2022 Offseason thread

[CrimsonCrew]

Emmanuel Acho with more of the same. "One-play Trey." What does that even mean?

Look, I was not a big Trey Lance fan coming out. I felt like he had major accuracy concerns, never faced anything like top competition, and the sample size was just too small. I am very clearly on record saying I wanted Fields over him, and even that I liked Mac Jones over him if we hadn't traded up (the trade up required us to take a shot on upside, so once we'd done that, I had Lance over Jones). But even I think the hate is out of control.

The dude barely played as a rookie. When he did, he showed pretty darn well in his second game once they let him cut it loose a little bit. Sure, it's a concern that they stuck with Jimmy over Lance in the playoffs, but it's awfully hard to argue the results. We can say with certainty that they almost went to the SB with Jimmy (granted he was basically just along for the ride). There's no telling what would have happened with Lance. Very arguably, we wouldn't even have beaten the Rams to make it. At this point, no one knows anything about how Lance will play in the regular season. But all these guys eating up the drivel they're being fed is getting really old. If anything has been demonstrated by history, it's that where the Niners and Lance are concerned, the media is entirely in the dark.

[CrimsonCrew]

Emmanuel Acho with more of the same. "One-play Trey." What does that even mean?

Look, I was not a big Trey Lance fan coming out. I felt like he had major accuracy concerns, never faced anything like top competition, and the sample size was just too small. I am very clearly on record saying I wanted Fields over him, and even that I liked Mac Jones over him if we hadn't traded up (the trade up required us to take a shot on upside, so once we'd done that, I had Lance over Jones). But even I think the hate is out of control.

The dude barely played as a rookie. When he did, he showed pretty darn well in his second game once they let him cut it loose a little bit. Sure, it's a concern that they stuck with Jimmy over Lance in the playoffs, but it's awfully hard to argue the results. We can say with certainty that they almost went to the SB with Jimmy (granted he was basically just along for the ride). There's no telling what would have happened with Lance. Very arguably, we wouldn't even have beaten the Rams to make it. At this point, no one knows anything about how Lance will play in the regular season. But all these guys eating up the drivel they're being fed is getting really old. If anything has been demonstrated by history, it's that where the Niners and Lance are concerned, the media is entirely in the dark.

Quoting myself, 'cause I'm crazy like that. Acho at the end says he's got Mac Jones at a 9 out of 10 (basically how worried/confident in a player) because he grades his QBs on wins. Okay Emmanuel. Let's think about that. You judge QBs by wins, but you want the Niners to take out a 45-18 starter on a very talented team who has been to a SB in favor of an unproven rookie. You think Lance should have replaced Garoppolo, but the dude knocked off the Rams, Cowboys, and Packers on the road en route to almost making the SB.

Now look, I don't think you should only look at wins, but it's that's the metric, how impossibly stupid to hold that against Lance.

[Jikkle]

To that last point, just look at all the Trey Lance talk lately. All these "adults" are losing their g-d minds. Colin Cowherd came out and said he feels like he's being "sold something" on Lance, apparently because of all the rave reviews. That's interesting, and perverse, given that two weeks ago, lots of national media figures were pointing to the absence of praise of Lance as evidence for him struggling, despite the fact that he hadn't even practiced with the team yet. Everyone questions the lack of praise, the coaches offer relatively tepid praise when asked, and now suddenly it's too much praise and they're overstating the position? It's totally absurd. But that's the NFL today. There is no offseason, despite a lack of content, so these "reporters" drum up absurd stories that are based on...their gut? A feeling?

And just out of curiosity, who has been so effusive in their praise? I can't recall seeing anything other than a coach and GM answering pointed questions with what are basically stock answers about how they are encouraged by what they've seen.

The narrative around Lance has got to be the oddest thing I've seen around a QB. There are no right answers and it's nothing but double standards galore.

I don't think the team is trying to "sell" Lance as they basically just answered questions when they are asked but if they are it's only because the media created this narrative that the team was disappointed in Lance so now they are getting asked all the time about it and no matter how they answer it's a loss now. Too tepid with praise it means you really are disappointed in him and if you're too effusive with praise it means you're selling him.

Acho has been the worst though. I can understand having a healthy reasonable skepticism but nobody should have a definite take on Lance yet. I mean if Lance doesn't have it then I don't see how you can argue Lawerence, Wilson, or Fields have it either since they didn't look any better than Lance did and granted Lance has a smaller sample size and played on a better team but it's not like he was throwing 3 INTs and looking completely terrified out there.

I thought Lance played within the expectations of a rookie QB especially on as raw and inexperienced as he was. While there were flaws in his games I haven't seen anything yet that gives me a reason for major concern.

Not to mention his broken finger was apparently an issue for him all season which might explain Shanahan's bizarre Cardinals gameplan and why he wasn't really pushing Lance into the lineup.

[Jikkle]

Emmanuel Acho with more of the same. "One-play Trey." What does that even mean?

Look, I was not a big Trey Lance fan coming out. I felt like he had major accuracy concerns, never faced anything like top competition, and the sample size was just too small. I am very clearly on record saying I wanted Fields over him, and even that I liked Mac Jones over him if we hadn't traded up (the trade up required us to take a shot on upside, so once we'd done that, I had Lance over Jones). But even I think the hate is out of control.

The dude barely played as a rookie. When he did, he showed pretty darn well in his second game once they let him cut it loose a little bit. Sure, it's a concern that they stuck with Jimmy over Lance in the playoffs, but it's awfully hard to argue the results. We can say with certainty that they almost went to the SB with Jimmy (granted he was basically just along for the ride). There's no telling what would have happened with Lance. Very arguably, we wouldn't even have beaten the Rams to make it. At this point, no one knows anything about how Lance will play in the regular season. But all these guys eating up the drivel they're being fed is getting really old. If anything has been demonstrated by history, it's that where the Niners and Lance are concerned, the media is entirely in the dark.

Quoting myself, 'cause I'm crazy like that. Acho at the end says he's got Mac Jones at a 9 out of 10 (basically how worried/confident in a player) because he grades his QBs on wins. Okay Emmanuel. Let's think about that. You judge QBs by wins, but you want the Niners to take out a 45-18 starter on a very talented team who has been to a SB in favor of an unproven rookie. You think Lance should have replaced Garoppolo, but the dude knocked off the Rams, Cowboys, and Packers on the road en route to almost making the SB.

Now look, I don't think you should only look at wins, but it's that's the metric, how impossibly stupid to hold that against Lance.

I hate the "he just wins" argument. Wins are a team stat or am I supposed to believe that Matt Stafford who had a mediocre Win-Loss record with the Lions dramatically became a better QB last season because he won a Super Bowl and it had little to do with him being on a much better team that was better coached.

And I don't care about how many wins you have I care about how many Super Bowl wins you have. What good does a bunch of regular season wins do me if you're not good enough to win a championship. Nobody goes "Hey remember how great that year was when we went 14-2 and lost in the divisional round."

So when Mac Jones wins a Super Bowl I'll give him his props but so far he still looks like a high floor low-ceiling guy. Not saying that's bad or anything but I got him in that Dak Prescott territory right now but I'll fully admit if I'm wrong.

[Jikkle]

Read on Twitter

The talk about keeping Jimmy because they doubt Trey has mostly died done especially since so far the OTA reports on Trey have been mostly positive but hopefully between Kyle's comments and Lynch's the talk will be completely dead.

[Jikkle]

Read on Twitter

Sounds a little more confident in that than before and combined with Deebo being quite it sounds like both sides are at least in good standing with each other.

I'm guessing they've thrown numbers around and everyone is liking what they are hearing and it might be a case where they are letting Deebo know just hang in there a bit and let us resolve the Jimmy situation and we'll hammer it out.

My stance on Deebo hasn't changed though as I'd love to keep him but I wouldn't hate to lose him either because of the injury history.

[Dodub]

Looks like Alex Mack is going to retire. Ir sucks that Brunskill is hurt, because he needs to be taking center snaps right now.

[CrimsonCrew]

Looks like Alex Mack is going to retire. Ir sucks that Brunskill is hurt, because he needs to be taking center snaps right now.

Yeah, that restructure is the latest clue. That's a concern. We really could have used Mack's stability and experience in the middle with Trey getting his first taste as the full-time starter. Center suddenly becomes a serious concern.

I'm kind of surprised we didn't address the center position more aggressively in the offseason. Maybe we make a move for JC Tretter, but we can't do that with Jimmy still on the roster. And, to be fair, we ended up with a rookie center who I probably would have been fine with them drafting in the fourth round (maybe even the third, if we'd known Mack was done). Serious reservations about Brunskill, Brendel, or any of the other guys assuming that spot, though, and I think West needs an NFL offseason to get stronger.

[CrimsonCrew]

Looks like it's official on Mack. Reported by Michael Silver. Ugh.

[thesack12]

Looks like Alex Mack is going to retire. Ir sucks that Brunskill is hurt, because he needs to be taking center snaps right now.

Yeah, that restructure is the latest clue. That's a concern. We really could have used Mack's stability and experience in the middle with Trey getting his first taste as the full-time starter. Center suddenly becomes a serious concern.

I'm kind of surprised we didn't address the center position more aggressively in the offseason. Maybe we make a move for JC Tretter, but we can't do that with Jimmy still on the roster. And, to be fair, we ended up with a rookie center who I probably would have been fine with them drafting in the fourth round (maybe even the third, if we'd known Mack was done). Serious reservations about Brunskill, Brendel, or any of the other guys assuming that spot, though, and I think West needs an NFL offseason to get stronger.

Yeah, I sure am glad they drafted a run of the mill RB in the 3rd round.

[thesack12]

Read on Twitter

The talk about keeping Jimmy because they doubt Trey has mostly died done especially since so far the OTA reports on Trey have been mostly positive but hopefully between Kyle's comments and Lynch's the talk will be completely dead.

I'd love to be wrong, but at this point I don't know where a trade market for Jimmy comes from. That shoulder surgery was a killer.

I've heard that Carolina might be still sniffing around. Seattle still has a glaring hole at QB also, but its hard to believe something will get done with a division rival there. If the situation surrounding Watson takes another turn for the worse, maybe there is something there but its highly unlikely.

Other than that, short of somebody getting injured, I don't know what team would be willing to trade an asset to bring him in this late in the offseason. At this point, teams are pot committed to whomever they already have in house. And we're still looking at another month before Jimmy can even throw.

But the 49ers have gotten this far with it, so they may as well continue down this path a little while longer in the chance something does materialize.

[Dodub]

Mack is officially gone. One would be silly to assume that the team hasn’t known about this for months and is prepared for the next man up. I’m thinking it’ll be Brunskill. They’re going with the youth movement at guard which I have no issues with.

[Pattersonca65]

Emmanuel Acho with more of the same. "One-play Trey." What does that even mean?

Look, I was not a big Trey Lance fan coming out. I felt like he had major accuracy concerns, never faced anything like top competition, and the sample size was just too small. I am very clearly on record saying I wanted Fields over him, and even that I liked Mac Jones over him if we hadn't traded up (the trade up required us to take a shot on upside, so once we'd done that, I had Lance over Jones). But even I think the hate is out of control.

The dude barely played as a rookie. When he did, he showed pretty darn well in his second game once they let him cut it loose a little bit. Sure, it's a concern that they stuck with Jimmy over Lance in the playoffs, but it's awfully hard to argue the results. We can say with certainty that they almost went to the SB with Jimmy (granted he was basically just along for the ride). There's no telling what would have happened with Lance. Very arguably, we wouldn't even have beaten the Rams to make it. At this point, no one knows anything about how Lance will play in the regular season. But all these guys eating up the drivel they're being fed is getting really old. If anything has been demonstrated by history, it's that where the Niners and Lance are concerned, the media is entirely in the dark.

Not sure why people get worked up about this. I have never even heard of this guy before the article. Some 49ers were worked up about Peter King's comments the other day and talking about all the Lance haters despite the fact that King has written positive stories about Lance this past year. Because of where Lance was drafted and his lack of experience coming out of college, he was perceived as somewhat a raw prospect. That is going to lead some to question whether he is going to pan out. But in the end, it is all meaningless dribble. Whether it is all this negativity from some media types or all these OTA fluff pieces about how great Lance or other players are doing, it means nothing to me. I've seen many reports coming from OTAs over the years about players who turned into nothing. In the end all that matters is what happens when the players hit the field day one of the NFL season.

[Pattersonca65]

Looks like Alex Mack is going to retire. Ir sucks that Brunskill is hurt, because he needs to be taking center snaps right now.

Yeah, that restructure is the latest clue. That's a concern. We really could have used Mack's stability and experience in the middle with Trey getting his first taste as the full-time starter. Center suddenly becomes a serious concern.

I'm kind of surprised we didn't address the center position more aggressively in the offseason. Maybe we make a move for JC Tretter, but we can't do that with Jimmy still on the roster. And, to be fair, we ended up with a rookie center who I probably would have been fine with them drafting in the fourth round (maybe even the third, if we'd known Mack was done). Serious reservations about Brunskill, Brendel, or any of the other guys assuming that spot, though, and I think West needs an NFL offseason to get stronger.

Yeah, I sure am glad they drafted a run of the mill RB in the 3rd round.

The biggest head scratcher for me. For me, it does call into question how they feel about Sermon.

[CrimsonCrew]

Looks like Alex Mack is going to retire. Ir sucks that Brunskill is hurt, because he needs to be taking center snaps right now.

Yeah, that restructure is the latest clue. That's a concern. We really could have used Mack's stability and experience in the middle with Trey getting his first taste as the full-time starter. Center suddenly becomes a serious concern.

I'm kind of surprised we didn't address the center position more aggressively in the offseason. Maybe we make a move for JC Tretter, but we can't do that with Jimmy still on the roster. And, to be fair, we ended up with a rookie center who I probably would have been fine with them drafting in the fourth round (maybe even the third, if we'd known Mack was done). Serious reservations about Brunskill, Brendel, or any of the other guys assuming that spot, though, and I think West needs an NFL offseason to get stronger.

Yeah, I sure am glad they drafted a run of the mill RB in the 3rd round.

Yes, but....

To be clear, I absolutely hated the Davis-Price pick on multiple levels, but if we had drafted a center in the third round instead, I probably would have wanted them to take Dohnovan West. There wasn't a true center taken between pick 93 and pick 171.

If they cut Dee Ford, they might be able to pursue Tretter, and that's something I guess we should consider. Similarly if he's still on the market when we part ways with Garoppolo. Otherwise, got to hope one of the other guys can step up.

[CrimsonCrew]

Read on Twitter

The talk about keeping Jimmy because they doubt Trey has mostly died done especially since so far the OTA reports on Trey have been mostly positive but hopefully between Kyle's comments and Lynch's the talk will be completely dead.

I'd love to be wrong, but at this point I don't know where a trade market for Jimmy comes from. That shoulder surgery was a killer.

I've heard that Carolina might be still sniffing around. Seattle still has a glaring hole at QB also, but its hard to believe something will get done with a division rival there. If the situation surrounding Watson takes another turn for the worse, maybe there is something there but its highly unlikely.

Other than that, short of somebody getting injured, I don't know what team would be willing to trade an asset to bring him in this late in the offseason. At this point, teams are pot committed to whomever they already have in house. And we're still looking at another month before Jimmy can even throw.

But the 49ers have gotten this far with it, so they may as well continue down this path a little while longer in the chance something does materialize.

My thought for some time has been that the Browns are the only semi-realistic team for Garoppolo, and I don't know that they have the cap space (having looked into it a bit, it actually appears that they do). But if Watson gets suspended, and Mayfield refuses to play - both of which seem entirely possible right now - you have a team that is in win-now mode and needs an experienced guy to hold the fort until Watson comes back. But they're on the hook for Mayfield's contract, and he'd be dumb to pass up NFL starts and a chance to rehab his image because the team went after a pro bowl talent over him.

I suppose we could see a trade of Garoppolo for Mayfield and something, but I'm not sure what they could give up that would incentivize us to eat $19 million in cap cost. I'd need at least a second-round-pick, probably, and I'm not sure I'd want to bring Mayfield into our locker room. And if we're just eating their cap cost and anticipate cutting Mayfield, I'd probably want more than that. Just seems like too many impediments. Given the update on the cap, though, I'd send Garoppolo to them for a 2023 third or even fourth.

[Jikkle]

Looks like Alex Mack is going to retire. Ir sucks that Brunskill is hurt, because he needs to be taking center snaps right now.

Yeah, that restructure is the latest clue. That's a concern. We really could have used Mack's stability and experience in the middle with Trey getting his first taste as the full-time starter. Center suddenly becomes a serious concern.

I'm kind of surprised we didn't address the center position more aggressively in the offseason. Maybe we make a move for JC Tretter, but we can't do that with Jimmy still on the roster. And, to be fair, we ended up with a rookie center who I probably would have been fine with them drafting in the fourth round (maybe even the third, if we'd known Mack was done). Serious reservations about Brunskill, Brendel, or any of the other guys assuming that spot, though, and I think West needs an NFL offseason to get stronger.

Yeah, I sure am glad they drafted a run of the mill RB in the 3rd round.

Even if we drafted a Center the chance Shanahan would play him is almost nil.

Shanahan is conservative playing rookies as it is and Center is a demanding position mentally in Shanahan's offense so I couldn't see him going with a rookie there especially with Lance at QB.

I've just grown to accept that Shanahan just doesn't feel the need to invest in serious assets into the interior of the offensive line.

At the very least the past two seasons they've been adding offensive linemen in the draft and UDFA so hopefully that will develop into something that bears fruit soon. You would hope at least one or two of those guys emerges to be functional starters at some point.

And at least I'm hearing Banks and McGlinchey look physically good so whether they actually will produce is a whole other story but better to hear good things than bad things.

[Samurai]

Mack is officially gone. One would be silly to assume that the team hasn’t known about this for months and is prepared for the next man up. I’m thinking it’ll be Brunskill. They’re going with the youth movement at guard which I have no issues with.

Still think Brunskill's primary value to the team is to be the Swiss army knife of the OL, kinda like a valuable utility guy in baseball that you can plug into one of many positions if someone needs rest or is dinged up. Brendel has a year of experience in Shanahan's system and, barring a trade, I think he has the inside track. And the college coaches for both Nick Zakelj and Dohnovan West have said that they feel those guys could play center, particularly Zekelj who volunteered to play center during summer camp.

Of course they could always look to bring in a veteran, particularly since Shanahan doesn't seem to have much trust in rookies and he may want a veteran presence since he will be snapping the ball to someone as inexperienced as Lance. But my guess is that if Shanahan gets a positive endorsement from OL coach Chris Foerster, Brendel will get the assignment initially.

[Jikkle]

Read on Twitter

The talk about keeping Jimmy because they doubt Trey has mostly died done especially since so far the OTA reports on Trey have been mostly positive but hopefully between Kyle's comments and Lynch's the talk will be completely dead.

I'd love to be wrong, but at this point I don't know where a trade market for Jimmy comes from. That shoulder surgery was a killer.

I've heard that Carolina might be still sniffing around. Seattle still has a glaring hole at QB also, but its hard to believe something will get done with a division rival there. If the situation surrounding Watson takes another turn for the worse, maybe there is something there but its highly unlikely.

Other than that, short of somebody getting injured, I don't know what team would be willing to trade an asset to bring him in this late in the offseason. At this point, teams are pot committed to whomever they already have in house. And we're still looking at another month before Jimmy can even throw.

But the 49ers have gotten this far with it, so they may as well continue down this path a little while longer in the chance something does materialize.

My thought for some time has been that the Browns are the only semi-realistic team for Garoppolo, and I don't know that they have the cap space (having looked into it a bit, it actually appears that they do). But if Watson gets suspended, and Mayfield refuses to play - both of which seem entirely possible right now - you have a team that is in win-now mode and needs an experienced guy to hold the fort until Watson comes back. But they're on the hook for Mayfield's contract, and he'd be dumb to pass up NFL starts and a chance to rehab his image because the team went after a pro bowl talent over him.

I suppose we could see a trade of Garoppolo for Mayfield and something, but I'm not sure what they could give up that would incentivize us to eat $19 million in cap cost. I'd need at least a second-round-pick, probably, and I'm not sure I'd want to bring Mayfield into our locker room. And if we're just eating their cap cost and anticipate cutting Mayfield, I'd probably want more than that. Just seems like too many impediments. Given the update on the cap, though, I'd send Garoppolo to them for a 2023 third or even fourth.

I think either way Jimmy is going to have to take a pay cut to be traded.

Browns and the Panthers are the only teams I see making a move for him but not at his current price.

I don't see the 9ers eating any part of his contract unless it's a good pick in return because his cap hit if released is hardly anything and I think they'd rather the cap space than some 4th round pick in 2023 and eating half his contract.

Ultimately I think he gets released though I can't put it past this team to hold onto him because they overvalue him and can't stomach the thought of getting nothing at all for him.

I don't buy the notion that they are afraid he'll go to Seattle if he does get released. I mean I'm sure they would prefer it if he didn't but I doubt they'd lose any sleep if Jimmy G was the starting QB for the Seahawks. Fred Warner might be the leading receiver for the Hawks when we play them if that's the case.

[Jikkle]

Watch on YouTube

Another good day of practice for Lance but it is OTA's so the excitement should be measured. But as I've said in the past it's better to hear good things than bad things regardless of the situation.

The main thing that gets me excited is hearing he looks like a fast processor. Processing speed is just one of those things that all great QBs and it's something that you're born with and you are either capable of it or not. To me it's one of the hardest things for teams to evaluate and one of the biggest reasons why QBs fail. Almost all these kids drafted are physically gifted and are smart but being able to answer the question correctly on a whiteboard but it's another thing when you have just under 3 seconds to answer that same question.

Mechanics can be improved if you put the work in but your ability to process information quickly and the natural physical gifts you have can't be which is why I'm bullish on Lance ultimately succeeding even if it's rough in the beginning.