Jikkle wrote:thesack12 wrote:The game today just further amplifies the frustration of not making a move for a pass rusher during trade deadline week.
The offense has the capability to hang with pretty much anyone. The OL has looked much improved lately, with Burford and Bartch back in the fold. They are also set to return QB1, WR1, and WR2 at some point. So its entirely reasonable to expect the offense to get better, perhaps substantially better.
However, the defense will remain a massive liability that is going to drag the team down every week. Which is 100% attributed to a total void in the pass rushing department.
The effects of not having a pass rush are are profound. It puts an enormous amount of pressure on your back 7, which only gets amplified when you have tom blitz to try and create a semblance of a pass rush.
The secondary is not as bad as they showed today. They just have no help up front. Saleh is being forced to dial up undesirable schemes and playcalls because he knows the front 4 are going to routinely get beaten like a drum.
Just before the trade deadline, SF lost Mykel Williams for the season and placed Gross Matos on IR. So they somehow managed to actually have a worse outlook in the pass rushing department.
I hear a lot of folks saying that there was no trade out there that would transform the defense. In my opinion they are looking at it the wrong way. I don't think trying to get a transformational player was the problem. They obviously weren't going to bring someone in, which would magically turn the defense into a top shelf unit. SF just needed an addition that might help them not be a complete zero in the pass rush department. They weren't required to go big game hunting, they just needed to hunt something that would have fed their family.
In other words, just make a move to give yourself a chance. The offense and MASSIVELY improved special teams, would have gave you a puncher's chance every week.
This is football, and sometimes the teams with the most available talent don't win. We as 49ers fans should know that all too well. Whether it be injuries forcing you to not being able to attempt a forward pass for like 50% of a NFCCG or like 8 different bounces going out of your favor in the Super Bowl. If you get in the playoffs, anything can happen.
SF didn't need a top 10 defense, but at the same time they couldn't have a bottom 2 defense. With a complete lack of a pass rush, they sealed the fate of being a truly terrible defense. And thus likely crushing any hope they had for the season.
Would've needed multiple guys and to get anyone decent like a Jermaine Johnson would've cost us a 2nd round pick. Upgrading the pass rush to non existent to barely existent wasn't going to put us into Super Bowl contention.
Offensively has been better but it's still an offense that lacks consistently, struggling to run the ball, and is prone to do a Houston. If we're talking about the 2023 offense that was a well oiled machine it'd be one thing but this is an offense that can go from world beater to can't get a yard to save it's life at a drop of the hat.
I'd just much rather the picks to invest more into both lines and make a run next year. To me this team is an above average offensive line, a further bolstered defensive line, and just having league average health from being a legit contender.
I'm not sure why a lot of folks get so hung up on this notion that a trade "wouldn't have made SF Super Bowl contenders." While of course winning a Super Bowl is the ultimate and overarching end game goal, its not the only thing that matters. Nor is it sole metric that should be used to evaluate how successful a season was.
There are several young guys on this team that have not been in the playoffs. Playing in one playoff game for: Pearsall, Green, Puni, Mustapha, Bethune, Collins, Stout, West would be invaluable for their experience and overall development. Hell, just being around the prep for a playoff game and the atmosphere on game day would have been beneficial for the young guys not currently playing like: Williams, Martin, Watkins, James, Guerendo, Cowing, etc.
In my opinion, upgrading a non existent pass rush to a barely existent pass rush is a big difference. NFL football is a game of inches, and incremental things tend to profoundly effect games. A lot of times games are decided by just a couple of plays. If SF was able to heat up the QB on only like 3-4 more pass attempts per game, that could have a huge impact. If Saleh had any confidence in somebody other than Huff to be able to provide pressure (even just occasionally), it would probably change the way he schemes and calls plays. Hell, no pass rush/confidence in the defense greatly effects the offense as well. We saw this yesterday when the defense was getting roasted, therefore Kyle felt he had to go for it on 4th down early in the game.
Again small details = big effects.
As for the offense, I think the biggest reason they still struggle to run the ball is nobody is scared of a passing attack spearheaded by Jennings and Bourne who are basically the same type of player anyways. Also, while he's extensively exceeded all of our expectations and even hopes, defenses aren't real worried about Mac Jones beating them, especially with what WR's he has at his disposal. All of this of course has adverse effects on the running attack, because teams are just scheming against the run and telling the offense to beat them through the air. Returning QB1, WR1, and WR2 provide a ton of legitimate optimism that the offense could spread its wings and start to fly.
I get the whole keeping picks to restock/rebuild the team blueprint. Teams have to constantly infuse young/cheap talent into the roster for continuity/depth/team development/salary cap/etc reasons. That said, SF is projected to have at least (3) 4th round picks, perhaps even (4) 4ths. They aren't short on draft capital.
I haven't seen it since yesterday's game, but before the game they were favored 5 of the remaining 7 games (including the next 4 consecutive games.) So there was a fairly clear path to an 11 win record.
Making a trade to bolster the pass rush would not have been a desperation move to try and salvage a sinking ship. I don't think trading a mid round pick or two was going to make or break SF's future. However, not getting pass rush help certainly crushed the outlook for this season.
All that being said, I don't know what deals may or may not have been available. Maybe the only option was trading a 1st for Hendrickson, which would have been a firm no. Then again, maybe they could have gotten Von Miller for a 2027 6th rounder. We just don't know.
Based on their track record of being pretty aggressive in the trade market (and just generally investing into the DL), I'm inclined to give Lynchahan the benefit of the doubt and maybe there was nothing out there that made some sense. In any event, its just super frustrating because this team had a chance even with all of the injuries.
