The Niners Should Trade Joe Staley

[NinerSickness]

By the way, this is coming from the guy who started the "trade Crabtree" thread after SB 47 & got crucified for it...

Bye bye old 49ers; the team needs to rebuild. This is a surprisingly good OT class, and the team needs to stat thinking about 2016 and beyond. Staley has always been great because of tremendous athleticism. He'll be 31 this season; he's not the athlete he once was. And he's no longer one of the best OLTs in the game. Would've rather the team had kept Iupati & traded Staley. He's still a really good player who can help a team a lot, but the Niners need to rebuild.

Draft Cedric Ogbuehi, let Boone play RT for a season; I'd even be for taking Sheriff at 15 if he's there. Either way, the team needs to start thinking 2016 / 2017 / 2018.

"Madden" reference forthcoming...

[Dodub]

I started the "don't draft Crabtree" bandwagon years before that sick.

Might I remind you that at one poky or another you've suggested trading 90% of the players on the roster. Including Gore in his prime, claiming that he would be done by the time we were a contender.

But let's play some games this year before calling for the team to rebuild. If this season is a bust then I'll agree that we need to rebuild this thing.

[NinerSickness]

I started the "don't draft Crabtree" bandwagon years before that sick.

Well that's one of the 3 or 4 personnel issues with which we've agreed over the years Dub. I was pissed they left Orakpo on the board (a lot of people wanted Everette Brown, and the Orakpo-Brown debates actually got pretty heated).

Might I remind you that at one poky or another you've suggested trading 90% of the players on the roster. Including Gore in his prime, claiming that he would be done by the time we were a contender.

Justin Smith too (I wanted Poe in the 2012 draft). But 90% of the roster? Nuh uh. I wanted TO (for Champ Bailey and people called me nuts), Garcia & a lot of other players traded, but most of the time that was either because I wanted the team to go in a younger / cheaper direction or I thought the player had peaked or was overrated (Crabtree) & wouldn't be that good for much longer (see JSmith when I waned Poe).

Staley's still a great player, but I think he could help another team a lot more than he can help the 2016 49ers. I think the team can rebuild in 1 year if they do it right.

[Bald Bull]

I'm always happy you don't run this team. Every year you get rid of one of our best players, with that approach we'd never have good players long enough to build a roster.

[DoobieKeebler]

This is usually where I'm like "You're wrong, Sick. You're being reactionary! Blah blah blah."

Except that this time I agree with you. Staley probably still has some pretty good value, so it'd be a pretty shrewd move to move him now instead of waiting for most of his redeeming qualities to evaporate.

[NinerSickness]

I'm always happy you don't run this team. Every year you get rid of one of our best players, with that approach we'd never have good players long enough to build a roster.

Not every year. After the 2013 season I didn't want anybody traded; I wanted the Niners to sign Revis long-term. And I didn't really want anyone traded after the 2011 season that I can remember.

[Bald Bull]

I'm always happy you don't run this team. Every year you get rid of one of our best players, with that approach we'd never have good players long enough to build a roster.

Not every year. After the 2013 season I didn't want anybody traded; I wanted the Niners to sign Revis long-term. And I didn't really want anyone traded after the 2011 season that I can remember.

The fact that you remember the specifics of each year is hilarious.

from around 2002-2015 you have 2 years where you don't trade away our best player

[Hangman_52]

Trading Staley would only be a good idea if the 49ers are totally rebuilding and are going to suck. I feel the 9ers are going to go deep into the playoffs and shock some people so I don't want to trade him yet.

[NinerSickness]

The fact that you remember the specifics of each year is hilarious.

from around 2002-2015 you have 2 years where you don't trade away our best player

Well let's see...

I wanted Garcia traded from day 1 because I knew he'd never win a SB (kind of like a current tattoo'd QB you might know). But that only counts for 1 year because they never did it. So let's just say 2000...

I didn't want anyone traded in 2002. In fact, I wanted the Niners to sign Brian Kelly . I also wanted 'em to get a DT like Haynesworth...

In 2003 I wanted the Niners to trade TO for Champ Bailey, and everyone was like, "That's insane; he's the best WR in football." Coincidentally he was traded for basically nothing, and the 'skins inquired about trading for him (and also traded Champ).

They didn't really have anyone worth trading in 2004 and 2005 or 2006. Can't remember any other big ones.

[DreDinis21]

Nope.

[NinerSickness]

Honestly look at the schedule this year and tell me you see more than 6 wins.

If you didn't believe it was time to blow it all up BEFORE the Niners lost their best player, there should be no question now. And it's not just going to be an off year while the team reloads; this thing is going to take a FEW years to fix. At least before the team could have built around guys like Aldon & Lynch; now the team doesn't have a single all-pro'-caliber player on the roster except maybe Bowman if he has a miracle recovery (which is unlikely).

The Niners have 3 tradeable older assets, and all of the them need to go. Staley, Vernon, Bethea. They won't be able to help the team.

[tallglassowater]

I actually thought they were going to be alright up until Davis retired. Something is up with the team or all these guys wouldn't be retiring or wanting out. Maybe it is just that I don't care anymore cause this offseason has been so insane but I am all for blowing it up and starting over.

[CrimsonCrew]

Honestly look at the schedule this year and tell me you see more than 6 wins.

If you didn't believe it was time to blow it all up BEFORE the Niners lost their best player, there should be no question now. And it's not just going to be an off year while the team reloads; this thing is going to take a FEW years to fix. At least before the team could have built around guys like Aldon & Lynch; now the team doesn't have a single all-pro'-caliber player on the roster except maybe Bowman if he has a miracle recovery (which is unlikely).

The Niners have 3 tradeable older assets, and all of the them need to go. Staley, Vernon, Bethea. They won't be able to help the team.

Bethea, fine. Vernon, okay. Staley, absolutely not. Without Staley, our offense falls apart. We will just collapse. Right now, we don't even have a starting-caliber RT, and if we lose our LT, it would be an unmitigated disaster. If the only consequence of that is that we do poorly, fine, I could live with that. But we need to see if Kap can improve and even kind of carry this team. We won't get a fair look at that with Staley gone. Kap will be under constant pressure. Especially if we also move on from Vernon. I know you've already given up on Kap, Sick, but there is no one else right now, so we need to see if we can get him to succeed in a friendlier offense. That trumps the value we might get for Staley.

[NinerSickness]

Bethea, fine. Vernon, okay. Staley, absolutely not. Without Staley, our offense falls apart. We will just collapse.

You didn't hear? The collapse already happened.

[Jikkle]

I wouldn't trade him BUT only from the standpoint that his contract is actually really reasonable and he's locked up till 2020.

Among LTs he's like 14th on the list of yearly average right now and he'll continue to slide down that list so unless you get a nice return for him there isn't much of a reason to trade him.

If he was more expensive or hitting FA in a season or two I would be on the trade him bandwagon.

[RedneckNiner]

I'd Trade Staley in a heartbeat to the Ravens If we can throw in Baalke and get Newsome...

[CrimsonCrew]

Bethea, fine. Vernon, okay. Staley, absolutely not. Without Staley, our offense falls apart. We will just collapse.

You didn't hear? The collapse already happened.

Oh, I don't doubt that. But if our pass blocking is as bad as it was last year - or worse, which is very likely if we trade Staley - then we can't fairly evaluate Kap. If we can't do that, he sticks around that much longer.

[NinerSickness]

But if our pass blocking is as bad as it was last year - or worse, which is very likely if we trade Staley - then we can't fairly evaluate Kap.

It's beyond me how anyone would need to see any more from that guy to realize he's dummy who rode the wave of a great team w/ a great coach his first couple of years.

[CrimsonCrew]

But if our pass blocking is as bad as it was last year - or worse, which is very likely if we trade Staley - then we can't fairly evaluate Kap.

It's beyond me how anyone would need to see any more from that guy to realize he's dummy who rode the wave of a great team w/ a great coach his first couple of years.

I'm not holding my breath on greatness at this point, by any means, but I don't think our offense the past couple years put him in the best spot. As of now, we don't have a viable alternative, so we either write off the next three or four years entirely, or we try to help him develop this year.

And it's worth noting in terms of your "trade Crabtree" scenario, that even with the injury - which you could not have predicted, but nonetheless effectively take credit for - he had 125 yards in the 2013 wild card round against GB, a game we won by three points. His performance was good for half our receptions and 55% of our receiving yards in that game. It's unlikely we get into a position to lose a close NFCCG without Crabtree. Hell, for that matter, we were 7-4 without him and 5-0 with him that year (7-1, counting playoffs), winning five straight to end the season. There's a decent chance we miss the playoffs entirely without him that year.

And since we're discussing your trade suggestions, how many guys on the 2012 SB team did you suggest trading before they made the SB?

[Pattersonca65]

I also read we will get a credit on the cap next year for Staley because of his restructured contract