to stay at CB. Spencer was playing well before his injury, who knows what kind of player he will be afterwards.

S - Lewis is adequate as a box safety, what we lack is a centerfielder who can run down balls in the air and either pick them off, or break up the play. There really isn't much on the FA list to coo over here. Atogwe of St Louis is close, but he's a big time gambler that gives up as many (if not more) big plays than he makes. We'd be better off leaving him alone and rolling with Goldson if that's the type of player we want starting back there.

Yep, I think Goldson will get a shot with Singletary but he might not have the instincts to be that ballhawk that we need. For the life of me I don't understand why we insist on making Roman the leader of the secondary, making the calls, as opposed to Lewis, Harris, Clements, when he is our weakest link and the first guy that will get replaced.

The draft could be the answer here, but you have to be able to find a guy with great instincts and understanding of the game if you want to put a rookie into a stating position as your last line of defense. Malcolm Jenkins of Ohio State is probably the best FS prospect out there. He plays a combination of CB and FS now, and is the best defensive player in the Big 10 (all jokes aside ).

RS - Rossum has been a pleasant surprise for us. I was very skeptical when we signed him, but he appears to be doing his job...even if he takes a couple of ill-advised balls out of the EZ at times. I've done a 180 on him, and now I wouldn't mind seeing him back here next year. This comes with a caveat that we use a pick on either a RB, WR, or DB with return capabilities in the draft.

Rossum has been great and we should sign him for another two years. We should have been developing a young returner under Nolan but this never seemed to be a priority and I hope it is to where our 2nd/3rd RB, 3rd-5th WR can return kicks, eliminating the need to give a roster spot to a specialist. Having said that Rossum has been a very good pickup, we lucked out there.

[DraconisRex]

Originally Posted by 49erkezarguy

1st priority - 2 OT's doesn't have to be 1st round. Can be Draft, FA, or combo. I lean towards combo 1st day draft pick and a FA OT, preferably left OT. WE desperately need both a starter and a backup for depth.

2nd priority - NT or DT. Preferably draft. BPA at this position and forget whether he's a 3-4 or a 4-3. Just get the BPA, also 1st day pick. This is our biggest Achille's heel on our defense.

Most will be screaming for the sexy skill player but I see these 2 positions as being our biggest needs. After this I'd look at RB's and QB's and weigh what's available with the BPA and go RB or QB if it's a close call and BPA if it's not really a close call.

These are my thoughts. What are yours?

My thoughts are that when ever I see such a poorly thought-out list of needs I'm so glad you're not in charge.

We. Have. No. QB. Hill isn't even average. He's mediocre. Burying your head in the sand and pretending he's good is foolish. It is the same kind of thinking that got half the board on JTO's knob because of ONE QUARTER of good pre-season play by his WRs combined with lousy play by the Bears defense.

Our left OT is perfectly fine since the massively incompetent, sack-generating piece-of-crap JTO (whom I believed you liked...) was benched. In fact, the whole o-line miraculously improved and hasn't given up a sack in two weeks. No more drift into rush-lanes sacks. No more be in the wrong place sacks. No more ****ty ball-security fumble sacks. No more hold the ball for seven seconds sacks. It's amazing how many sacks surrendered by Staley are a direct result of JTO's totally ****ed-up pocket skills. Or, abysmal lack there of, to be blunt. Plus, since he's playing against speed rushers instead of power DEs, his run-blocking is much more effective.

Snyder is finally playing at a realistic-to-talent-level position. He's never going to be great shakes. But with a good QB and some chipping help against a team with a speed rushing DE he'd should be fine as well.

I mean, really, compared to QB, OT is the last place we need "help."


The stats don't bear out your issue with NT being "our biggest Achilles heel" on defense, either. We're 13th in the NFL at the up-the-gut runs at 4.17/ypc. And 14th over-all at 4.11/ypc. The real problem with our rushing stats seems to stem from early in the year when we kept playing all kinds of weird defenses, From a technical on the field issue, it seems that the ends, at times, loose B gap-control and we get ripped as they're getting caught in shifts or getting confused to responsibility due to all the weird formations.

In case you haven't noticed, we really don't generate a lot of turn-overs o defense. And our 5% sack rate is, once again, in the bottom-third of the NFL. I should think this was obvious to EVERYONE by now... But I guess not... Some of us would rather tilt at windmills.

[berry42079]

[QUOTE=rygeorge;1942198]

Originally Posted by majesstik1

I'll just run down the list with my thoughts as of now...

RB - Not a severe need, but we should look to back up Gore with two specialists here. One, a short yardage hammer of a back. The other as a speedy scat back type...maybe even a guy with some KOR ability. The nice thing about this strategy is you don't have to spend a lot of money, or use a high draft pick to find either of these types. It's highly possible we can pluck both of these role players out of the undrafted rookie pool. Like I wished we did with BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Regardless, Foster and Clayton have no usefulness for us here, time to look for efficient role players.

It looks like in Foster we wanted a guy that could play if Gore got injured, not one to compliment Gore as a scatback, powerback etc and like you I think that's a mistake. A shifty, speed back that can return kicks would be helpful and a short yardage back-Robinson strikes me as more of an all purpose back that we should keep but not depend on for that role.

WR - We've continued to botch this position year after year. But, there is some hope. Morgan (when healthy) and Hill appear to be worth keeping around and getting substantial playing time. Battle is still a try hard guy, but he's a bit too prone to injury to count on for 16 games a year. Zeigler is intriguing, but there is just not enough evidence for me to commit to him as a top 4 player for us at WR next year. Bruce and Johnson are more than welcome to look for jobs elsewhere next year. So, that's going to leave a roster spot or two available here for next year.

I think we're going to get a chance to see what Hill, Johnson and Zeigler can do in these last games. I'm not booting Johnson out the door just yet although he has definitely been a disappointment so far. Bruce has played about as well as we could have hoped, but I don't see much upside in keeping him around next year. A true deep threat would be nice, it seems like we have a lot of receivers that are big with decent speed but no one that can really burn.

TE - For every 2 steps backwards Davis takes, he puts a step and a half forward on tape. The guy is among the better blockers at his position, and better than some offensive tackles in the league at blocking right now. I don't want to justify his antics, but if I were a guy drafted as the top receiving threat in my class and paid several millions of dollars thinking that was going to be my role, I'd probably get a little squeaky at some point too. What we need is for him to mature this offseason, and learn when the proper times to show emotions are. I'm all for keeping him around, as he's shown tremendous potential to this point, we just need the right coach in here to tap it.

Tremendous ability in blocking, breaking tackles and could even turn into a decent receiving tight end in terms of his hands. He seems to have responded well to Singletary's very public criticism and I only expect him to get better although he will have the occasional bad drop/dumb play IMO regardless. Walker as a situational tight end has looked very good, if he can continue to improve his blocking we will have some very versatile personnel groups with our TE's.

OLRT is interesting in that I believe we have our future starter at RT already on the roster, but he isn't ready yet. Rachal has been lining up at OT in the jumbo packages this year, and his college performance showed me a big nasty mauler with good enough feet to hang with DLEs. If we can get him ready to go before next year to take over at RT, then that reduces a gaping hole on our team. Otherwise, we should aggressively pursue Jordan Gross, with a little attention directed at Stacy Andrews as well, and see if we can land either of those guys. The rest of the FA RT class is either declining veteran has-beens, or raw and potential laden youngsters. If we are able to get either of these guys, then we can kick Rachal back inside to take over at either guard position - preferably RG.

Didn't consider this, but you might be right. We'll have to see how he does starting at Guard, if he starts to play well then that's one less hole to fill and that gives us Wragge or Snyder as a backup, depending where Rachal plays. Ideally Wragge and Snyder should be backups.

DL - We spent way too much money to keep a barely average player like Sopoaga around. Franklin has failed in his role as a space eater, teams don't even bother to double him. If we let Fields test the market, he may end up not finding any work. McDonald has some potential, but doesn't really fit as a DE or a DT, he's more of a situational player. Smith is a bucket of hustle, but he doesn't really make many plays on the opponent's side of the LOS. Balmer is not getting enough consistent playing time to get a proper evaluation on him (from a fan's perspective - coaches see him in practice, so they have an edge we don't, obviously). Haralson could end up as a decent PRS at end, but he's still not an every down guy either.

This is our biggest weakness on defense, we do not have a stout line that can collapse the pocket and disrupt the run without help from other positions on the defense. Young and Douglas were much stronger in this regard than Smith/McDonald and Sopoaga unfortunately. Franklin has shown that he's a decent 4-3 DT with some quickness and that's it, he's just not an effective NT. A NT, strong 4-3 DT should be our top priority for the defense and would help us out in so many other areas on defense.

The DL is also subject to who is coaching here next year, and what scheme they bring with them. It's obvious Sop, Smith, and Balmer will be back, due to their contracts. But what do we do from there? My outlook is to go hard after Terrell Suggs or Julius Peppers (there is risk involved with both, I know), and plug the middle with one of the talented NTs in the draft (my favorite is B.J. Raji). However, there are no guarantees in the draft, so you can't just say we'll sign one guy because there will be this other guy available to us in the draft, so my comments here are purely based on speculation. We could end up signing Haynesworth and having to look at the draft for a DE. Either way, both of these positions are high on our priority list.

If we can get Suggs or Peppers I'm all for it but not without the big guy in the middle or else they will look like TBC on our defense.

CB - Clements is good for about 4 seconds in coverage, but when we continually ask him to cover guys for longer, we're setting him up to fail. Get a pass rush, combine that with 4 seconds of tight coverage, and more explosive plays occur on defense. He also needs help on the other side. It's apparent that Harris is nearing the end of the line as a productive starter. Spencer is is a poor bet to replace him, and we fans still don't know what we have in Brown and Smith. We know Strickland gets abused and targeted whenever he's on the field. So why not start getting the youngsters involved now? The season is done, all we're doing at this point is playing for pride. Use the rest of the year to get a look at the depth of our roster so we know what we need going into the offseason.

Harris won't be here more than another year if that and I agree that we need to see what Brown can do and Smith if he's going to stay at CB. Spencer was playing well before his injury, who knows what kind of player he will be afterwards.

S - Lewis is adequate as a box safety, what we lack is a centerfielder who can run down balls in the air and either pick them off, or break up the play. There really isn't much on the FA list to coo over here. Atogwe of St Louis is close, but he's a big time gambler that gives up as many (if not more) big plays than he makes. We'd be better off leaving him alone and rolling with Goldson if that's the type of player we want starting back there.

Yep, I think Goldson will get a shot with Singletary but he might not have the instincts to be that ballhawk that we need. For the life of me I don't understand why we insist on making Roman the leader of the secondary, making the calls, as opposed to Lewis, Harris, Clements, when he is our weakest link and the first guy that will get replaced.

The draft could be the answer here, but you have to be able to find a guy with great instincts and understanding of the game if you want to put a rookie into a stating position as your last line of defense. Malcolm Jenkins of Ohio State is probably the best FS prospect out there. He plays a combination of CB and FS now, and is the best defensive player in the Big 10 (all jokes aside ).

RS - Rossum has been a pleasant surprise for us. I was very skeptical when we signed him, but he appears to be doing his job...even if he takes a couple of ill-advised balls out of the EZ at times. I've done a 180 on him, and now I wouldn't mind seeing him back here next year. This comes with a caveat that we use a pick on either a RB, WR, or DB with return capabilities in the draft.

Rossum has been great and we should sign him for another two years. We should have been developing a young returner under Nolan but this never seemed to be a priority and I hope it is to where our 2nd/3rd RB, 3rd-5th WR can return kicks, eliminating the need to give a roster spot to a specialist. Having said that Rossum has been a very good pickup, we lucked out there.

nolan did try...he used a pretty high draft pick on brian williams(i think is his name)for a kr specialist...he is no longer on the team...i also think we have a very capable recieving corp and as for the deep threat, a couple of our guys probably could be but we dont have a qb with enough arm for a deep threat...i still wouldnt mind picking up a big, fast receiver out of fa...as for the OL, we might actually have a decent line once singletary has the correct guys in the correct places starting...i wouldnt mind seeing a center drafted late, just because hietmann is getting older and i believe i remember cody wallace getting thrown around in preseason pretty bad and also a tackle for depth...DDDDDLLLLL seems, imo, to be our biggest, most gaping hole...if by some miracle we are able to pick up haynesworth, that would probably solve that issue or use our 1st rounder if we can find a beast in the draft, i see that b.j. guy getting alot of attention, unfortunately with the draft, you dont get alot of rookie production out of defensive linemen(usually)...i really dont know how we let all those big DT's slip through our fingers this year(rogers, jenkins, stroud among others, all of these guys have had huge impacts on their teams...i also strongly believe we need to find another qb in the draft somewhere...i am a shaun hill fan, but i dont like seeing jt and martin filling up our bench jt looked terrible coming off the bench last week, and i wonder if martin is really capable at this point...i hope we cut and resign alex smith and get a rookie, imo those are our best options...oh and a fb...somewhere, i think i heard jeremy johnson got released from the bengals recently, i wonder if he would sign, i seem to remember seeing him being quite serviceable...as for a pass rusher, i believe if we found a nt our guys are probably plenty capable...

[WhistlingMtn]

Originally Posted by DraconisRex

My thoughts are that when ever I see such a poorly thought-out list of needs I'm so glad you're not in charge.

We. Have. No. QB. Hill isn't even average. He's mediocre. Burying your head in the sand and pretending he's good is foolish. It is the same kind of thinking that got half the board on JTO's knob because of ONE QUARTER of good pre-season play by his WRs combined with lousy play by the Bears defense.

Our left OT is perfectly fine since the massively incompetent, sack-generating piece-of-crap JTO (whom I believed you liked...) was benched. In fact, the whole o-line miraculously improved and hasn't given up a sack in two weeks. No more drift into rush-lanes sacks. No more be in the wrong place sacks. No more ****ty ball-security fumble sacks. No more hold the ball for seven seconds sacks. It's amazing how many sacks surrendered by Staley are a direct result of JTO's totally ****ed-up pocket skills. Or, abysmal lack there of, to be blunt. Plus, since he's playing against speed rushers instead of power DEs, his run-blocking is much more effective.

Snyder is finally playing at a realistic-to-talent-level position. He's never going to be great shakes. But with a good QB and some chipping help against a team with a speed rushing DE he'd should be fine as well.

I mean, really, compared to QB, OT is the last place we need "help."


The stats don't bear out your issue with NT being "our biggest Achilles heel" on defense, either. We're 13th in the NFL at the up-the-gut runs at 4.17/ypc. And 14th over-all at 4.11/ypc. The real problem with our rushing stats seems to stem from early in the year when we kept playing all kinds of weird defenses, From a technical on the field issue, it seems that the ends, at times, loose B gap-control and we get ripped as they're getting caught in shifts or getting confused to responsibility due to all the weird formations.

In case you haven't noticed, we really don't generate a lot of turn-overs o defense. And our 5% sack rate is, once again, in the bottom-third of the NFL. I should think this was obvious to EVERYONE by now... But I guess not... Some of us would rather tilt at windmills.

why don't you tell us how you really feel!

-------------------------------

Main Team Needs
1.) QB to develop ( bye JTO, Martin, Smith )
2.) RT ( bye Jennings, Simms )
3.) DT ( bye Franklin, Fields )

Other Needs in no order
CB ( bye Harris ), True Blocking TE ( bye Walker, Bajema ), Big Play WR, Speed Back, Vet backup QB, Ball-hawk FS

-Take the QB they like most in the draft, don't wait a round for value on QB, just get the one they want.
-I don't want them to move Rachal, I like him where he is. Get a T in free agency or in the draft. Snyder can start next year if it's a non blue-chip rookie, no need to rush.
-Ditch Walker/Bajema, it's just a waste to have these receiving tight ends that don't have the ball thrown to him, get a true blocking TE to go opposite Davis in 2 TE sets, can start to play action pass and all of a sudden Davis is twice the threat he is now.
-Keep Bruce, or Resign Johnson, but not both.
-Aside from QB, take the highest ceiling guys in the draft, don't worry about character concerns.
-Ditch this big nickel crap and play 4-3.