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And let me be clear, my bar is low, "optimistic" means doing better than where most people peg the 49ers, which is near the cellar of the NFC West. But these reasons aren't far fetched

1. Tomsula is better than people think. First of all, I've been encouraged by some of the stuff I've read about him, that he was actually innovative as a dline coach (something involving cameras to get players to play low), he's been emphasizing tempo, Kaepernick is going to be using VR technology, etc., he's got an experienced staff, the seeming willingness to start considering screen plays, and the players seem to respect him.

2. Kaepernick actually improves. After working out with Warner, the change in tempo that allows him to survey the defense longer prior to the snap, his reads and his footwork he worked on over the summer show improvement.

3. The redshirted cornerbacks help the secondary. Reaser and others improve the secondary

4. Vernon Davis has a better year, and Smith upgrades the receiving corps and adds speed, improving the offense.

5. The other teams in the NFC West either don't improve or slip back (Seahawks). Earl Thomas said he will at least miss the opener due to injuries, and Sherman hasn't tested his injury in contact either. After three years of performing at historic levels, and 3 years of being in the playoffs, the Seahawks defense falls back a little bit and the offense is not able to carry them through.

Anyway, this may be a stupid list, but I'm bored and training camp hasn't started yet.

1) I think a lot of people like Tomsula - myself included - but he will have an uphill battle in convincing people of his capabilities. He'll probably have to over achieve before he gets the benefit of the doubt as an HC. (For the record, I'd say 8-8 is noticeably over achieving.)

2) If Kaepernick improves I doubt it'll be because of his work with Kurt Warner. You simply don't change your behavior after a decade plus of doing something a different way after only a handful of weeks. I also doubt KW was as invested in Colin as a Jeff Garcia would have been, for whatever that is worth. Though if Kaepernick is able to encompass some of what Warner advised, the OL will need to protect him and keep him upright because all it will take is a few hits before bad habits will reappear.

Hopefully new QB coach Steve Logan will be the real guy to guide Colin semi unscathed through this transitional period.

3) Agree 100%. Not much else to add.

4) Agree again. Can't be too sure about how true it is, but if Vernon was telling the truth about being a decoy in 2014 and running clearing routes, I fully believe he'll bounce back. Maybe not back to 850+ yards and 13 TDs, but hopefully North of 600 yards and 8TDs.

5) I think it's pretty much a given the Seahawks take a step back. The question is how much of a step back. The rest of the league has been watching, and teams don't stay dominant forever. They probably still take the division, but their window has to be closing.

The Rams dodged the Bradford bullet for 2015, but I don't see Nick Foles as the world beater they need, and a washed up Kenny Britt isn't going to take much of the pressure off his shoulders. Still, that defensive front seven is monsterous and will keep them in games. Not to mention continue giving the Niners fits.

The Arizona Cardinals I see as a bit of a wild card. They project to be good and compete with Seattle for the division, but I believe Carson Palmer to be far from above shooting his team in the foot in 2015. Unfortunately we know all too well that a QB in his mid 30s, who should be washed up, can go to Arizona and become a giant pain in the ass for years to come.

Great posts guys. Makes the quiet offseason better.

1) Tomsula is an unknown. Wasn't my choice. There are both positive and negative things I see with him. Positives are he is a player's coach and the players seen to really like playing for him. As a dline coach, was supposed to be good with X and Os. He appears to be someone who isn't stubborn like Harbaugh. ON the flip side, he doesn't have any NFL Coordinator experience. Not sure we knoe he has what it takes to run an NFL team. The other big question mark in all this is his assistants. Some of them I like more than others. Not sure about Chryst. little track record there.

2) In response to Doobie's comment first. Kaep worked with both KW and Giles. Warner worked on film study. Kaepernick can definitely be helped by what he worked on with Warner. With Giles, they worked on footwork and mechanics. I know from experience that it is difficult to change mechanics once you have done some reptetitively for a long time, but you can make those changes if you are committed and work hard. Kaep has been down in Arizona working with Giles during this down time again which is really good. Whether this translates into success we will see. A big question mark will be the oline. There will be new players and a new blocking scheme and coach. If the line does not improve pass blocking from last year, then it could be another tough year for Kap

3) I liked Brock before he got hurt and so did the FO. Having him back healthy for a season would help. There really is potential in some of the DBs drafted. I like Johnson, Aker, and Reaser. If they can step up, would be big,

4) Doobie, I don't really buy the decoy thing, Watching VD on film from last year, he did not look good running routes last year. He couldn't beat people like he had in year's past. Even his pass blocking suffered. I still believe his back and leg injuries affected him last year and Davis wasn't willing to admit it.

5) Don't think the Seahawks window is closing just yet. I think they will still be good. Assuming RW gets something close to what he is looking for, his contract will affect the team a couple of years down the line for sure. Escpecially given they will have a fortune invested in that defense. Just look at any other team that has close to highest paid QB on their roster. Oline is a big question mark for them. It got worse this offseason. I just read a training camp article about them and was surprised looking at the olineman on their roster and who they will be relying on. They also can't afford any injuries on the oline this year.

Arizona has some question marks also. They lost their DCoordinator and some key free agents this year. Someone pointed out on another site that they won a lot of games last year by just a few points and that could easily swing the other way. Some of their fans are excited about Iupati but Iupati could end up getting Palmer killed assuming he can even stay healthy for an entire season.

1) It's not just Tomsula but the entire staff you have to consider. I've warmed up a bit to Tomsula because at least it seems like he recognizes the issues and is taking steps to address them but I'm still concerned about the staff as a whole. Feels like we settled on OC and the whole staff was a patch work and to me you would like to have at least one side of the ball with a cohesive staff that fit together. So overall I would upgrade myself to lukewarm to the coaching staff right now.

2) Kap isn't magically going to roll out of bed and be Rogers with spending a couple weeks of with coaches to iron out his mechanics but throwing a handful of better passes a game could be the difference between winning and losing a game. The difference between a long completion and a long completion that ends in a TD.

Also I do see the coaching staff using not just Kap but all of the personnel better so I expect to see more rollouts, screens, actual passes to RBs, and Kap should do better with upgraded personnel at WR.

3) DB is easily the biggest question mark on defense and so far it seems like the young guns are doing well but let's hope that translate when they were pads and are on the field.

4) VD I expect to have a better year because he's motivated for one and to echo what I said earlier I see the staff utilize him better.

5) Seahawks are due to decline but they are still the class of the division and Graham is a pretty good get for that offense. Their offensive line could be a huge issue though as it feels like they took a step back there and it wasn't all that great in the first place either.

Jikkle wrote:1) It's not just Tomsula but the entire staff you have to consider. I've warmed up a bit to Tomsula because at least it seems like he recognizes the issues and is taking steps to address them but I'm still concerned about the staff as a whole. Feels like we settled on OC and the whole staff was a patch work and to me you would like to have at least one side of the ball with a cohesive staff that fit together. So overall I would upgrade myself to lukewarm to the coaching staff right now.

2) Kap isn't magically going to roll out of bed and be Rogers with spending a couple weeks of with coaches to iron out his mechanics but throwing a handful of better passes a game could be the difference between winning and losing a game. The difference between a long completion and a long completion that ends in a TD.

Also I do see the coaching staff using not just Kap but all of the personnel better so I expect to see more rollouts, screens, actual passes to RBs, and Kap should do better with upgraded personnel at WR.

3) DB is easily the biggest question mark on defense and so far it seems like the young guns are doing well but let's hope that translate when they were pads and are on the field.

4) VD I expect to have a better year because he's motivated for one and to echo what I said earlier I see the staff utilize him better.

5) Seahawks are due to decline but they are still the class of the division and Graham is a pretty good get for that offense. Their offensive line could be a huge issue though as it feels like they took a step back there and it wasn't all that great in the first place either.

There are some assistants I really like and others that are question marks. Going to skip the assistant position coaches

Geep Chryst - big question mark. Was Kap's QB coach and Kap had issues. Was not team's first choice and was fallback option. Was OC for a year in San Diego. That offense was not very good although the team had a lack of talent.

Ronald Curry - Was on team last year. WR development has been poor under 49ers and Morton. Will his assistant do any better?

Cnris Foerster - Prefers ZBS. Long time and well respected assistant. Was OL coach under Shanahan in Denver that produced three 1,000 rushing backs. I iike this hire

Adam Henry - WRs - Coming from college. Not much of a track record. Question mark

Steve Logan - A question mark but the more I read about his coaching history the more I like him. Not much NFL experience but had success in the college ranks and NFL Europe. Seems whatever offensive he coached in other than his brief NFL stint performed well. He also coached Matt Ryan in college.

Tom Rathman - Holdover and good coach to keep

Tony Sparano - Tight Ends coach. While he doesn't have a great track record as a head coach, he does have extensive offensive NFL coaching experience and I think he will do well in this role. A definite upgrade from Mangini who I think was out of place

Eric Mangini - A question mark here although I think less of one than Chryst. Former Bellicheck disciple who failed as a head coach. Only DC in New England for a year. Defense struggled but New England had lost some of its key defensive players that year

Jason Tarver Linebackers- I like this coach. Was the Raiders defensive Coordinator. The Raiders defense went from 29th to 18th. Think he will be a good LB coach.

Thomas McGaughey - Special Teams - A bit of a question mark. Special teams coach for the Jets. WHen he took over, ST dropped from 10 to 16th. Middle of the pack. A wait and see here

Almost forgot Tim Lewis _ DB coach. I like this hire. Good NFl experience. Was a DC for New York Giants and Pittsburgh. He was last DB coach in Atlanta. While Atlanta's defense stunk, apparently Lewis was lauded for the development of their cornerbacks.

We are a team with quite a bit of talent, lots of proud men, and a group that has been written off by almost everyone.

I'm excited !!! We stay healthy and out of trouble.....we will be a handful each week.

It is exciting to think about some of these young guys. They're unproven, but guys like Carradine and Dial, Lynch, Reaser, Ward, Tartt, Martin, and Thomas are really interesting players. It would be a lot to expect all of them to pan out, but I expect several of them to have good seasons.

Worst case scenario would be to finish with like 6-8 wins and still not get a top 10 pick.

If the team wins 9 or 10 games, regardless of whether they get into the playoffs, it could be a hopeful sign if it's due to rapid development from the young players.

However, that's relying a lot on red-shirted players. It can happen but hasn't happened for Baalke's picks so much.

Thinking about it I'm pretty excited and optimistic about the pass rush this year.

Aldon (who reports on him have been good thus far), Carradine, Dockett, Lynch/Harold on paper should be a pretty good pass rush.

Also like the fact it appears there will be a rotation along the defensive line which means guys will be fresher throughout the game and maintain effectiveness late in games and later in the season.

If the CB play is good the defense could be a quietly effective unit.

I am optimistic about the Dline at this point and concerned with the oline.