CrimsonCrew wrote:Not meant as a defense of O'Neill, who seems like a real head-scratcher of a pick, but it is worth noting that he was without both starting CBs from 2014 (Skrine left and Haden injured most of the year) and was breaking in a rookie NT who didn't really hold up. And Dansby and Whitner, while still good players, are getting up there in age (I'm actually surprised to see Whitner is only 30; thought he was a couple years older than that).
Not at all optimistic about the D this year, but I guess we'll see. Given Chip Kelly's offense, I don't mind a more aggressive and opportunistic unit, but it's hard to see this team challenging Seattle or Arizona any time soon....
Challenging might be a bit of a stretch. I think the only way they compete with those two teams over the next three years is if Arizona or Seattle are involved in a plane crash. Even then, it might depend on where the game is played.
While Kelly is arguably a better coach than Tomsula (why do I get the sneaking suspicion that this comparison is akin to which smells better between used diapers and two-day-old-vomit?), I don't see any upgrades at any of the other coaching spots over last year. This isn't an endorsement of Baalke's assembled 2015 staff.
I wasn't a fan of last year's hires because they were so obviously ridiculous. The bright side in all of this is that I don't think Baalke is going to survive too much longer. Of course, that depends on Jed waking the hell up. I don't buy one bit of his press conference, and everything I was concerned about that he said is now playing itself out. I guess we'll see. The staff is locked and loaded, so there's not much we can do about it now, except hope.
The problem with that for me is that this ownership group has been exploiting the hope of this fanbase for so long that I simply see a boy (Jed) crying wolf (press conference). Until he actually does something that makes football sense before it makes financial sense (which is ludicrous; how much more money could this franchise make in jersey sales alone if they were relevant on the field), I'm not going to fully buy in. I'm VERY glad I'm not one of the poor bastards that bought a PSL on the premise that Harbaugh had this team primed to make post-season runs every year. I'd consider faking my own death to get out of that nonsense now. You certainly can't sell those damn things for equivalent value these days.